The emphasis here is on the physical reality of Jesus' body after His resurrection whereas in the previous pericope the stress was on His supernatural nature. The incident clarifies that the One who rose from the dead was indeed Jesus of Nazareth, a real man.
24:36-37 This incident followed the preceding one immediately. As Jesus had disappeared (v. 31), so He now appeared. The doors to the room were shut (John 20:19). Luke stressed that it was indeed Jesus by writing, "He Himselfstood in their midst."
Some translations include the disputed reading "And He said to them, Peace be with you"(e.g., NIV). A scribe who was familiar with John 20:19 may have included this sentence in a later copy of this Gospel. It has strong textual support in John but not in Luke.
24:37-38 Jesus' sudden and unexpected appearance terrified the disciples (cf. 1:12). They apparently thought that Jesus was an apparition (Gr. pneuma, a person lacking corporeal existence), not an angel, since He appeared as He did (cf. v. 39; Acts 23:8-9). Jesus' questions implied that they should have recognized that it was He. Since they had questions and doubted the reality of His presence it is unlikely that they projected their hope that He was alive and only imagined that He arose.
24:39 Anyone wishing to prove his real presence might offer his hands and feet for inspection as Jesus did. However the Roman soldiers had pierced Jesus' hands and feet with nails so the wounds would have identified Him as Jesus (John 20:25-27). Jesus claimed, "It is I Myself"(Gr. ego eimi autos, cf. ego eimi, which John recorded Jesus saying frequently in his Gospel). He encouraged His followers to touch Him as well as to look at Him and to satisfy their senses that His body was real. His human body had flesh and bones, which ghosts do not have. The phrase "flesh and blood"is a similar expression that also describes a physical body (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50).
24:40 This verse is probably authentic. It has questionable textual support and is similar to, but not identical to, John 20:20. However, the differences with John 20:20 and the textual support favor inclusion in our versions. Evidently Jesus offered the disciples His hands, feet, and side for them to examine as further proof that His body was real.
Docetism was a heresy in the early history of the church that denied that Jesus' body was genuinely human. These verses would have helped the early Christians combat this error. However these statements are not the strongest proofs of Jesus' humanity since everyone agrees that Jesus' resurrection body was different from His pre-resurrection body. Better proof consists of the evidences of Jesus' true humanity before His resurrection. Luke gave his original Greek readers many such proofs in this Gospel.
24:41-43 The disciples could no longer disbelieve because of lack of evidence. However, they still had trouble accepting Jesus' resurrection because it seemed too good to be true. Luke's joy motif surfaces again here. Jesus gave them further proof by eating a piece of cooked fish that was convenient. We should not extrapolate from this that His resurrection body depended on physical food for nourishment (cf. Gen. 18:8; 19:3). Jesus' resurrection body was immortal (1 Cor. 15:35-49).
Luke omitted Mark's reference to Jesus upbraiding the disciples on this occasion for their unbelief (Mark 16:14). This is typical of Luke who usually did not discourage his disciple readers with references to Jesus criticizing His followers.
