Jesus eats fish to prove he is not a ghost

Ghosts do not eat food. After Jesus rose from the dead, with a resurrected body, his disciples thought he was a ghost or spirit. They couldn’t believe that he was alive again. No one lives with a physical body again after being dead. That’s the way of the earth — ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

We are first-hand witnesses of death being a done deal. Who is a witness that we actually live again? Eyewitnesses are so important. Here-say is not valid evidence in a court of law. Someone has to be an eyewitness. Jesus made sure that his disciples saw him, touched him, and then when they still did not believe he was more than spirit — He called for some fish and honeycomb and ate with them. This seemed to be one of the convincing factors.

And he said to them, “Why are you so upset, and why do you argue about these things? Why do these things enter into your heart? Behold, these are my hands and these are my feet, and they will prove to you that I am I. [Remember, he does that to the Nephites, too; he introduces himself that way.] Behold, these are my hands and these are my feet, showing that it is really me. Come and feel me and see, and you will see that a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see for yourself that I have.”

Christ is doing everything he can to prove to them that he is not a spirit — he is not a ghost. “I am not a spirit,” he says. But, they still wouldn’t believe him. Why?

Jesus eats fish to prove he is not a ghost.

Nibley explains it this way:

So he said, all right, you need some more proof. You still won’t believe it, he said. Do you have any food in the house? They brought out to him a piece of broiled fish. He took that in their presence and he ate part of it. Then he said, these things I spoke to you while I was still with you, that the words of Moses would have to be fulfilled. But he called for the fish and the honeycomb and ate before them. In John he really goes into it, calls for the honeycomb, etc.

Do we have anything else here? Well, we see from Luke here that there’s something different about him. It says here in [Luke 24:35] that it was the eating that convinced them. Was he a ghost? They doubt, but he has a body.

This is what he tells the Nephites in verse 44—this is the thing which I taught the Jews at Jerusalem. This is what my gospel has been all along. He explains the scriptures in verse 45. Then he says their minds were opened and they began to understand the scriptures. So he taught them and preached to them, but we don’t have the sermon that he gave to them. This is important here. (Hugh Nibley)