The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 264

The pnst is forgiven and forgotten." "I Von Gerlach has an interesting suggestion C'ome not," as Stier beautifully sugcsts, "RS thnt the feet wore especially rofel'red to a wrathful Judge to reckon with you for " because there was in the feet something ,·our unbelief and unfaithfulness. I bring more convincing and touching than eve.n in to you (and all the world) from my se- the hands, on account of the wonder that pnkhre something very different from up- One who he.d been so grievously wounded braidings." could move." '.rhe ree.l reason, however, of Yer. 39.-Bebold my he.nds and my feet, the Lord calling attention to the hands and that it is I myself. "See," he says, in- feet comes out from St. John's e.ccount of ,·iting the terror-stricken disciples to a calm, this appear1mce of the Risen, for he ndds unnffrighted contemplation-" see my han<ls that Jesus also showed them his Bide. TI.Ju~ and my feet pierood with the nails which be pointed to the wounded members of hi, fastened them to the cross; it is I myself." blessed body to show that in the resurrec- Handle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not tion-body he retu.inecl these marks of his flesh and bones, as ye see me have. The wounds. That he retained them now and first words quietly told the awe-struck ones for ever we kuow from the glorious vision of to look closely at him, and to ascertain the Revelation, whe1·e the wounded humanity from the dread marks he bore that what of the Lord appears throned and adored in they looked upon was Jesus their Moster. the highest heaven: "Lo, in the midst of the Then he proceeded to bid them touch him, throne and of the four beasts [living crea- handle him, and so asslll'e themselves that ttires], and in the midst of the elders, stood it was no phantom, no bodiless spirit, that a Lamb aa it had been slain " (Rev. v. 6). wod before them. These words of the 01ll' Master e.nd God retains these as the Lord, and the invitation, " handle me, and glorious tokens of his victory and atone- see," made the deepest impression on the ment. Augustine very strikingly deduces hearers. These, then, were proofs of the from this that perhaps we shall see the same Resurrection that admitted of no shadow of with respect to the wounds of the martyrs doubt. These words, this sight, changed (' De Civ. Dei,' lib. :nii. cap. 19). their lives. What ea.red they afterwards Vera. 41, 42.-And while they yet believed for men and men's threatenings? Death, not for joy. The e.wful joy of the disciples life, to them were all one. They had seen twtD was something too deep for words, even the Lord, they had handled with their for calm belief. St. John records it, too, hands " that which was from the be- with simple pathos. "Then were the dis- ginning" (see 1 John i 1). Browning ciples glad, when they saw the Lord." forcibly puts this thought which so in- This was the fulfilment of his promise to fluenced the first great teachers. The dying them, when, full of sadness, they were l:,t. John is dwelling on the thought that listening to him that last solemn Passover when he is gone there will be none left evening in the upper room. " Ye now with men who satD and touched the Lord. therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, e.nd your bee.rt shall rejoice, and "If I live yet, it is for good, more love your joy no man taketh from you" (John Through me to men: be nought but ashes xvi. 22). In e.fter-de.ys, as John preached here and taught in his old age, how the remem- That keep awhile my semblance, who was brance of that hour must have stirred in his John. heart when he thus wrote ofitl Have ye here Still, when they scatter, there is left on any meat 1 And they gave him a pieoe of earth a broiled fish, and of an honeyoomb. The No one a.live who knew (consider this I), Master would not permit this state of Saw with his eyes, e.nd handled with his wondering ecstasy to continue: so he changes hands, the current of their thought& by thus de- That which was from the first, the Word scending into the region of everyday l_ife, of life. at the same time powerfully demonstratrng How will it be when none more sa.ith, • I by this flll'ther proof that, though change~, saw'?" his resurrection-body was no mere Dooetio (' A Death in the Desert.') semblance, no phantom, but that he could Ver. 40.-Some (but not the majority) of eat if he chose. The next sentence (ver. 43) the older e.vthorities omit this verse. And tells simply how he took the food, and ate when he had thua spoken, he showed them before them. The fish and honeyoomb which his hand.I and his feet. It has been sug- they gave him no doubt formed the staple of gested that the Risen simpl1 pointed to their evening meal Fish was part of the those parts of his body which were not common food of the disciple&-we see thia covered with clothing, and invited the dis- from the mire.oles of the five thousand and ciples to touch thelle, and so to e.ssure them- the four thousand, and also from the na.rre.- selves that he had actually ftesh e.nd Lone. ti vo of John xxi. 9. Honey, we know, in 011. xxrv. 1-53.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 275