Jesus surprised and frightened his disciples when he suddenly appeared among them. They were in hiding behind doors that were securely locked. Seeking to bring calmness to this gathering, Jesus asked them for something to eat. The doubters think that Jesus is a ghost. They just cannot believe that he is real. To those who had experienced Jesus approaching them while they were trying to row their boat in stormy waters, this appearance is even more unreal. Jesus is supposed to be dead. Jesus told them many times that he was going to die. He also told them that he would take his body up again. When Jesus was challenged about his authority to wreak havoc in the temple (see Jn. 2:13-19), he said to the Jews: “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days” (:19). Jesus was talking about his body. Many times, Jesus had told them that he would die. However, he also said that he would take his body up again.
Truly hearing Jesus was a problem for men who had a kingdom on earth mentality. I imagine that they found a table and a chair for Jesus. As Jesus sat and calmly ate the fish, things settled down. Then he said to them; “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Lu. 24:44). Remember what Jesus said just before he died on the cross. “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). What was finished was the fulfillment of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Jesus. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” When Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, God’s new covenant replaced them (see Jer. 31:31-34).
In speaking to the disciples and the others who had locked themselves in a room, Jesus used the term: “While I was with you.” Well, Jesus was with them as he spoke to them. What Jesus is talking about is the time before his death. Jesus has been glorified in the presence of God the Father, and he now wears a body that will never die. Jesus is changed. Our peace and our comfort should come in realizing that one day we will be like Jesus (see 1 Cor. 15:49). “And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.” We will be with God and we will eat from the tree of eternal life that yields twelve crops of fruit. “Yielding its fruit every month” (see rev. 22:1-5)! Death is dead. We have nothing to fear. Stay tuned!