Luke 24:42 Kommentar

Our Lord Jesus went gloriously down to death, in spite of the malice of his enemies, who did all they could to make his death ignominious; but he rose again more gloriously, of which we have an account in this chapter; and the proofs and evidences of Christ's resurrection are more fully related by this evangelist than they were by Matthew and Mark. Here is, I. Assurance given by two angels, to the woman who visited the sepulchre, that the Lord Jesus was risen from the dead, according to his own word, to which the angels refer them (Luk 24:1-7), and the report of this to the apostles (Luk 24:8-11). II. The visit which Peter made to the sepulchre, and his discoveries there (Luk 24:12). III. Christ's conference with the two disciples that were going to Emmaus, and his making himself known to them (v. 13-35). IV. His appearing to the eleven disciples themselves, the same day at evening (Luk 24:36-49). V. The farewell he gave them, his ascension into heaven, and the joy and praise of his disciples whom he left behind (Luk 24:50-53).

Now upon the first day of the week,.... On which day it appears by what follows, Christ rose from the dead, and which was the third day from his death, and so verified the Scriptures, and his own predictions: very early in the morning; just as light began to spring, the day to dawn, and break; the first appearance of the morning; when it first began to dawn; when it was yet dark, as in Joh 20:1 and so read the Syriac and Persic versions here; and the Ethiopic version, "while it was yet night": this must be understood of the time when the women set out from the city, or suburbs; for by that time they got to the sepulchre it was at sunrise, Mar 16:2 and shows their great love, zeal, and devotion for Christ, and great courage and fearlessness to go out of the city at such a time, without any man with them, and to a grave: they came unto the sepulchre, where Christ was laid; that is, the women who came with Christ from Galilee, and who had observed where, and how his body was interred: bringing the spices which they had prepared; on the sabbath eve, to anoint the body, but were prevented by reason of the sabbath; see Luk 23:56 and certain others with them; that is, other women; besides Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, and Salome, and other Galilean women, there were other Jerusalem women, or of Bethany, it may be, Mary, and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and of the parts adjacent: this clause is left out in the Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, and in one ancient copy of Beza's; but is retained in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions.

Then opened he their understanding,.... He not only opened their hearts, to attend to what he said, and the proofs he gave of his resurrection from the dead in a true body; but he removed the veil from the eyes of their minds, and gave them an understanding of the sacred writings, respecting this matter: that they might understand the Scriptures; concerning his sufferings, death, and resurrection, which they were very ignorant of before, and which were as a sealed book unto them, Joh 20:9 though they had been from their infancy brought up to the reading of the Scriptures, and had had the advantage of Christ's ministry for some years; which shows the necessity of the special illumination of the Spirit, and the influence of his grace to remove the darkness of the mind, and give the true sense of the sacred writings.

I myself am convinced and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection. When he came to Peter and his friends, he said to them, “Take hold of me. Touch me, and see that I am not a bodiless ghost.” They immediately touched him. They were convinced, clutching his body and his very breath. For this reason, they despised death itself and proved its victors. After the resurrection, he also ate and drank with them as a real human being, although in spirit he was united with the Father.

Yes, and besides the figure, there is contumely with ready lip, and dishonour, and infamy, and the ferocity involved in the cruel things which then disfigured and lacerated the temples of the Lord, that you may now be crowned with laurel, and myrtle, and olive, and any famous branch, and which is of more use, with hundred-leaved roses too, culled from the garden of Midas, and with both kinds of lily, and with violets of all sorts, perhaps also with gems and gold, so as even to rival that crown of Christ which He afterwards obtained. For it was after the gall He tasted the honeycomb and He was not greeted as King of Glory in heavenly places till He had been condemned to the cross as King of the Jews, having first been made by the Father for a time a little less than the angels, and so crowned with glory and honour.

(Orat. 1. de Res.) By the command of the law indeed the Passover was eaten with bitter herbs, because the bitterness of bondage still remained, but after the resurrection the food is sweetened with a honeycomb; as it follows, And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb.

