Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch Me and see—for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having.
3 sermons cite this verse
This is the word of the Lord. Notice what Luke does not do here. This is not the flannel graph Sunday school pictures I remember from my childhood. It is not a vivid description of Jesus flying through the air replete with clouds and angels and full of special effects. Instead, it is simple, almost understated. Luke does not dwell on the mechanics of Jesus rising into the sky. Instead, he draws our attention away from where he is going and towards what he is doing. Jesus leaves, teaching, promising, sending, blessing. Ascension Day is often thought of as a moment Jesus exits the stage. But that is not what is happening at all. Jesus is ascending to his throne. But it turns out his reign looks different from what the disciples, or we, expect. If I close my eyes and try to picture a king ascending to the throne on coronation day, I see the pomp and circumstance. I see the attendance. I see the king's stately robes and ceremonial garments. …
What came of His appearance and of His speaking of peace? If you will look at the Chapter when you are at home, you will see that, first of all, when Jesus came He banished all their doubts—He said to them, "Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" Now, if He comes here tonight, in the midst of this assembly, that is just what He will say to you troubled ones. He will say, "Why are you troubled?" You, perhaps, might answer, "Perhaps there is cause enough for it," but He will reply to it, "All things work together for your good." "When you pass through the river, I will be with you; the floods shall not overflow you." "Cast your care upon Me." "Why are you troubled?" And He would then ask you the very question, "Why do those thoughts arise in your hearts?" You would have to guiltily, perhaps, confess what those thoughts were. You thought He was too hard! You thought He had forgotten you! You thought He was not true, after all—that He did not love you. You thought He would fail you. I will not tell you all your thoughts, but they have been evil thoughts—and if He is here tonight, the blush will mantle on your cheeks while you will say, "I will never have such thoughts, again, but I will from now on say, 'Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him.'" There is one cure for evil thoughts like this—the vanished Savior manifested to the eyes of faith! …
of Christ. The emblems upon the Table—covered up from your sight at present, but to be visible soon—the bread and wine remind us that Jesus Christ was truly Man. When He came upon this earth, He was no phantom. Even after His Resurrection, when His disciples supposed that they had seen a spirit, He said to them, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see I have." He took a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb and ate it in front of them. The Apostle John says that they had seen Him with their eyes and had handled Him with their hands. He was really God manifest in the flesh—and we are thankful that in this ordinance there are two material emblems set before us to remind us that although our holy religion is most deeply spiritual, yet it also touches the material, for Christ was verily bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh—Man of the substance of His mother—and as such He lived and as such He really died. …