Sharing a Meal, Reflection on Luke 24:40-43

They've heard first-hand from eye-witnesses. Yet, they're startled and terrified. They think they're seeing a ghost. To reassure them, Jesus speaks to him.

And he shows them his hands and feet--the wounds inflicted by his enemies.

Off on a tangent--I'm pondering the question of whether they would have found it easier to recognize a returning leader who had left them in triumph rather than in an ignominious death.

Their reaction is a mixture of joy and disbelief.

His reaction is to suggest that they share a meal. And as in Emmaus (and earlier, in Bethsaida, Luke 9:10-17), he eats with them.

He eats with them. In Preaching through the Christian Year, Fred Craddock writes:
Luke is also saying no to those doctrines of resurrection that were really pagan notions of the immortality of the spirit. Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead, not escape into a spirit world.

And Luke is saying no to those notions of spirituality that view the body and all things physical as inherently inferior or evil. Those who view themselves as just passing through this evil world tend to neglect the physical, economic, and political needs of other human beings. Luke reminds us that the risen Christ said, "Look at my wounds," and, "Do you have anything to eat?"

No one can follow this Christ and say that discipleship means only concerned with "souls."