§59 An Appearance to All the Disciples (Luke 24:36–43)
The appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem constitutes Jesus’ third resurrection appearance. Of the first two only one is actually narrated (the appearance to the two on the road to Emmaus, vv. 13–28), while the other is merely reported (the appearance to Simon Peter, v. 34). The appearance to the Eleven disciples will be Luke’s second narrated appearance of the risen Christ and it, like the first one, will culminate in an explanation of the relevance of Scripture for understanding the person and ministry of Jesus. These two appearances are also similar in that both times Jesus eats and both times the unbelief and incomprehension on the part of the disciples give way to belief and understanding.
24:36–43 / The second narrated appearance follows right on the heels of the first. While the two were still talking about their experience, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Although a few manuscripts omit the last part, the earliest ones have it and so it should probably be regarded as original (cf. John 20:19). This sudden, dramatic appearance terrifies the disciples, who think that Jesus is a ghost (or “spirit”; cf. Mark 6:49 where the disciples suppose that the water-treading Jesus is a phantom). The disciples’ fear, of course, gives Jesus the opportunity to stress that he is real, corporeal (made of flesh and bones). His request that they look at his hands and his feet ensures he is who he claims to be. The marks of the nails used in crucifying him would verify that the one before them was none other than the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. The whole incident, like the incident involving “doubting” Thomas in John 20:24–29, has an apologetic purpose. The purpose is to counter arguments that the disciples perhaps saw nothing more than a vision, but had not actually seen a real, living Jesus. This Jesus is indeed real and recognizable. His hands and feet are recognizable because of the nail prints. His physical reality is evident because they can feel him. Not only that, Jesus eats a piece of broiled fish as a final proof (see Acts 1:3), since angels and spirits do not eat (Tob. 12:19; Philo, On Abraham 118; Judg. 13:16; Talbert, p. 228). Their doubts are now dispelled; the disciples are ready for their final instructions before the Lord departs from them for the last time.
24:36 / Peace be with you: The Greek wording is identical to that found in John 20:19, 20. Because of this some commentators have argued for a direct literary dependence of one Gospel upon the other. Although Luke shares a few similarities with John elsewhere, their common traditions probably come from a pre-literary stage. This is less the case with the other Synoptic Gospels. Jesus’ greeting is quite common, moreover, being the Jewish greeting “shalom.”
24:37 / a ghost: Lit. “a spirit,” the immaterial essence of a person’s being that survives physical death. Of uncertain relation is the suggestion that the excited Rhoda in Acts 12:15 had seen Peter’s “angel.” In Mark 6:49 the terrified disciples believe that Jesus is a phantom. The main point in refuting the “ghost” idea has to do with the concern to establish the idea of resurrection. Christian resurrection involves far more than the limited idea of a disembodied spirit surviving physical death. The resurrection involves physical reconstitution and an undoing of the physical, as well as spiritual, negative effects of sin. Resurrection involves the rehabilitation of the physical order, both for human beings and for the cosmos itself (see 1 Corinthians 15). See HBD, pp. 864–65.
24:40 / his hands and feet: Although not stated, it is quite probable that the showing of his hands and his feet was meant to reveal the marks of the nails as evidence of identity and as an evidence of being more than a ghost. (Compare the wording in John 20:20, another point of similarity between Luke and John.)
24:41 / The idea here is that the news of Jesus’ resurrection was almost “too good to be true.” Sensing this, Jesus asks for some food to eat in order to provide final proof.
24:42 / a piece of broiled fish: Compare John 21:9–13 where Jesus and the disciples eat broiled fish on the shore of the Lake Gennesaret. Fitzmyer (p. 1577) notes the question that may be raised about the eating of a piece of broiled fish in Jerusalem (since Jerusalem is some distance from the lake). Is this detail evidence that the episode originally took place in Galilee and that it has been transported to the Lucan setting in Jerusalem? The mention of fish alone, however, is scarcely sufficient warrant for such speculation, for there is adequate evidence that fish was in good supply in Jerusalem (see Marshall, p. 903; Neh. 13:16).
24:43 / ate it in their presence: By describing Jesus’ eating in the presence of the disciples, Luke drives home the point of Jesus’ reality. Nothing is left to chance. Jesus really did eat the fish; he ate it right before their very eyes.