John Calvin Commentary Luke 24:43

"And he took it, and ate before them." — Luke 24:43 (ASV)

And he took, and ate it in their presence. Here we see, on the other hand, how kindly and gently Christ bears with the weakness of His followers, since He does not fail to give them this new support when they are falling. Indeed, though He has obtained a new and heavenly life, and has no more need of meat and drink than angels have, He still voluntarily condescends to join in the common practices of mortals. During the whole course of His life, He had subjected Himself to the necessity of eating and drinking; and now, though relieved from that necessity, He eats for the purpose of convincing His disciples of the certainty of His resurrection.

Thus we see how He disregarded Himself and chose always to be devoted to our interests. This is the true and pious meditation on this narrative, in which believers may profitably focus, dismissing questions of mere curiosity, such as, “Was this corruptible food digested?” “What sort of nourishment did the body of Christ derive from it?” and, “What became of what did not go to nourishment?” As if it were not in the power of Him who created all things out of nothing to reduce to nothing a small portion of food, whenever He thought fit.

As Christ really tasted the fish and the honeycomb in order to show that He was a man, so we cannot doubt that by His divine power He consumed what was not needed to pass into nourishment. Thus the angels at the table of Abraham (Genesis 18:1), having been clothed with real bodies, did actually, I have no doubt, eat and drink. Yet I do not therefore concede that the meat and drink provided them the refreshment that the weakness of the flesh requires. But as they were clothed with a human form for Abraham’s sake, so the Lord granted this favor to His servant, that those heavenly visitors ate before his tent. Now if we acknowledge that the bodies which they assumed for a time were reduced to nothing after they had completed their mission, who will deny that the same thing happened to the food?