Why did Jesus appear only to certain people after His resurrection?

¹The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,

²until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

³To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.

⁴Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

⁵For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

⁹When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

¹⁰While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

¹¹who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

⁸and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹¹Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

¹³Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.

¹⁴They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.

¹⁵While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.

¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”

¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

²¹But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

²²Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;

²³and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

²⁴Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

²⁵He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

²⁶Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”

²⁷Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸They drew near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.

²⁹They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.

³⁰When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave to them.

³¹Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.

³²They said one to another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,

³⁴saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

¹⁹When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

²²When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

²³If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

²⁵The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you.”

²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”