PHANTOMS & FISHES

                                                         PHANTOMS & FISHES

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. Luke 24:36-43.

Introduction

Do you remember as a kid learning how to dive into the water? Sure, some adults can’t swim, never mind dive, but when we were kids, we used to dive off a pier into one of Scotland’s most famous lochs, Loch Lomond. Mind you, you wouldn’t dive into Loch Lomond in a Scottish winter! The water would be freezing cold, but it might even be frozen, you know, solid ice!

Water is one of those trinitarian things, things that reflect the Creator, solid, liquid, vapour or gas. When you dive from a great height, your body passes through the air, and then it passes through the water as you enter it, (if you know how to dive properly, that is!). But what if the water has turned solid?

Why can’t your body pass through a solid such as ice? Because your body is solid, and when it meets another solid object, especially at speed, one or the other or both has to give.

The Apostle Paul appears to refer to human beings as body, soul, and spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where he says, “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ.”

We believe that each human is a trinity of spirit, soul and body, i.e., that each living human being is a soul-spirit with a body.

What does any of this have to do with what we’re looking at in Luke 24:36-43? Before we go there, let me ask: Did Jesus walk on water before or after His resurrection? Did Peter walk on water? Did an axe-head float on water? These are miraculous things! But Jesus, Peter, and an axe-head walking or floating on water don’t suggest for a minute that Jesus, Peter, and the axe-head were not solid objects. Why? Because humans and axe-heads are solid by nature.

The resurrected Jesus went to great lengths to prove to His disciples that His resurrected body was as solid as it had been when it was nailed to the cross:

 

He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Luke 24:38-39.

Phantoms     

If you saw a ghost, you’d turn white as a sheet, wouldn’t you? These disciples had turned as white as the sheet that they thought they saw floating around. We’re told that, “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost” Luke 24:37.

So, the disciples of Jesus were all white as sheets. They thought they had seen a ghost! Ghost in the original language used by Luke here is pneuma, the same word for breath, wind, or spirit.

Now, this seems to mean that the disciples believed in ghosts or spirits. But what are ghosts or spirits? Disembodied souls, you know, dead people? If you are a soul-spirit with a body, then, when the body dies your soul-spirit leaves it. But you don’t get to float around like a bedsheet in the breeze. It’s either straight to Heaven or straight to Hell when you give up the ghost! Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Not, your disembodied spirit will float around for a few days scaring people.

Hebrews 12:23 speaks of disembodied spirits presently in Heaven, i.e., the “Intermediate State”. Hebrews calls them “the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” And there are those spirits in Hell in 1 Peter 3:19 called “the imprisoned spirits.” But for the record, disembodied spirits don’t get to hang around as ghosts after death. It’s straight to either Heaven or Hell!  

So, the resurrected Jesus was scaring people. But was He a ghost? That is the question. There was another time that His disciples thought He was a ghost. Mark 6:47-52,

 

“Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:47-52.

Hold onto that line in Mark 6:51-52, “They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” Matthew records the part where Peter walked on water too,

“LORD, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “LORD, save me!” Matthew 14:28-30.

Anyway, so much for Peter, but, at the moment, what we’re interested in are the words, “When they saw him [Jesus] walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost.” Jesus, walking on the sea is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John. John doesn’t mention it, but the word ghost as used by Matthew and Mark is not pneuma as in spirit, but phantasma as in an apparition, a phantasm, or a phantom even.

Are phantoms solid, liquid, or gas? What would happen if you were to try to touch a phantasm or spectre, a phantom? Your hand would pass right through it, wouldn’t it? Why? Because it’s not solid.

But the pre-resurrected Jesus is neither ghost nor phantom. He is Body, Soul, and Spirit like every other real and true human being. However, unlike every other human being, He is fully God and fully Man in one Person. He is one Divine Person with two natures.

It is a common error to confuse His humanity with His divinity, and His divinity with His humanity. This is where we need to be really careful. Please do not ascribe divine attributes to His humanity or human attributes to His divinity. Yes, Jesus is one Person, not two persons, He is one Divine Person with two natures forever. Always keep His two natures distinct. Never confuse them.

Why did the pre-resurrected Jesus walk on water? It was to demonstrate His divinity.

 And why did the pre-resurrected Jesus feed the five thousand before His resurrection? Yes, it was to prove that, though He was fully Man, He was also fully God.

But why did the post-resurrected Jesus feed Himself? It was to prove that, though He was fully God, He was still also fully Man even after His resurrection.

His disciples thought He was a ghost before His resurrection, and again after His resurrection. They were confusing and accusing Him of being a phantom, a ghost, i.e., a spirit. “When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost.”

Jesus did miracles such as feeding the five thousand and walking on water to show that He was divine. And why did His disciples find it so hard to believe even after all the outward and observable demonstrations of His divinity? Yes, it was because, “They had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened” Mark 6:52. Hard hearts cause spiritual cataracts.

And then when He appeared to them after His resurrection, “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?’” Well, it’s the same thing, i.e., hardened hearts. The word for minds here is kardiais from which we get the word for heart, you know, cardiograms and cardiologists and all of that.

“And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.”\

Fishes

After His resurrection Jesus proved to His disciples that they hadn’t seen a ghost. And to prove that it was Him and that He had the same body that was nailed to the cross and subsequently laid in the tomb, He “ate in their presence.”

Question: Is a piece of broiled fish solid, liquid, or gas? Hold that thought.

Jesus fed the five thousand to prove His divinity before His resurrection. Then He fed Himself to prove His humanity after His resurrection. But His disciples were still all at sea! They should have known that it was Jesus who was walking on the water. Why? Because He fed the five thousand. And now they are going to learn that it is Jesus because He fed Himself!

