After the Resurrection - Jesus "Not a Ghost" and beliefs of the time about ghosts

  • Thread starter Thread starter Apologista
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Apologista

Guest
In Luke 24:39 when appearing to the Apostles, Jesus reassured them He was not a ghost because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as He did.

For some crazy reason, this passage leapt out at me this year when it was read at Sunday Mass and caused me to wonder what the context for it was. Did the Jewish people of the time have a belief in ghosts? Maybe someone who knows the Aramaic or Greek or whatever in the original texts can shed some light on this.

It is just a curious thing that struck me; I’ve no plans to go looking for ghosts or anything, I just wondered about it. Thanks for any information.
 
If you watched your friend die, and then he suddenly appeared before you, you would likely have a number of questions about what was really going on. Jesus acted quickly and pre-emptively to avoid these sorts of question. He stressed his physical presence, asked for something to eat–the sorts of things that would ground his confused and frightened disciples.
 
But the fact that the Apostles thought Our Lord was a ghost implies that there was some cultural context for the concept of “ghost” in the first place, right?
 
I’m not sure it implies anything unique. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a culture that had absolutely no belief in some sort of spirit apart from the flesh. When Jesus walked on the water toward his apostles, they feared that a ghost was approaching them. There may be specific ideas about disembodied spirits in Judaism, but I doubt that anyone would be too mindful of that sort of thing when actually confronted with one.

After watching a body die (particularly the incredibly brutal and comprehensive destruction of Jesus’ body), it might be more natural to assume that a ghost has returned than a whole body.

It all happens so infrequently, though, that any theory might be difficult to test.
 
The modern church harbors the possibility of ghosts as souls who are in Purgatory. It’s possible this stems from similar or identical beliefs from Jesus’s time.
 
1 Samuel 28:11-25 tells about how the spirit of Samuel appeared to Saul, which is one Old Testament proof that the Jews did know about ghosts. Also 3 of the Apostles saw the spirit of Moses at the Transfiguration, which also left no room for doubt. Elijah does not count because he was not a ghost since he had not died.

Ghosts are real, not exactly the way Hollywood presents it, but the spirits of the dead have appeared to people, the Church Fathers believed in it, as well as Scripture shows us.
 
It sounds like the people in Biblical times had a more practical, down-to-earth grasp of ghosts than we do. Probably because they didn’t have horror movies to put a lot of “baggage” on the concept! :eek:
 
Apologista said:
But the fact that the Apostles thought Our Lord was a ghost implies that there was some cultural context for the concept of “ghost” in the first place, right?
Click to expand...
I agree. The gospels certainly seem to indicate that the disciples of Jesus were well-acquainted with the idea of ghosts. Not only did Jesus have to assure them he was not a ghost after his resurrection, but even long before this he was mistaken to be a ghost when the disciples saw him walking on water:

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. (Matthew 14:26)

I think Copland 3’s citation of 1Samual is worth consideration in terms of ancient Jews having some sort of knowledge about ghosts. Furthermore, the ancient Jews would have been aware of (and influenced by) the beliefs of other cultures concerning this subject. Consider what this Wikipedia ghost article has to say under the heading of “History: Ancient Near East and Egypt.”
 
EricFilmer said:
I agree. The gospels certainly seem to indicate that the disciples of Jesus were well-acquainted with the idea of ghosts. Not only did Jesus have to assure them he was not a ghost after his resurrection, but even long before this he was mistaken to be a ghost when the disciples saw him walking on water:

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. (Matthew 14:26)

I think Copland 3’s citation of 1Samual is worth consideration in terms of ancient Jews having some sort of knowledge about ghosts. Furthermore, the ancient Jews would have been aware of (and influenced by) the beliefs of other cultures concerning this subject. Consider what this Wikipedia ghost article has to say under the heading of “History: Ancient Near East and Egypt.”
Click to expand...
That’s very interesting. Thank you!🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top