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LUKE - Christ, the Savior of the World
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to Luke

PART 6 - THE REPORT OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION (Luke 22 - 24)

15. Jesus' Appearance on Sunday Evening (Luke 24:36-43)


LUKE 24:36-43
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

Once again, Jesus kept his promise: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” While the disciples strengthened one another in faith through the good news of their experiences with Christ, he suddenly appeared in their midst. He came without a sound. No door was slammed, no window was opened, and no current of air came in; but Christ truly appeared and became visible.

At that moment, the disciples were terrified. They had believed in his resurrection, but there were still residues of doubt in their minds. They felt that Christ’s resurrection from the dead signified the dawn of the kingdom of God, and the beginning of a new age. But they also knew that they ran away from their Lord at the important hour of temptation. They knew that the living Christ saw their sins openly. Some of them thought he was a spirit with the countenance of Christ. They were disturbed and unable to think or act.

Jesus had mercy on them. He saved those of little faith from their doubts and unbelief, and spoke to them with words they understood. They heard his familiar voice, and felt God’s comfort in their anxious hearts. His words of love purified them, and his powerful expression established new faith. He forgave their sins by uttering his peace to them. He did not compel them to accept faith under pressure, so as to impose his peace on them saying, “Peace be on you”, but made them partners in accepting the dwelling of his peace, addressing them with the words: “Peace to you.” At this they knew that he had chosen, called, justified and sanctified them, and that God had accepted his Son’s death and reconciled them through Jesus with himself. So they held fast to this truth, established their hearts on it, and were comforted.

In spite of this statement they did not believe the truth of his presence, for their minds were slow, and their hearts hard and human. Jesus had mercy on his elect once again, and showed them the marks of the nails in his hands and feet as a token of forgiveness for all their sins. The Living One who is risen from the dead is truly the same one that had been crucified. If an angel of light came to you and said he was God, then drive him out in the name of Christ, for our God has the print of the nails in his hands, and we know no other lord but Jesus Christ who was crucified.

The disciples’ faith grew, and their spiritual consciousness increased, but they lacked the Holy Spirit. Christ gave them another proof that they might believe in the truth of his resurrection, and realize the greatest miracle given to mankind, that is to believe in his divinity. He said: “Handle me, touch me! See that I have really risen in my body. I have flesh and bones like all men.” The evangelist Luke, being a physician, brought into view the wonderful and decisive phenomenon that Christ, after his resurrection, entered with his spiritual body through the walls without any limit of time or place, and was present at all times. He is true God, and at the same time a true man with flesh and blood, visible to be heard and touched. We have a great testimony from Luke, the physician that Christ has a spiritual body. He is the incarnate Spirit of God. This reveals to us the miracle of our resurrection, for Christ is the symbol of our future.

The disciples rejoiced greatly in their hearts and minds at the truth of Christ’s resurrection and triumph over death, they were unable to believe, speak, or think, for they saw Christ as a dead man who rose from his tomb. Those who love Christ were glad and astonished.

Yet Christ does not only want to wake our joy, but he also intends to establish faith, and to submit our thought and will to the truth of resurrection. He asked his disciples for food. Undoubtedly he who was raised from the dead had no need of food, for he had an imperishable, eternal, spiritual body, which cannot be tempted. But by way of love for his disciples, and in order to make their minds work that they might grasp his identity, the divine Living One showed them that he was a true man, and not a ghost or a spirit. He proved it to them by asking for food. He ate before them of the fish and the honey they gave him.

The physician Luke had inquired from his contemporaries and from those who had seen Christ after his resurrection, and understood from them that the risen Jesus was undoubtedly a real and true man. Christ was the first man raised from the dead in the flesh, for he was God from eternity. The disciples rejoiced and believed. They realized that death is not the end, but God’s life is stronger than death. Christ did not remain to decay in the tomb like philosophers, founders of religions, and leaders of history, but arose and fulfilled what he said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, you are the true God who is born of the Father before all ages. You are a true man, born of the Virgin Mary. You rose from the dead, though you suffered death. Thank you for the revelation of your life, which is the guarantee of our resurrection in the flesh too. O Lord of life, give us life and keep us in your love.

QUESTION 147: How did Jesus show the miracle of his spiritual body?

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