He Was Not a Ghost
Luke 24:36b-48
Illustration
by Keith Grogg

While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" (Luke 24:41). And now he has made the sacramental moment back into a meal.

That is so Luke. The Physician. Mr. Everything-is-flesh-and-blood; you're either poor or you're not poor; you're either hungry or you're not hungry; you're either sick or you're not sick; none of the in-between "Well, maybe we're poor in a spiritual sense."  For Luke it's always a question of people's physical well-being.  And physically, Jesus, who on Good Friday was completely dead, is now so completely alive that he wants something to eat.  He is not a ghost.

There was some talk in the early church that maybe he was a ghost when he came back. He was not a ghost. He was not a shadow of his former self; he was his former self restored to life, victorious over death. This is not a metaphysical encounter, but a physical one. It was not an illusion, not a dream, but flesh and bone and blood.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., A Ghost Does Not Have Flesh and Bones, by Keith Grogg