We have here a very short account of two of Christ's appearances, and the little credit which the report of them gained with the disciples.

I.He appeared to Mary Magdalene, to her first in the garden, which we have a particular narrative of, Joh 20:14. It was she out of whom he had cast seven devils; much was forgiven her, and much was given her, and done for her, and she loved much; and this honour Christ did her, that she was the first that saw him after his resurrection. The closer we cleave to Christ, the sooner we may expect to see him, and the more to see of him.

Now, 1. She brings notice of what she had seen, to the disciples; not only to the eleven, but to the rest that followed him, as they mourned and wept, Mar 16:10. Now was the time of which Christ had told them, that they should mourn and lament, Joh 16:20. And it was an evidence of their great love to Christ, and the deep sense they had of their loss of him. But when their weeping had endured a night or two, comfort returned, as Christ has promised; I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. Better news cannot be brought to disciples in tears, than to tell them of Christ's resurrection. And we should study to be comforters to disciples that are mourners, by communicating to them our experiences, and what we have seen of Christ.

2.They could not give credit to the report she brought them. They heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her. The story was plausible enough, and yet they believed not. They would not say that she made the story herself, or designed to deceive them; but they fear that she is imposed upon, and that it was but a fancy that she saw him. Had they believed the frequent predictions of it from his own mouth, they would not have been now so incredulous of the report of it.

II.He appeared to two of the disciples, as they went into the country, Mar 16:12. This refers, no doubt, to that which is largely related (Luk 24:13, etc.), of which passed between Christ and the two disciples going to Emmaus. He is here said to have appeared to them in another form, in another dress than what he usually wore, in the form of a traveller, as, in the garden, in such a dress, that Mary Magdalene took him for the gardener; but that he had really his own countenance, appears by this, that their eyes were holden, that they should not know him; and when that restrain on their eyes was taken off, immediately they knew him, Lu. 24:16-31. Now,

1.These two witnesses gave in their testimony to this proof of Christ's resurrection; They went and told it to the residue, Mar 16:13. Being satisfied themselves, they were desirous to give their brethren the satisfaction they had, that they might be comforted as they were.

2.This did not gain credit with all; Neither believed they them. They suspected that their eyes also deceived them. Now there was a wise providence in it, the proofs of Christ's resurrection were given in thus gradually, and admitted thus cautiously, that so the assurance with which the apostles preached this doctrine afterward, when they ventured their all upon it, might be the more satisfying. We have the more reason to believe those who did themselves believe so slowly: had they swallowed it presently, they might have been thought credulous, and their testimony the less to be regarded; but their disbelieving at first, shows that they did not believe it afterward but upon a full conviction.

He appeared - unto two of them - These were the two who were going to Emmaus. The whole account is given by Luke, 24:13-34, where see the notes.

Dr. Lightfoot's criticism upon this passage is worthy of notice.

"That, in the verses immediately going before, the discourse is of the two disciples going to Emmaus, is without all controversy. And then how do these things consist with that relation in Luke, who saith, That they two, returning to Jerusalem, found the eleven gathered together, and they that were with them; who said, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon? Luk 24:34. The word λεγοντας, saying, evidently makes those to be the words των ενδεκα, of the eleven, and of those that were gathered together with them; which, when you read the versions, you would scarcely suspect. For when that word is rendered by the Syriac, cad amrin; by the Arabic, wehom yekolon; by the Vulgate, dicentes; by the Italian, dicendo; by the French, disans; by the English, saying; who, I pray, would take it in another sense, than that those two that returned from Emmaus said, The Lord is risen indeed, etc.? But in the original Greek, when it is the accusative case, it is plainly to be referred to the eleven disciples, and those that were together with them; as if they had discoursed among themselves of the appearance made to Peter, either before, or now in the very access of those two coming from Emmaus. And yet, says this our evangelist, that when those two had related the whole business, they gave no credit to them; so that, according to Luke, they believed Christ was risen, and had appeared to Simon, before they told their story; but, according to Mark, they believed it not, no, not when they had told it. The reconciling therefore of the evangelists is to be fetched thence, that those words pronounced by the eleven, Ὁτι ηγερθη ὁ Κυριος οντως, etc., The Lord is risen indeed, etc., do not manifest their absolute confession of the resurrection of Christ, but a conjectural reasoning of the sudden and unexpected return of Peter. I believe that Peter was going with Cleophas into Galilee, and that being moved with the words of Christ, told him by the women, Say to his disciples and Peter, I go before you into Galilee - think with yourself how doubtful Peter was, and how he fluctuated within himself after his threefold denial, and how he gasped to see the Lord again, if he were risen, and to cast himself an humble suppliant at his feet. When therefore he heard these things from the women, (and he had heard it indeed from Christ himself, while he was yet alive, that when he arose he would go before them into Galilee), and when the rest were very little moved with the report of his resurrection, nor as yet stirred from that place, he will try a journey into Galilee, and Alpheus with him; which, when it was well known to the rest, and they saw him return so soon and so unexpectedly - Certainly, say they, the Lord is risen, and hath appeared to Peter, otherwise he had not so soon come back again. And yet, when he and Cleophas open the whole matter, they do not yet believe even them."

And they went and told it unto the residue,.... Upon their return to Jerusalem, which was on the same night, they went to the eleven apostles, and the other disciples that were with them, and related the whole affair to them; how that Jesus had joined them by the way, and discoursed much with them about himself, and expounded the Scriptures on the road; and when they came to the end of their journey, sat down at meat with them, when he was very plainly discerned, and known by them, and then disappeared; see Luk 24:33;

neither believed they them. "These two", as the Arabic version reads; though they were men, and fellow disciples; and this was a repeated testimony, and a second set of witnesses of Christ's resurrection to them; all which aggravates their unbelief: upon sight of them they said, "the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon", Luk 24:34; the reason of which Dr. Lightfoot thinks was this, that Peter hearing that Christ was risen, and went before them into Galilee, was eager to see him, and therefore took this journey along with Cleophas, which the rest of the disciples knew; and he returning so soon, they concluded he had seen him: but when he, and Cleophas, told the whole affair, they were as unbelieving as ever.