While they were still flustered for joy, they were rejoicing and doubting at the same time. They were seeing and touching, and scarcely believing. What a tremendous favor grace has done us! We have neither seen nor touched, and we have believed. While they were still flustered for joy, he said, "Have you got here anything to eat? Certainly you can believe that I am alive and well if I join you in a meal." They offered him what they had: a portion of grilled fish. Grilled fish means martyrdom, faith proved by fire. Why is it only a portion? Paul says, "If I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." Imagine a complete body of martyrs. Some suffer because of love, while others suffer out of pride. Remove the pride portion, offer the love portion. That is the food for Christ. Give Christ his portion. Christ loves the martyrs who suffered out of love.

To produce in them a more firmly settled faith in his resurrection, he asked for something to eat. They brought a piece of broiled fish, which he took and ate in the presence of them all. He did this only to show them that the one risen from the dead was the same one who ate and drank with them during the whole previous period of time when he talked with them as a man, according to the prophet's voice. He intended them to perceive that the human body certainly does need sustenance of this kind but a spirit does not.… The power of Christ surpasses human inquiry. It is not on the level of the understanding of ordinary events. He ate a piece of fish because of the resurrection. The natural consequences of eating by no means followed in the case of Christ, as the unbeliever might object, knowing that whatsoever enters the mouth must necessarily come out into the drain. The believer will not admit these quibbles into his mind but leaves the matter to the power of God.

The resurrection of the Lord was truly the resurrection of a real body, because no other person was raised than he who had been crucified and died. What else was accomplished during that interval of forty days than to make our faith entire and clear of all darkness? For a while, he spoke with his disciples and remained with them, ate with them and allowed himself to be felt with careful and inquisitive touch by those who were under the influence of doubt. This was his purpose in going in to them when the doors were shut. He gave them the Holy Ghost by his breath. After giving them the light of intelligence, he opened the secrets of holy Scripture. In his same person, he showed them the wound in the side, the prints of the nails and all the fresh tokens of the passion. He said, “See my hands and feet. It is I myself. Handle me and see. A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” He did all this so that we might acknowledge that the properties of the divine and the human nature remain in him without causing a division. We now may know that the Word is not what the flesh is. We may now confess that the one Son of God is Word and flesh.

In the midst of these things, both yesterday's reading of the holy Gospel and today's admonishes us that we ought to carefully consider why our Lord and Redeemer is recorded to have eaten roasted fish after his resurrection. For what is repeated in deed is not without mystery. For in this reading he ate bread and roasted fish, but in that which was read yesterday he ate with the roasted fish also a honeycomb. What do we believe the roasted fish signifies, except the Mediator himself between God and men who suffered? For he deigned to hide in the waters of the human race, he willed to be caught, caught in the snare of our death, and was as it were roasted by tribulation at the time of his passion. But he who deigned to become a roasted fish in his passion, became a honeycomb for us in his resurrection. Or did he who wished to prefigure the tribulation of his passion in the roasted fish, wish to express both natures of his person in the honeycomb? For a honeycomb is honey in wax, but honey in wax is divinity in humanity.

Then they offered him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb. And when he had eaten before them, he took the remains and gave them to them. What do we believe the broiled fish to signify, if not the Mediator between God and men, himself suffering as a man? For he deigned to hide in the waters of the human race and willed to be caught in the snare of our death, and as it were, to be roasted by the fire of his passion. But he who deigned to become a broiled fish in his passion, was to us a honeycomb in his resurrection. Or does the one who willed in the broiled fish to symbolize the tribulations of his passion, in the honeycomb wish to express both natures of his person? For the honeycomb is honey in wax. The honey in the wax is divinity in humanity. Thus, the Redeemer manifests his own, so that he might lay out for us the path to follow. For behold, he wished to join a honeycomb with his broiled fish because assuredly he receives into eternal rest in his body those who here endure tribulations for God and do not withdraw from the love of interior sweetness. When a honeycomb is taken with a broiled fish, it means that those who here take on affliction for the truth are there satisfied with true sweetness.

