Luke Chapter 24 verse 36 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 36-49. - The Lord appears to the apostles as they were gathered together on the evening of the first Easter Day. Verse 36. - And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. St. John, who also gives an account of this appearance of the Risen, adds the detail, "when the doors were shut." The eleven and their friends were gathered together for counsel, probably too in hope that something more would happen after what had already taken place that Easter Day - the report of the holy women of the repeated vision of angels, their own verification of the empty sepulchre, and above all the testimony of Peter that he had seen the Lord. Into this anxious, waiting assembly the two "Emmaus" disciples enter with their wondrous story. In the act of their mentally comparing notes, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. This sudden presence there is evidently supernatural. He "stood in the midst of them," though the doors were carefully closed and barred "for fear of the Jews" Rumours of the Resurrection, no doubt, had already spread through the city, and it was uncertain whether such turnouts might not be followed by the arrest of the chief followers of the Crucified. Peace be unto you. This was the ordinary Jewish greeting, but on this occasion, spoken by the Lord, possessed more than the ordinary meaning. This "peace" was his solemn, comforting greeting to his own, just as "his peace" which he left with them on the sad Thursday eve was his solemn farewell to the eleven, spoken, perhaps, in the same "upper room "just before he went out to the garden of the agony.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(36) Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.--The account agrees with that in John 20:19, who adds the fact that the doors of the room had been closed for fear of the Jews. The mode of appearance in both Gospels suggests the idea, as in Luke 24:31, of new conditions of existence, exempted from the physical limitations of the natural body, and shadowing forth the "spiritual body" of 1Corinthians 15:44. It may be noted, however, that there had been time for the journey from Emmaus without assuming more than the ordinary modes of motion.Peace be unto you.--The words do not appear elsewhere as addressed by our Lord to His disciples, but they were, as we find in Matthew 10:12, Luke 10:5, identical with the customary salutation of the Jews, so that we may fairly assume that here also the familiar words, as before the familiar act, were meant to help the disciples to recognise His presence. St. John records (John 20:19) the same salutation at the same interview. . . .