But they, being confounded and being frightened, supposed they beheld a spirit.
The disciples had just been saying that the Lord had risen, when He Himself stood among them. Why did people who had just spoken of resurrection take Him for a ghost, and how did He calm them?
These were not strangers. They were the very people who had just announced the resurrection out loud. One writer sets the confession beside the collapse:
They too needed a risen Saviour's challenge to bring them to their senses — to calm their fears and lift their drooping spirits. They had just declared to their two brothers from Emmaus, "The Lord is risen indeed." Yet when their risen Lord appeared they did not know Him. He had to challenge their hearts with His stirring words: "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?"
Commentators differ on the cause. One says they knew whose face they were looking at. What shook them was the way He arrived:
Here it is plain they recognised the form of the Lord. In none of His appearances to them do we find anything ghostly that would make them think they saw a spirit. The two on the road to Emmaus had just before taken Him for an ordinary man… His sudden appearance, with the door shut, staggered them… So it was not a question of whether it was Jesus or someone else, but whether it was Jesus in the body or as a spirit only.
Another traces it to failed recognition, and sees in it something wider in us all:
They most likely failed to recognise Him. They were not expecting Him to come at that time or in that way. So they imagined they saw a phantom until the Master said, "It is I."… In general, the hidden unbelief of man's heart stops him from accepting divine power and love at work in ways beyond the ordinary.
He had already greeted them before the fear rose. Many still live in that gap between His word and their feelings:
At the start of that day the disciples did not enjoy peace. We read, "But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit." Many believers today, sad to say, are terrified and frightened. Why? They have not got Christ simply before them… Are you troubled in your mind? Have you any ground for it?… This is Christ's way with the troubled. We see others troubled and perhaps say, "Poor souls." Then we leave them in their misery and make no real effort to help. In all this we are not much like Christ. He always stoops to put a troubled person at peace.
Their guess was wrong in a way that mattered. The Lord answered it with evidence they could see:
There was His body; it was risen. Who could doubt any longer that it was really the same Jesus who died, and will yet come in glory? "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself!"… The point here is the reality of the resurrection. The risen Jesus is the same one they had known as their Master — still man, not a spirit, but having flesh and bones, and able to eat with them.
Fear was not the only feeling in that room. Joy came next, and it hindered them just as much:
It may be worth noticing that our natural feelings often work against faith. It was so with the disciples at this moment. First they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. Afterwards they did not believe for joy. Both their fear and their joy — their natural emotions — were hindrances to faith. But it should be added that emotions produced by the Spirit of God are helps to faith, not hindrances.
Notice what the Lord did not tell them to examine. He turned their eyes outward:
At once He drives away their fears by directing their gaze to Himself… Looking within filled them with doubts and fears. Looking outside themselves at their risen Lord, they at once saw in His hands and feet the proofs that He had died for them and that He was risen. This brought peace and joy into their hearts.
- Confession — They had said "The Lord is risen indeed" and still did not know Him. Right words are not the same as a heart at rest.
- Cause — Some writers say the shut door and sudden arrival staggered them. Others say they failed to recognise Him, because they expected nothing of the sort. Either way, unbelief was underneath.
- Correction — He answered their word "spirit" with hands, feet, flesh and bones. It was the same Jesus who died — risen, and still a man.
- Caution — Fear blocked their faith, and so did joy. Feelings, whichever way they swing, do not measure what is true.
- Cure — Their fears rose from within. Their peace came from outside: He fixed their eyes on Himself, and He still stoops to put a troubled person at peace.
And he said to them, Why are ye troubled? and why are thoughts rising in your hearts?
The risen Lord has just spoken peace into the room, and the response is terror — the disciples take Him for a ghost. His answer is a question, not a rebuke. It points to where the fear began: in their own hearts.
The question is not cold. One writer traces the fear to its cause, then sets Christ's way with troubled people beside our own.
There are many believers today who are terrified and frightened. Why? They do not have Christ simply before them... Are you troubled in your mind? Listen to what He says. Have you any ground for it? Have you any occasion for it? "Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" This is Christ's way with the troubled. We see others troubled. Perhaps we say, "Poor souls," but we leave them still in their misery, making no great effort to help them. In all this we are not much like Christ. No, He always stoops to put a troubled person at peace.
The ESV says "doubts." One commentator gives two other ways the word has been translated.
Luke 24:38. — "Reasonings." American Revisions: "questionings."
These questionings are not harmless. When our own thoughts take the place of God's, we pay for it.
You will find that the thoughts you have are not always God's thoughts. The thoughts of your heart are a frequent cause of loss of communion, trial, and discomfort to you. "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" was the question our risen Saviour asked His disciples. It was followed by, "Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." It brought Him before them instead of themselves.
The Lord does not send them searching inside themselves. He turns their eyes to Himself.
It is the outward look to Christ risen that gives the inward peace, and the word of God that gives assurance. The Lord appeared among His disciples on the day of the resurrection. He found them troubled by thoughts arising in their hearts. At once He dispels their fears by directing their gaze to Himself. He says, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself." Looking within filled them with doubts and fears. Looking outward at their risen Lord, they at once saw in His hands and feet the proofs that He had died for them, and that He was risen. This brought peace and joy into their hearts.
He answers the fear of a ghost with His own body. Even the words He picks carry meaning.
"Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" He asked them. "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see Me have"! ... Why did our risen Lord say "flesh and bones," and not "flesh and blood"? His blood had been poured out for our eternal redemption.
Behind the question stands a wounded affection. The One asking it had died for the very people now unsure of Him.
He had said to them, "Peace be to you." It touched His tender heart that there should be trouble or a thought in their hearts! How could such deep, sincere love bear to be doubted? He had loved them to death... One had denied Him, and all had forsaken Him. But now God had raised Him from the dead, for their justification... how could He then bear a cloud of trouble, or one doubting thought, in the hearts of those He had so loved?
Christ does not lift them up into glory here. He comes down to where they are.
The whole scene in Luke 24 has this character. He meets men in their weakness. He does not take them up to the higher place in glory... "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts... handle Me and see... it is I Myself." How gracious!
- Peace spoken. He greets them with peace before He asks the question. The trouble was in the room, not in His heart toward them.
- Thoughts risen. The "doubts" are reasonings, or questionings. Our own thoughts take the place of God's, and cost us communion and comfort.
- Eyes outward. Looking within produced fear. Looking at the risen Lord produced peace, and His word gives assurance.
- Hands and feet. The proof is a real body: flesh and bones, not a spirit. He does not say "flesh and blood," because His blood had already been poured out for redemption.
- Grace stooping. He meets them in their weakness instead of lifting them to glory. His love cannot bear a doubt from those He died for.
A note on wording: where the ESV says "doubts," older translations say "thoughts arise in your hearts." Where the ESV says "See my hands and my feet," they say "Behold." Several quotes above use the older wording.
behold my hands and my feet, that it is *I* myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having.
The disciples had already heard that the Lord was risen. Yet when He stood among them, they thought they were seeing a ghost. His answer was not an argument but an invitation: look at the hands and feet, and put your own hands on Him.
He met their fear with the simplest proof of all. He gave them Himself, to see and to touch.
He presents Himself to His disciples. Their hopes are ruined and their future is scattered, and they are terrified and afraid. They had laid all their hopes in the grave of Jesus, never to rise again, as they thought... And how does He reassure their hearts? He presents HIMSELF, saying, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF."
The words "I myself" answer what they feared. A visit from His departed spirit would not have been Him as they knew Him.
To those who had known Him as the living man among them, a mere visit from His departed spirit would not have been "Himself." It is not a question of exact definitions, but of the heart, and the Lord answers the heart. They saw Him. They did not believe that a living man could come among them in that mysterious way, so they thought they saw a spirit. He answers that by telling them to prove He had flesh and bones.
The proof went further than touch. He asked for food and ate in front of them.
It is the Lord Himself, risen from the dead. He is a real man, with hands and feet, able to be touched and seen — not a spirit, but a spiritual body. Of this He gave the fullest proof by going on to eat in their presence. As having a body He could eat; as having a spiritual body He did not need to eat. So the resurrection of the body had its glorious proof in His own person. Their faith needed that, and nothing could support it more strongly.
Blood belongs to a life that wears out and must be replaced.
The blood applies to the present life. It is the vehicle of change. It is what implies the need of continual sustenance and renewal. A body that needs no renewal cannot need blood to renew it. So the Lord speaks of Himself as risen from the dead, not as having flesh and blood, but as having flesh and bones... He has poured out His blood and left it with the earthly life He had lived. He has entered a new sphere, keeping all that makes Him truly man, but not the conditions of the old earthly life.
Some reduce the risen Christ to a spirit in an unseen world. The word He left out answers them.
Spiritists say that Christ is the supreme Spirit in the unseen world. But God says He is a Man, in a raised, glorified body at His right hand! Why did our risen Lord say "flesh and bones," and not "flesh and blood"? His blood had been poured out for our eternal redemption.
Some treat "spiritual" as the opposite of physical. This verse settles what the believer's raised body will be.
Scripture does not speak that way. The Spirit tells us that the body the saints will have in the resurrection will be incorruptible and immortal, and spiritual as well. When He rose from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." His body was still "flesh and bones," yet it was spiritual. The body of the believer will be the same in resurrection.
He showed them the hands and the feet that had served them long before the nails went through.
What wonders those "hands" had worked in their sight! How those "feet" had walked the path ahead of them, never growing tired! Now each one shows, in the mark of the nails, man's cruel and murderous hatred of Him — and even more strongly, the Saviour's love for sinners.
Terror came first, then joy — and neither one produced belief.
Our natural feelings are often in conflict with faith. It was so with the disciples at this moment. At first they were terrified and afraid, and thought they had seen a spirit. Later, their joy kept them from believing. Both their fear and their joy — their natural emotions — were hindrances to faith. But it should be added that emotions produced by the Spirit of God are helps to faith and not hindrances.
- Himself. He did not argue them out of their fear; He gave them His own Person to look at and to touch.
- Bones. "Flesh and bones" says the body is real; the silence about blood says He never took back the life He poured out at the cross.
- Handled. He told them to touch Him, then ate in front of them. That proves a real body — one that could eat, but no longer needed to.
- Spiritual. His risen body was spiritual and still flesh and bones; the believer's raised body will be of the same kind.
- Faith. Fear kept them from believing, and so did joy. Only He Himself, seen and touched, settled their hearts.
And having said this he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.