But mystically, the broiled fish of which Christ ate signifies the sufferings of Christ. For He having condescended to lie in the waters of the human race, was willing to be taken by the hook of our death, and was as it were burnt up by anguish at the time of His Passion. But the honeycomb was present to us at the resurrection. By the honeycomb He wished to represent to us the two natures of His person. For the honeycomb is of wax, but the honey in the wax is the Divine nature in the human.

The foods He consumed seem to have a certain hidden meaning as well. By eating "a piece of broiled fish," the Lord indicates that by the fire of His Divinity He broiled our nature, which was swimming in the salt sea of this life, dried up all the moisture clinging to it from the deep waters, and especially from the waves, and thus made it divine food, rendering what was formerly unclean into a morsel pleasing to God. This is signified by the honeycomb, that is, the present sweetness of our nature, which was formerly rejected. Or, I also think that "broiled fish" signifies the active life, which by means of the coals of the desert and of silence destroys in us the excess of moisture and fatness, while "honeycomb" signifies knowledge or contemplation, since the words of God are sweet (Ps. 19:10). However, there is the honey of drones — pagan wisdom, and there is the honey of bees — divine wisdom, and the bee is Christ. Although it is small in size, for the word is brief and weak in power, since Paul preaches not with wisdom of words, lest the cross be made void (1 Cor. 1:17), nevertheless it is beloved by kings and common people alike, who use its labors for the health of their souls.

The things eaten seem also to contain another mystery. For in that He ate part of a broiled fish, He signifies that having burnt by the fire of His own divinity our nature swimming in the sea of this life, and dried up the moisture which it had contracted from the waves, He made it divine food; and that which was before abominable He prepared to be a sweet offering to God, which the honeycomb signifies. Or by the broiled fish He signifies the active life, drying up the moisture with the coals of labour, but by the honeycomb, the contemplative life on account of the sweetness of the oracles of God.

But some one will say, If we allow that our Lord ate after His resurrection, let us also grant that all men will after the resurrection take the nourishment of food. But these things which for a certain purpose are done by our Saviour, are not the rule and measure of nature, since in other things He has purposed differently. For He will raise our bodies, not defective but perfect and incorrupt, who yet left on His own body the prints which the nails had made, and the wound in His side, in order to show that the nature of His body remained the same after the resurrection, and that He was not changed into another substance.

The women coming early to the sepulchre on the first day of the week, bringing their spices, find the stone rolled away, and the tomb empty, Luk 24:1-3. They see a vision of angels, who announce Christ's resurrection, Luk 24:4-8. The women return and tell this to the eleven, Luk 24:9, Luk 24:10. They believe not, but Peter goes and examines the tomb, Luk 24:11, Luk 24:12. Christ, unknown, appears to two of the disciples who were going to Emmaus, and converses with them, vv. 13-29. While they are eating together, he makes himself known, and immediately disappears, Luk 24:30, Luk 24:31. They return to Jerusalem, and announce his resurrection to the rest of the disciples, Luk 24:32-35. Jesus himself appears to them, and gives them the fullest proof of the reality of his resurrection, Luk 24:36-43. He preaches to them, and gives them the promise of the Holy Spirit, Luk 24:44-49. He takes them to Bethany, and ascends to heaven in their sight, Luk 24:50, Luk 24:51. They worship him, and return to Jerusalem, Luk 24:52, Luk 24:53.

ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE WOMEN THAT CHRIST IS RISEN--PETER'S VISIT TO THE EMPTY SEPULCHRE. (Luk 24:1-12) Why, &c.--Astonishing question! not "the risen," but "the Living One" (compare Rev 1:18); and the surprise expressed in it implies an incongruity in His being there at all, as if, though He might submit to it, "it was impossible He should be holden of it" (Act 2:24).

honeycomb--common frugal fare, anciently.