Jesus, Is that You? – Holy Trinity Lutheran Church

In Luke 24:41, Jesus, in his post-Easter appearances to the apostles, looks like a ghost, so naturally the Apostles are afraid. They thought Jesus was a ghost once before when he walked on water, so the Apostles are confused and scared. Jesus tells them who he is and not to be afraid. Then Jesus does something interesting: he asks if there is anything to eat. It is not that Jesus likes boiled fish or is hungry after a rough couple of days without eating. It is that Jesus wants to prove to them that he is human and that he is present in the flesh.

It was important that Jesus prove that he is back to his human state so that they could understand that he was raised after being dead, instead of being a person trapped between life and afterlife as a ghost. This was a moment of proof. Jesus ate the fish, and the Apostles concluded that ghosts don’t eat, so this must be Jesus in the flesh.

It is interesting that while Jesus was alive with them, he was trying to have them see his divine nature; that after his death, Jesus wants to reveal his human nature. Through that fish, their eyes were opened to who Jesus was and what happened to him. They even saw how Jesus predicted it, and how it was prophesized in Scripture. It was also revealed that repentance and forgiveness are to be proclaimed.

As time went on, a fish became the symbol for faith in Jesus Christ: Ichthus (IXOYC), or Greek for fish. Christians used this symbol as a way to connect with each other and share their faith. While Jesus taught in parables, the physical example he used to hook people to his message was the fish — from “Come be fishers of people” to eating fish to convince the Apostles of his resurrection. So today, think of the fish as a simple item that becomes sacramental as it opens our eyes in faith.

Pastor Gerry

The Gospel according to Luke 24:36b-48

^36bJesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.”