J.C. Ryle's Devotional Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke
Section 142
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
Luke 24, verses 36-43

And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and says unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and he took it, and did eat before them.

We should observe in this passage the singularly gracious words with which our Lord introduced himself to his disciples after his resurrection. We read that he suddenly stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto you. This was a wonderful saying when we consider the men to whom it was addressed. It was addressed to eleven disciples who, three days before, had shamefully forsaken their master and fled. They had broken their promises, they had forgotten their professions of readiness to die for their faith, they had been scattered, every man to his own, and left their master to die alone. One of them even denied him three times. All of them had proved backsliders and cowards.

And yet behold the return which their master makes to his disciples. Not a word of rebuke is spoken, not a single sharp saying falls from his lips. Calmly and quietly he appears in the midst of them, and begins by speaking of peace. Peace be unto you.

We see in this touching saying one more proof that the love of Christ passes knowledge. It is His glory to pass over a transgression. He delights in mercy. He is far more willing to forgive than men are to be forgiven, and far more ready to pardon than men are to be pardoned. There is in his almighty heart an infinite willingness to put away man's transgressions. Though our sins have been as scarlet, he is ever ready to make them as white as snow, to blot them out, to cast them behind his back, to bury them in the depths of the sea, and to remember them no more. All these are scriptural phrases intended to convey the same great truth.

The natural man is continually stumbling at them and refusing to understand them. At this we need not wonder. Free, full, and undeserved forgiveness to the very uttermost is not the manner of man, but it is the manner of Christ. Where is the sinner, however great his sins, who need be afraid of beginning to apply to such a Saviour as this? In the hand of Jesus there is mercy enough and to spare. Where is the backslider? However far he may have fallen, who need be afraid of returning? Fury is not in Christ, Isaiah 27, 4. He is willing to raise and restore the very worst. Where is the saint who ought not to love such a savior and to pay him willingly a holy obedience? There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared, Psalm 134. Where is the professing Christian who ought not to be forgiving toward his brethren? The disciples of a Savior whose words were so full of peace ought to be peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. Colossians 3.13 we should observe for another thing in this passage our Lord's marvelous condescension to the infirmity of his disciples we read that when his disciples were terrified at his appearance and could not believe that it was himself he said behold my hands and feet touch me and see.

Our Lord might fairly have commanded his disciples to believe that he had risen. He might justly have said, Where is your faith? Why do you not believe my resurrection when you see me with your own eyes? But he does not do so. He stoops even lower than this. He appeals to the bodily senses of the eleven. He bids them touch him with their own hands and satisfy themselves that he was a material being and not a ghost or spirit.

A mighty practical lesson is involved in our Lord's dealing with the disciples, which we shall do well to remember. That lesson is the duty of dealing gently with weak disciples, and teaching them as they are able to bear. Like our Lord, we must be forbearing and patient. Like our Lord, we must condescend to the feebleness of some men's faith, and treat them as tenderly as little children, in order to bring them into the right way.

We must not cast off men because they do not see everything at once. We must not despise the humblest and most childish means if we can only persuade men to believe. Such dealing may require much patience. But he who cannot condescend to deal thus with the young, the ignorant, and the uneducated has not the mind of Christ.

Well would it be for all believers if they would remember Paul's words more frequently. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. 1 Corinthians 9 22