By the way, what did Jesus feed to the five thousand? Bread and fish. He multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes. He gave thanks and broke the bread and divided the fish among them all.

The resurrected Jesus revealed Himself to the two men on the road to Emmaus, how? “Jesus was recognized to them when He broke the bread” Luke 24:35. That’s what the two men told these disciples when they met with them. It was after this that Jesus stood in the midst of them, and they were scared out of their wits, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

And, by the way, the two men on the road to Emmaus were not present at the Last Supper. Therefore, their knowing Jesus in the breaking of the bread may simply be that they saw the nail-prints in His hands.

Question: Are ghosts solid, liquid or gas? Jesus said to His hard-hearted disciples, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Do you see that? Jesus said, “a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Then to prove that He was the real thing and not a phantasm, spectre, apparition, ghost, spirit, or phantom, He ate some broiled fish in their presence.

Now, this is of course a hypothetical question, but if the resurrected Jesus were to dive off a pier on the edge of a lake, would He pass through the air? Yes! Would He pass through the water by entering into it? Yes? But what if the water was a Scottish loch, i.e., frozen solid in winter?

Now, if you are thinking that Jesus is God, and as God He can pass through solid ice if He wants to, then I put it to you that you are confusing Jesus’s humanity with His divinity. That is why Jesus is going to such great lengths to show His disciples here that He is neither gas nor liquid, but is solid as a rock, by which name, i.e., Rock, He is known throughout Scripture.

Try 1 Corinthians 10 where it speaks of spiritual food and spiritual drink.

“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.

Question: Were the spiritual food and drink will-o-the-wisp swamp gases? No! Manna from heaven, Exodus 16:15, and the spiritual drink was from the spiritual rock that was Christ in the Old Testament, Exodus 17:1-7. Why did Moses only get to view the Promised Land from afar and not get to enter it? He struck the rock in anger. He grieved the Spirit. He broke faith with God and didn’t treat the LORD as holy, Deuteronomy 32:51-52.

Whether spiritual food, or spiritual drink, or spiritual rock, the word used by the Apostle is pneumaticon, from which get the word pneumatic, as in air-driven, or in our case, wind or spirit-driven, i.e., led by the Spirit. After His baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. To be pneumatic, i.e., spiritual, then is simply to be obedient to the Holy Ghost.

Right, what about the spiritual (pneumatic) body you will be raised with, you know, the one spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:44b, “If there is a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body”? Well, like the resurrected Jesus, when you are resurrected you are not going to float around like a white bedsheet in the wind! No! Body, soul, and spirit, you will be totally obedient to the Spirit of God.

As we begin to haul in our nets and get ready to row back to the shore, Question: When you are resurrected and you get your renewed body, will it be solid, liquid, or gas? Solid? Why? Because of phantoms and fishes, that’s why! Neither the pre-resurrected nor post-resurrected body of Jesus was liquid or gas.

Jesus went to great lengths to prove to His disciples that His resurrected body was the self-same body that was nailed to the cross. “He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Luke 24:38-39.

Did the dead body of Jesus dissolve into gas? No! It saw no corruption! Did His resurrected body dissolve into gas? E.g., there are people who believe that Jesus walked through a solid door or came through a solid wall or whatever to appear in the room with His disciples.

Like Jesus’s resurrected or glorified body, so too will your resurrected and glorified body be solid. And you too will be fitted to live on the solid planet earth with the solid Jesus forever, without tears, death, sorrow, and pain! O and yes, the resurrected and glorified Jesus is no vegetarian. He ate fish!

The resurrected Jesus made Himself known to the two men on the road to Emmaus in the breaking of the bread. They returned to Jerusalem and spoke to the eleven disciples, as is recorded in Luke 24:33-35. Then in Luke 24:36-37 we read the following, “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.”

We believe this is the same incident that John records in John 20:19-20, where it says, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”

Right, so what is the problem here? Well, the doors were locked, and afterwards Jesus appeared in the midst of them. So, what is the natural and obvious conclusion? That the resurrected body of Jesus was able to ooze under the door or through the keyhole? That He really was a ghost, and as such, He could pass through solid objects? Hardly!

John Calvin gets it right where he talks about Jesus appearing in the room after the doors had been locked,

 

The Evangelist does not say that He entered through the shut doors, but that He suddenly stood in the midst of His disciples, though the doors had been shut, and had not been opened to Him by the hand of man. We know that Peter (Acts 10:10) went out of a prison which was locked; and must we, therefore, say that he passed through the midst of the iron and of the planks? Away, then, with that childish trifling, which contains nothing solid, and brings along with it many absurdities! Let us be satisfied with knowing that Christ intended, by a remarkable miracle, to confirm His disciples in their belief of his resurrection.”

We stand with all the Reformed confessions on this. We are not to confuse or confound His two natures.

With Jesus, “two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.” Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 8, section 2. And, “On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which also he ascended into heaven.” WCF 8, section 4. “Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures; by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes, in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.” WCF 8, section 7.

Conclusion

So, there you have it, phantoms and fishes. Jesus revealed His pre-resurrection divinity to the five thousand, and to the Twelve Disciples, by feeding all of them from five loaves of bread and two fishes. He then revealed His post-resurrection humanity to His disciples by breaking bread and eating fish.

Let me finish with John 21:9-14 where it speaks of the resurrected Jesus, when His disciples were out fishing,

“When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.” John 21:9-14.

The bread and the fish. Now they knew it was Jesus and not some phantom. Their spiritual cataracts had been removed. Their hearts were no longer hardened. How about you?