Luke 24:36–49 - The Bible's Most Underrated Miracle

Jesus' most underrated miracle proves our physical bodies will live again!

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Gospels: Week 12 — Jesus' Resurrection and commission

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... After He rose from the grave, Jesus appeared to two of His followers as they travelled, but they at first didn't recognize Him. Once they did, they hurried off to tell the disciples.

Luke 24:36–49 (NASB95)

³⁶ While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷ But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. ³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

⁴¹ While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; ⁴³ and He took it and ate it before them. ⁴⁴ Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

⁴⁵ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Belgic Confession

Article 19: The Two Natures of Christ

We believe that by being thus conceived

the person of the Son has been inseparably united

and joined together

with human nature,

in such a way that there are not two Sons of God,

nor two persons,

but two natures united in a single person,

with each nature retaining its own distinct properties...

His human nature has not lost its properties

but continues to have those of a creature—

it has a beginning of days;

it is of a finite nature

and retains all that belongs to a real body.

And even though he,

by his resurrection,

gave it immortality,

that nonetheless did not change

the reality of his human nature;

for our salvation and resurrection

depend also on the reality of his body...

Summary

Luke frames the problem early on in today's passage. The resurrected Jesus suddenly stood in the midst of His gathered followers, but they were startled and frightened because they thought that they were seeing a spirit. The spiritual realm terrifies people because we don't fully understand it. The Bible tells us that it exists, but doesn't explain very much about it. Every time people in the Bible encounter the spiritual realm - either through angels or demons - their reaction is always the same: fear.

But Jesus bridges the gulf between the spiritual and physical, and in today's episode He wants to emphasize, as our Confession put it, the reality of His human nature. It's important to understand that Jesus didn't just spiritually raise from the dead, but that He's physically just as real as every other moment in His life.

So the first thing Jesus points out is His hands and His feet. He invites them to touch Him and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones. But Luke reports that even so, those gathered still could not believe, ironically because of their joy and amazement! There's something to chew on today - how can unbridled joy and amazement keep us from fully having faith?

So Jesus goes on to perform what could be considered the Bible's most underrated miracle: He took a piece of broiled fish and ate it before them. That might not seem all that impressive, but Jesus' little demonstration proves one of the Bible's grandest claims: that the physical bodies of those who trust in Christ, even though, as Paul puts it, their perishable bodies have been sown in the ground, will be raised imperishable, just as physically real as ever.

But there's still plenty of mystery! Jesus' resurrected body is able to eat a piece of broiled fish, but it's also able to appear out of thin air in the middle of locked rooms and vanish in the blink of an eye!

  Dig Deeper  

Today's passage also includes another profound statement:

⁴⁵ Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...

Yes, the Bible does include lots of mystery, and it can be difficult to know what a few of its passages really mean, but the reason that so many people fail to understand the Scriptures isn't that the Bible is just way too obtuse to make sense of.

Quite the opposite! I hope that you've seen so far this year as we've worked our way through the Bible day by day, that every passage, in one way or another, in both the Old Testament and the New, all point to one over arching message proclaiming Good News: that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.

The problem isn't with the Bible; people's inability to understand this gospel message lies squarely within themselves: sin has blinded them to the plain and easy to understand truth the Bible conveys.

But inasmuch as your mind has been opened to this truth by Jesus and His Holy Spirit, you have been made a witness of these things. You can't open the minds of others to understand, and that can be very frustrating, but be sure to know Scripture well so that you can do a good job of testifying to the Good News it tells of.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who raised Jesus' physical body from the grave;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would witness well to the truth of Scripture;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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