Luke 24:36-43 36As they were talking about these things, he himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37But being startled and becoming frightened, they were thinking to see a spirit. 38And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And after he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of roasted fish, 43and taking it before them, he ate.
Jesus waited for that moment to appear to all the gathered disciples. The next scene has parallels to John 20:19-23. The group must have been in a mix of shock and joy. They now had multiple witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. Each one must have been thinking in his or her own mind, “I wish he would appear to me also.” Their dream and prayer came true with the sudden appearance of the resurrected Jesus right in their midst. John 20:19 records that the doors locked, and miraculously, this situation did not stop Jesus from coming into the room.
The first words Jesus spoke were just what the disciples needed: Peace! Jesus brought peace to the troubled and questioning thoughts of the disciples. The result of resurrection is peace. The world seeks peace but never quite finds it. There is only one lasting and complete source of peace, and that is the resurrected Jesus Messiah.
The disciples’ reaction to seeing Jesus is odd. Luke gives five descriptions of their response in an awkward grammatical way in the Greek. First, they were startled (ptoēthentes). The passive form of the participle can have the sense of terror or great fear. Second, they were afraid (emphoboi). This word is similar in meaning to the first and adds emphasis to the fear and surprise they experienced at that moment. Third, they thought they saw a ghost. Their minds were confused still. They did not see the person as the physical Jesus but perhaps his spirit or some type of spirit. Fourth, as Jesus notes, they were troubled (tetaragmenoi). The word used here can mean being shaken up, turmoil, or the confusion that results from an uncertain situation. Fifth, they allowed doubt to come to their hearts. The word doubts (dialogismoi) can mean dialogue, reasoning, or thinking and talking through a situation. Their doubst arose from too much thinking and not enough faith. They used their reasoning and came up empty. Resurrection requires faith. We can use reasoning as a support, but ultimately, we need to believe based on the testimony, evidence, and conviction we have.
To help the disciples’ in their weak faith, Jesus gives further proof with his physical wounds. They could see that it was him, in the flesh, the same person with whom they walked throughout Galilee and Judea. Jesus was not spirit but flesh and bones. This statement in verse 39 is significant theologically. It counters the later claims of Docetism that Jesus only appeared to be human but was only a spirit. Jesus had a body like every other human. He literally suffered and died. His resurrection was not spiritual but physical. His physical flesh and bones were somehow transformed through resurrection because he could appear in a closed room, like on this occasion. Paul the Apostle wrestled with the idea of a resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15, concluding that resurrection will bring a spiritual body (15:44). Jesus’ physical body had been transformed in some way so that it would never again die.
The disciples were trying to process all this new revelation. It was overwhelming and joyous, too good to be true, but it was! To bring home the reality of his resurrection, Jesus asked for something to eat and ate a meal with them. Spirits and ghosts do not eat food. He was human, had died, and how raised. He was the same person they knew, but now victorious over the power of death. Luke did not get into the theology of resurrection since he was giving a historical account of the events. He got all his information from eyewitnesses to these events. Jesus’ resurrection was not simply the resuscitation of a dead corpse but a fundamental transformation and first fruits of all who believe in him and will someday follow his pattern. His restored life was different. He was now the exalted King who fulfilled all that the Scriptures anticipated.
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