Luke 24:43

To convey therefore the truth of His resurrection, He condescends not only to be touched by His disciples, but to eat with them, that they might not suspect that His appearance was not actual, but only imaginary. Hence it follows, And when he had eaten before them, he took the remnant, and gave to them. He ate indeed by His power, not from necessity. The thirsty earth absorbs water in one way, the burning sun in another way, the one from want, the other from power.

He ate therefore after the resurrection, not as needing food, nor as signifying that the resurrection which we are expecting will need food; but that He might thereby build up the nature of a rising body.

After his resurrection from the dead, he put aside all his passions: ruin, hunger and thirst, sleep and fatigue, and the like. Although he did taste food after his resurrection, it was not in obedience to any law of nature. He did not feel hunger, but at the appointed time, he confirmed the truth of the resurrection by showing that the flesh which had suffered and that which had risen were the same.

When the disciples still did not believe and were not convinced even by touch, the Lord added yet another proof — the partaking of food, consuming what was eaten by a certain divine power. For everything that is naturally eaten by the mouth passes out …

And therefore he adds: And they offered him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. Now Christ ate this not in secret but publicly, as a proof of his resurrection. Hence he adds: And when he had eaten before them, taking the remains, he …

And he took it, and did eat before them. That is, he took both the fish, and the honeycomb, and ate of them before them, they looking on all the while; and which was a proof of his being truly risen from the dead, and not a spectre, or apparition, and which they failed not afterwards to make use of; see Act 10:41. The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions add, "he took the rest, or what remained, and gave it to them".

We should observe in this passage — the singularly gracious words with which our Lord introduced Himself to His disciples after His resurrection . We read that He suddenly stood in the midst of them and said, "Peace be with you." This was a wonderful saying, when we consider the men to whom it was addressed. It was addressed to eleven disciples, who three days before had shamefully forsaken their Master and fled. They had broken their promises. They had forgotten their professions of readiness to die for Jesus.

THE disciples were gathered together with the doors of the house fast closed, for they were afraid of the Jewish mob. Suddenly HE came, HE who was chief in their thoughts, the Christ whom they had seen dead upon the Cross, whom some of them had helped to bury! There He stood before them and, "they were terrified and frightened." As on a former occasion, on the Sea of Galilee, so now they said, "It is a spirit," and they cried out for fear. The Savior did His best to correct their minds of their mistake.

We should observe in this passage — the singularly gracious words with which our Lord introduced Himself to His disciples after His resurrection . We read that He suddenly stood in the midst of them and said, "Peace be with you." This was a wonderful saying, when we consider the men to whom it was addressed. It was addressed to eleven disciples, who three days before had shamefully forsaken their Master and fled. They had broken their promises. They had forgotten their professions of readiness to die for Jesus. They had been scattered, "every man to his own," and left their Master to die alone. One of them had even denied Him three times. All of them had proved backsliders and cowards. And yet, behold the return which their Master makes to His disciples! Not a word of rebuke is spoken. Not a single sharp saying falls from His lips. Calmly and quietly He appears in the midst of them, and begins by speaking of peace. "Peace be with you!" We see, in this touching saying, one more proof that the love of Christ "surpasses knowledge." It is His glory to pass over a transgression. He "delights in mercy." He is far more willing to forgive — than men are to be forgiven. He is far more ready to pardon — than men are to be pardoned. There is in His almighty heart — an infinite willingness to put away man's transgressions. Though our sins have been as scarlet — He is ever ready . . . to make them as white as snow, to blot them out, to cast them behind His back, to bury them in the depths of the sea, and to remember them no more! All these scriptural phrases are intended to convey the same great truth. The natural man is continually stumbling at them, and refusing to understand them. At this, we need not wonder. Free, full, and undeserved forgiveness to the very uttermost — is not the manner of man. But it is the manner of Christ!

THIS, beloved Friends, is one of the most memorable of our Lord's many visits to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. Each one of these appearances had its own peculiarity. I cannot, at this time, give you even an outline of the special colorings which distinguished each of the many manifestations of our risen Lord. The instance now before us may be considered to be the fullest and most deliberate of all the manifestations, abounding beyond every other in "infallible proofs."

THIS, beloved Friends, is one of the most memorable of our Lord's many visits to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. Each one of these appearances had its own peculiarity. I cannot, at this time, give you even an outline of the special colorings which distinguished each of the many manifestations of our risen Lord. The instance now before us may be considered to be the fullest and most deliberate of all the manifestations, abounding beyond every other in "infallible proofs." Remember that it occurred on the same day in which our Lord had risen from the dead and it was the close of a long day of gracious appearings. It was the summing up of a series of interviews, all of which were proofs of the Lord's Resurrection. There was the empty tomb and the grave clothes left there—the place where the Lord lay was accessible to all who chose to inspect it—for the great stone which had been sealed and guarded was rolled away. This, in itself, was most impressive evidence. Moreover, the holy women had been there and had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive. Magdalene had enjoyed a special interview. Peter and John had been into the empty tomb and had seen for themselves. The report was current that "the Lord was risen, indeed, and had appeared unto Simon." It was a special thing that He should appear unto Simon for the disciples painfully knew how Simon had denied his Master and His appearance unto Simon seemed to have struck them as peculiarly characteristic—it was so like the manner of our Lord. They met together in their bewilderment—the 11 of them gathered, as I suppose, for a social meal, for Mark tells as that the Lord appeared unto them "as they sat at meat." It must have been very late in the day, but they were loath to part and so kept together till midnight.

THE disciples were gathered together with the doors of the house fast closed, for they were afraid of the Jewish mob. Suddenly HE came, HE who was chief in their thoughts, the Christ whom they had seen dead upon the Cross, whom some of them had helped to bury! There He stood before them and, "they were terrified and frightened." As on a former occasion, on the Sea of Galilee, so now they said, "It is a spirit," and they cried out for fear. The Savior did His best to correct their minds of their mistake. He said to them, "Handle Me, and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see I have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet." He went as far as He well could go to prove that He was a real Man, composed of real flesh and bones. Then they believed, for it was perfectly clear that He had risen from the dead and was in their midst. They had hardly begun to believe that their Lord was really with them before it seemed too good to be true! A wave ofjoy came rolling up and then appeared to be sucked back, again, and they seemed to be sucked back by it. They believed not for joy—they were astounded—they were full of wonder. They did believe, otherwise they would have had no joy, but the very joy swallowed up the thing of which it was born and they did not believe because of the excess of joy! This is an experience which has been very common and I merely take this text, tonight, that I may deal with some persons who have found Christ, and are saved, but who are now troubled because it seems too good to be true. First, then, tonight, I shall speak, if I have the strength to do so, upon the difficulty under which they labored— "They yet believed not for joy." Secondly, I shall speak upon the manner in which our Lord helped them to get over the difficulty.