The appearance of Jesus in Luke 24:36-49 constitutes the commissioning of the disciples within the context of a victory meal that the Risen Lord celebrates with them. Within this meal also, one finds the Lord opening the minds of the disciples for the understanding of Scriptures.
"Peace be with you." This greeting was suppressed in the account of Mary's visitation of Elizabeth but was implicit (cf. 1:40-41). "Shalom alyk" is a standard Jewish greeting, but not that it comes from the Risen Christ, it is transformed to the conferment of peace. The angels sang about this peace -- wholeness and fullness of life -- at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14). It is also the peace that Jesus brings about as he exercises his ministry (see Luke 7:50; 8:48; 10:5.6). In Luke 19:38, the crowds sing about it at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Now it becomes a permanent gift from Him who is risen.
"Why are you terrified...?" If the Emmaus story is about two disciples who are transformed from non-believers to believers, this account shows a change from fear into joy. Jesus shows them his wounds, indicating that the is the same Jesus who died but is now Risen among them, in the flesh, and not a ghost. The disciples could not believe it and were dumbfounded, but the remaining doubt will be replaced by worship later on (cf. verse 52).
"Do you have something to eat here?..." The phrase "and taking up, he ate before them" points to a not so ordinary meal. The phrase is from the LXX of 2 Kgs 11:13. In Luke 13:26, the expression is used for a meal that was shared with an acquaintance and is referred to as a reminder. In Acts 27:35, it is a meal that comes after fourteen days of not eating due a tempest at sea. In all these cases, it is a meal of table fellowship. Jesus eats this meal of fellowship with his disciples to celebrate his victory over death.
"And he opened their minds..." If in the Emmaus story, the reading of Scriptures preceeded the breaking of the bread, here, the meal is the context of the proclmation of the Word. Jesus opens the minds of the disciples for the understanding of Scriptures. Scriptures is Moses (= the Law), the prophets and the psalms (for even David was inspired by the Holy Spirit).
The Commissioning. Again within the context of a meal, the commissioning is made
...and the conversion that leads to forgiveness of sins
will be preached to all the nations.
In Acts 26:33, one already finds this commissioning being acted out in Paul.
The proclamation of the conversion that leads to the forgiveness of sins is quite consistent with the gospel of Luke since it is in this Gospel where we find Jesus challenging his interlocutors and disciples to a change of mind and heart. In the Acts of the Apostles, one will find the call to conversion associated with the kerygmatic speeches of Peter and Paul.
Wait until you are clothed with power from on high. In Luke, this "power from on high" is the Holy Spirit which will be poured on the disciples as they pray in the Upper Room. In John, the Holy Spirit is given to the Apostles at the same time as the Commissioning. In Mark, the Holy Spirit was breathed out by the dying Christ, as a gift from the Cross. Luke separates the coming of the Holy Spirit because in his Gospel, salvation history is divided into three moments: from Moses until the time of John the Baptist, the time of Jesus and the time of the Church. As the work of Jesus was inaugurated with the coming of the Holy Spirit (as His anointing from on high at his baptism), so the life of the Church also begins with the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit.
