Pericope 25 (Luke 24:36-43)

V36

• “peace be with you”

  • greeting is one of comfort in which Jesus wishes them well (Dillon)

  • Jesus offers the peace he promised to bring (Marshall)

• appearances to individuals are often followed by appearances to group (Marshall)

V37

• “ghost”

  • disembodied person

V38

• “why are you frightened”

  • addresses their mood

  • presence of an unknown spirit would be disturbing, Jesus is trying to tell them that they should recognise who is present and what it means

• “why do doubts arise in you hearts”

  • addresses their lack of perception

  • “heart”

    • a figure for the response of the inner person (Ernst)

  • they should realise that Jesus is in their midst, however they are portrayed as slow to accept the resurrection

  • they do not expect Jesus to be raised nor do they expect him to keep appearing

  • they have to be persuaded; they are as skeptical as the rest of humanity

V39

• doubt is met with revelation (Klostermann)

• “his hands and feet”

  • reference to marks of crucifixion

  • this and John 20:25 suggest Jesus was nailed to the cross (Schneider)

  • this is indeed Jesus (Tiede)

• “touch me and see”

  • they are to “handle” Jesus, use their sense of touch

• “ghost does not have flesh and bones as I have”

  • a disembodied spirit does not possess flesh and bones as Jesus has (Marshall)

  • this is the only description of the resurrected body having flesh and bones

• density of his presence may not have been realised due to ancient clothing

• Paul discusses this in 1 Cor 15:35-49

  • Schweizer incorrectly sees Luke 24:39 as a contradiction to Paul, Paul’s point is another force is key to the resurrection body: a “spiritual” body as opposed to a “soulish” body

  • more than flesh and bone: can be immortal, transformed into form that is able to move through material matter (Tiede)

• Jesus’ resurrected state shows he is clearly transformed, but still has traces of his former existence

V40

• “showed them his hands and feet”

  • Jesus shows them his hands and feet as a follow-up to his call to handle him

• Jesus is resurrected in a form consonant with his previous existence

  • should be no doubt God has done a miraculous work

V41

• “disbelieving and wondering”

  1. a continued state of disbelief (Dillon)

     1. still doubt because it is so unbelievable

  2. rhetorical expression of amazement

     1. incredulous in the sense that it was hard to believe this was happening (Schweizer)

     2. not expressing doubt but rather overwhelming and paralyzing realization

  • Bock says combination of joy and amazement suggests the second option

    • if they did not really believe, they would not have joy

    • this event enhances their growing belief

• “have you anything here to eat?”

  • meal shows it is Jesus and not a phantom, as well as fellowship and oneness

V42

• “broiled fish”

  • some object to the presence of fish in Jerusalem but this should not be seen as problematic (Marshall, Jeremias)

V43

• “in front of”

  • significance tied to table fellowship, deemphasises Luke’s concern about the risen body’s physical substance (Dillon)

  • it is not a shared meal, even though there is acceptance from Jesus (Bock), says Dillon is pressing the setting too much

  • Jesus is enjoying a meal in front of his disciples and he is really in their midst: Luke’s lesson to the reader