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.
But while they yet did not believe for joy, and were wondering, he said to them, Have ye anything here to eat?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And they gave him part of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb;
It is the evening of resurrection day. The disciples are standing in a room with a Man they had watched die. They are too glad and too startled to trust their own eyes. What they hand Him — a piece of broiled fish — settles the question that words alone had not. Some translations also add a honeycomb to the meal, which is why several writers name both.
Their problem was not coldness but confusion. Joy and wonder ran ahead of faith, and His question about food met them right there.
Wonder and joy were mingled in their minds, and I can understand the mixed state of their hearts. They were thrilled with joy, while hampered with unbelief and wonder. His words, "Have you anything here to eat?" made the reality of His presence absolute to them... All was now clear. Every mist of doubt rolled away as they saw Him eat.
His eating proves He has a body. It does not mean He was hungry. Commentators draw a careful line here between what the risen Lord was able to do and what He required.
It is the Lord Himself, risen from the dead. He is a real man, with hands and feet they could touch and see. He is not a spirit, but has a spiritual body. Of this He gave the fullest proof by proceeding to eat in their presence. As having a body He could eat; as having a spiritual body He did not need to eat. So His own person gave the resurrection of the body its glorious proof. Their faith needed this, and nothing could support it more strongly.
The same act says two things at once. It rules out a phantom, and it also shows a body that is no longer tied to earthly conditions.
Scripture also shows us that the resurrection body does not depend on earthly conditions. At the same time, it can enter into them. He ate the broiled fish and honeycomb to show them His body was truly material. Yet it was no longer a body for the earth.
Why does a meal matter so much? One writer answers: rescuing the spirit alone would have left the body as Satan's trophy.
Suppose God had said, "Satan has ruined your body, so I will take you to be with Me in spirit." That would have confirmed Satan's victory over the body. Did God come into the world to do that?... it is necessary to see that He has got a victory in this world; so to prove this, the Lord stoops down in a wonderful way. "He said to them, Have you anything here to eat?" Why was all that? Simply to verify that it was no mere spirit that stood before them. The Lord came to fight a battle for you — real flesh and blood you can touch. Manhood you can touch was destroyed, so manhood you can touch must be redeemed.
Risen and glorified, He does not hold Himself at a distance. He is still the same Man His friends knew.
The Lord presents Himself as the very same Man... Here also His hands, His feet, all that marked His manhood, His previous wounds are presented. He eats... The Lord shows it to them in a very ordinary, close-up way. He eats and drinks in front of them — how far He stoops! But this was reality and truth. It restored their souls and made them know Him as still a Man — risen indeed, but a Man, truly and really.
Notice whose meal this was. The fish came from their own supper. A later meal by the lake turns that around.
The Lord was about to give them the strongest proof that His Person was real. So He eats the broiled fish and honeycomb they had provided for themselves. This assures them it is really Himself. When you come to John 21, again there was broiled fish, but this time He provided it, to assure them that He cared for them. How rich and deep is the grace that ever provides that which will confirm our faith, and feed and sustain our souls.
The meal met a need, but not His own. Behind the evidence stands His love for His own.
The One they killed on a tree ate and drank with His own after He rose from the dead. He did not need the food. They needed the evidence that He was alive from the dead — a truly risen Man, Who loved His own who were in the world, and loved them to the fullest.
- Doubt — their unbelief came from joy, not hardness, and He answered it with a fact they could watch.
- Body — as a man He could eat; as risen He did not need to, so the meal proves reality without implying weakness.
- Victory — Satan ruined the manhood you can touch, so Christ redeemed the manhood you can touch. A rescued spirit alone would leave the body lost.
- Stooping — the risen Lord takes food His friends had kept for themselves. Later, by the lake, He provides the meal Himself.
- Witness — He did not need the fish. They needed the evidence that He was alive, and that evidence became the ground of their faith.
and he took it and ate before them.
Here the risen Jesus takes a piece of fish from His disciples' hands and eats it while they watch. Commentators ask two things: what this proves about His body, and why He would stoop to such a plain proof.
The disciples wondered whether they were seeing a spirit. Eating settles the question in a way no argument could. One writer draws a careful line between what the risen body could do and what it needed:
It is the Lord Himself, risen from the dead, but a real man, with hands and feet that they could touch and see — not a spirit, but a spiritual body. Of this He gave the fullest proof by proceeding 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 was gloriously proved in His own person — the support their faith needed, and the weightiest it could have.
So why eat at all, if He had no need of food? One writer answers by describing the kind of body He now has:
Scripture also shows that the resurrection body does not depend on earthly conditions, and yet it can enter them. He ate the broiled fish and honeycomb to show them that His body was real matter. Yet it was no longer a body for the earth.
The marks on His hands and feet tie that new condition back to the cross:
His was a body of "flesh and bones." The conditions were new, yet it was to be recognized as the body of "flesh and blood" in which He had suffered. The marks of that suffering were there in both hands and feet. While the truth was dawning in their minds, He made it plainer still by eating in front of them, so that they might see He was not just "a spirit."
The point is not only that a man rose, but that this man rose. One writer shows how the apostles' testimony rested on meals like this one:
The apostles were witnesses of His resurrection. They had eaten and drunk with Him afterwards. That was the proof that He was still a true man, though He then had a spiritual body, and that He was the same Jesus whom they had known alive on the earth. The end of Luke's Gospel is the basis of every record in the Acts. There it is remarkable how Jesus, in perfect grace, takes pains to make the disciples sure that He was the same Jesus they had known.
Notice the order of what He offers them — words, then sight, then touch, and only then the meal:
But notice how kindly the Lord cleared away their doubts and fears. See what pains He took to convince them that His resurrection was real. He gently says to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?" Then with infinite grace He says, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself." He even said, "Touch Me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And finally, to chase away the fears that still clouded their sight, He said, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. He took it and ate before them — the blessed Lord, as the Risen Man, stooping to share the food of His humble followers.
Rising from the dead changed the shape of His life with them, but not the nearness:
It is true that He no longer shared one home and table with His disciples, as He once had… But still there was full intimacy… He eats and drinks with them, as He once did. He calls them "brothers," as He had not done before His resurrection. He speaks of having one God and Father with them, as He had not done then.
- Doubt. The disciples thought they were seeing a spirit, and the meal met that exact fear.
- Proof. Eating showed a real body: as a man He could eat, though in a spiritual body He had no need to.
- Identity. The One eating was the same Jesus they had known, with the marks of His suffering still on His hands and feet.
- Grace. He took pains, step by step — word, sight, touch, food — stooping to share the plain food of His followers.
- Fellowship. The meal that proved His resurrection also kept the friendship: He eats with them as before, and now calls them brothers.