behold my hands and my feet, that it is *I* myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having.
The disciples had already heard that the Lord was risen. Yet when He stood among them, they thought they were seeing a ghost. His answer was not an argument but an invitation: look at the hands and feet, and put your own hands on Him.
He met their fear with the simplest proof of all. He gave them Himself, to see and to touch.
He presents Himself to His disciples. Their hopes are ruined and their future is scattered, and they are terrified and afraid. They had laid all their hopes in the grave of Jesus, never to rise again, as they thought... And how does He reassure their hearts? He presents HIMSELF, saying, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF."
The words "I myself" answer what they feared. A visit from His departed spirit would not have been Him as they knew Him.
To those who had known Him as the living man among them, a mere visit from His departed spirit would not have been "Himself." It is not a question of exact definitions, but of the heart, and the Lord answers the heart. They saw Him. They did not believe that a living man could come among them in that mysterious way, so they thought they saw a spirit. He answers that by telling them to prove He had flesh and bones.
The proof went further than touch. He asked for food and ate in front of them.
It is the Lord Himself, risen from the dead. He is a real man, with hands and feet, able to be touched and seen — not a spirit, but a spiritual body. Of this He gave the fullest proof by going on to eat in their presence. As having a body He could eat; as having a spiritual body He did not need to eat. So the resurrection of the body had its glorious proof in His own person. Their faith needed that, and nothing could support it more strongly.
Blood belongs to a life that wears out and must be replaced.
The blood applies to the present life. It is the vehicle of change. It is what implies the need of continual sustenance and renewal. A body that needs no renewal cannot need blood to renew it. So the Lord speaks of Himself as risen from the dead, not as having flesh and blood, but as having flesh and bones... He has poured out His blood and left it with the earthly life He had lived. He has entered a new sphere, keeping all that makes Him truly man, but not the conditions of the old earthly life.
Some reduce the risen Christ to a spirit in an unseen world. The word He left out answers them.
Spiritists say that Christ is the supreme Spirit in the unseen world. But God says He is a Man, in a raised, glorified body at His right hand! Why did our risen Lord say "flesh and bones," and not "flesh and blood"? His blood had been poured out for our eternal redemption.
Some treat "spiritual" as the opposite of physical. This verse settles what the believer's raised body will be.
Scripture does not speak that way. The Spirit tells us that the body the saints will have in the resurrection will be incorruptible and immortal, and spiritual as well. When He rose from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." His body was still "flesh and bones," yet it was spiritual. The body of the believer will be the same in resurrection.
He showed them the hands and the feet that had served them long before the nails went through.
What wonders those "hands" had worked in their sight! How those "feet" had walked the path ahead of them, never growing tired! Now each one shows, in the mark of the nails, man's cruel and murderous hatred of Him — and even more strongly, the Saviour's love for sinners.
Terror came first, then joy — and neither one produced belief.
Our natural feelings are often in conflict with faith. It was so with the disciples at this moment. At first they were terrified and afraid, and thought they had seen a spirit. Later, their joy kept them from believing. Both their fear and their joy — their natural emotions — were hindrances to faith. But it should be added that emotions produced by the Spirit of God are helps to faith and not hindrances.
- Himself. He did not argue them out of their fear; He gave them His own Person to look at and to touch.
- Bones. "Flesh and bones" says the body is real; the silence about blood says He never took back the life He poured out at the cross.
- Handled. He told them to touch Him, then ate in front of them. That proves a real body — one that could eat, but no longer needed to.
- Spiritual. His risen body was spiritual and still flesh and bones; the believer's raised body will be of the same kind.
- Faith. Fear kept them from believing, and so did joy. Only He Himself, seen and touched, settled their hearts.
And having said this he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.