Luke 24:36-40

The Last Appearances of Christ. Luke 24, 36-53.

Easter evening: V. 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you! V. 37. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. V. 38. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? V. 39. Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. V. 40. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet.

While the Emmaus disciples were still recounting the happenings of the afternoon, Jesus Himself suddenly stood in the midst of the assembly, His appearance here being as unexpected as His departure from Emmaus had been a few hours before. He greeted them with the greeting of peace, which should have reassured them at once. His resurrection, as it had been announced through a number of witnesses in the course of the day, was a fact. He was now standing before the eyes of His disciples, alive and well.

True, there was a difference. His body now partook of the nature of a spirit. With it He had passed through the sealed tomb and through the locked doors. It was no longer subject to the natural laws governing time and place.

And He brought them the wonderful gift of peace, peace in the highest and best sense of the term. He has made peace through the blood of His cross, Col. 1, 20. The wrath of God was satisfied through His suffering and death. And by the resurrection of Christ this peace is sealed to all believers. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Strange to say, this sudden appearance of Christ under such unusual circumstances filled the disciples with the greatest fear and terror. Whereas a few minutes ago they had mutually congratulated themselves that He was risen indeed, they now had the idea that they were looking upon a ghost.

Jesus therefore rebukes them kindly, but earnestly for their unbelief. They should not be so utterly disturbed, nor should thoughts of such a nature arise in their hearts. He invited them to look closely at His hands and feet, with the marks of His crucifixion plainly showing. And if the evidence of one sense did not suffice, they should take their fingers and pass over His body and convince themselves that there was no ghost before them, but their old true Friend and Master. That same Jesus of Nazareth that was born of the Virgin Mary, that suffered under Pontius Pilate, that was crucified and died, He stood before them.

This Christ is also in the state of exaltation true man according to body and soul, our flesh and blood, our Brother in all eternity. Only His is a glorified body. In and with this body He is our Savior and Redeemer, as the nail-wounds in His hands and feet showed. And this is incidentally our guarantee that He will change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body; Phil. 3, 21. But with spiritism this appearance had nothing whatever to do.

“Therefore we should know that all false ghosts and visions that permit themselves to be seen and heard, especially with rattling and blustering, are not the souls of men, but certainly devils, that thus have their sport, in order either to deceive people with false pretense and lies, or to terrorize and plague them in vain. ...This I say that we may be sensible and not let ourselves be deceived with respect to such frauds and lies, as the devil till now has deceived and fooled, under the name of spirits, even fine people” (Luther, 11, 690).