‘When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Judaisers, Jesus came and stood among them and says to them, “Peace to you”. And when He had said this He showed them His hand and His side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.'
All of the eleven disciples apart from Thomas would appear to have been present at this time. They were gathered in a locked room no doubt discussing the strange things that they had been hearing about, and it is clear that there were others with them when they were joined by the two from Emmaus (Luke 24:33).
‘For fear of the Judaisers.' This was a wise precaution not due to a lack of faith. At this stage they did not know whether they would be hunted down. It has never been spiritual to court danger unnecessarily. Everything points to the reliability of the accounts. The women's experiences, the locked door, none of this would have been invented. It all put the disciples in a bad light. No one who wanted to convince the world would have had women seeing Jesus first, unless that was the way it happened.
‘Jesus came.' Jesus now revealed Himself alive to His disciples. He showed them His hands and His side to confirm through the nail prints and the wound in the side that it was He the crucified One Who was now risen. The nature of His resurrection body must ever remain a mystery to us. He could somehow enter rooms that were locked (here and John 20:26) and appear and disappear at will. Yet His essential marks and characteristics were there and He could be touched and felt. On the other hand He was now surely seen as clothed with clothes that could only be heavenly, as was His body.
We would be unwise to argue from all this that our resurrection bodies will be similar. Jesus' resurrection was totally unique. It guarantees the resurrection of His own but not the form that that resurrection will take. Indeed if our resurrection bodies are to be anything like our own present ones there would surely have to be a renewing and an unageing in many. All we know is that we will have a ‘spiritual body' (1 Corinthians 15:44).
“Peace to you.” A standard greeting (Genesis 43:23; Judges 6:23; 1 Samuel 25:6; Daniel 4:1; Daniel 6:25), but what meaning it attains here. Peace from God (Romans 1:7 and often in introductions; John 15:13) and peace with God (Romans 5:1) and the peace of God (Philippians 4:7) is theirs. Its repetition in the next verse demonstrates that it is more than just a greeting.
‘Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.' An understatement because no statement could be enough. ‘Ecstatic' may be a better word but is insufficient. They were filled with overflowing and indescribable joy and ecstasy. John, however, abbreviates this first appearance. For more detail see also Luke 24:36-43.