Church Fathers Commentary Luke 24:41-44

"And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish. And he took it, and ate before them. And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me." — Luke 24:41-44 (ASV)

St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Lord had shown His disciples His hands and His feet to assure them that the same body which had suffered rose again. But to confirm them still more, He asked for something to eat.

Gregory of Nyssa: By the command of the law, the Passover was indeed eaten with bitter herbs because the bitterness of bondage still remained. But after the resurrection, the food is sweetened with a honeycomb, as it is written: And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb.

The Venerable Bede: Therefore, to convey the truth of His resurrection, He condescended not only to be touched by His disciples but also to eat with them, so that they would not suspect His appearance was an illusion rather than real. Thus it is written: And when he had eaten before them, he took the remnant, and gave to them. He ate by His power, not from necessity. The thirsty earth absorbs water in one way and the burning sun in another—the one from need, the other from power.

Greek Expositors: But someone will say, "If we allow that our Lord ate after His resurrection, then we must also grant that all people will take nourishment after the resurrection." But these things, which were done by our Savior for a specific purpose, are not the rule and measure of what is natural, since He has intended differently in other matters. For He will raise our bodies not as defective, but as perfect and incorruptible, yet He left on His own body the prints which the nails had made and the wound in His side. He did this to show that the nature of His body remained the same after the resurrection and that He was not changed into another substance.

The Venerable Bede: He ate after the resurrection, therefore, not because He needed food, nor to signify that the resurrection we await will require it. Rather, He did so to establish the true nature of a resurrected body.

Mystically, however, the broiled fish that Christ ate signifies His sufferings. For having condescended to enter the waters of the human race, He was willing to be caught by the hook of our death and was, as it were, burned up by anguish at the time of His Passion. The honeycomb, in turn, represents the two natures of His person. For the honeycomb consists of wax, but the honey within the wax is the divine nature within the human.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The food He ate seems to contain another mystery. By eating part of a broiled fish, He signifies that He has burned our nature—which swims in the sea of this life—with the fire of His divinity. Having dried up the moisture it contracted from the waves, He made it divine food. That which was once abominable He prepared to be a sweet offering to God, which the honeycomb signifies. Alternatively, the broiled fish signifies the active life, which dries up moisture with the coals of labor, while the honeycomb signifies the contemplative life, because of the sweetness of God's oracles.

The Venerable Bede: But after He was seen, touched, and had eaten, so that He would not seem to have deceived the human senses in any way, He turned to the Scriptures. And He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you—that is, while I was still in the mortal flesh in which you also are. For although He was raised in the same flesh, He no longer shared their mortality. And He adds, That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Let those who dream that Christ could have performed such things by magic—and by that same art consecrated His name to be honored by the nations converted to Him—consider this: Could He also have used magic to fill the Prophets with the Divine Spirit before He was even born? For even if we were to suppose that He caused Himself to be worshipped after His death, He was not a magician before He was born—the very one to whom a nation was assigned to prophesy His coming.