Problem: Jesus could not only suddenly appear after His resurrection (cf. John 20:19), but He could also instantly disappear. Is this evidence, as some critics claim, that Jesus dematerialized on these occasions?
Solution: Jesus rose in the same physical, albeit glorified, body in which He died. Such a body is an important dimension of His continuing humanity both before (cf. John 1:18) and after (Luke 24:39; 1 John 4:2) His resurrection.
First of all, the fact that He could appear or disappear quickly does not diminish His humanity but enhances it. It reveals that, while the post-resurrection body has more powers than a pre-resurrection body, it was not less than physical. That is, it did not cease to be a material body even though by resurrection it gained powers beyond mere physical bodies.
Second, it is the very nature of a miracle that it is immediate, as opposed to the natural gradual process. When Jesus touched the man’s hand, “immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matt. 8:3). Likewise, at Jesus’ command the paralytic “immediately … arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all” (Mark 2:10–12). When Peter proclaimed that the man born crippled be cured, “immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength … leaping up, [he] stood and walked” (Acts 3:7–8).
Third, Philip was immediately transported from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch in his physical pre-resurrection body. The text says, after baptizing the eunuch “the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more” (Acts 8:39). One moment Philip is with the eunuch; the next he suddenly and miraculously disappeared and later appeared in another city (Acts 8:40). Such a phenomenon does not necessitate an immaterial body. Hence, sudden appearances and disappearances are not proofs of the immaterial, but of the supernatural.
“And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. (Luke 24:31)”
