‘And after these things he was revealed in another form to two of them as they walked in the country, and they went away and told it to the rest. Nor did they believe them.'
Having appeared to one, Jesus now appeared to two. This confirms His desire to test His disciples. They now receive testimony at the mouth of two further witnesses that Jesus was indeed risen.
This incident is described in full in Luke 24:13-35, but here alone the continued attitude of unbelief is stressed. It is merely assumed in Luke. This continued stress on the unbelief of the disciples points to a very early date for the narrative.
‘In another form.' To Mary He had appeared like a gardener, to the two He appeared as a traveller. There was a deliberate attempt at slow recognition. There was to be no danger of it being seen as an hallucination. Whether He deliberately altered His appearance, or whether His resurrection body presented Him in a way that was different from His earthly appearance so that recognition was not immediate, cannot be established. We know only that Mary first recognised Him by His voice, and that the two recognised Him when He engaged in a familiar action. They may well have thought He reminded them of Jesus but were quite well aware that He could not be. And He had shown no sin of recognition. They only appreciated the truth when He broke bread in the familiar way.