“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Luke 24:39 (NIV)
If Jesus had stayed in the tomb, what hope would we have when we stand beside a grave?
It is not an abstract question. Many of us have stood at a graveside or in a crematorium. Many of us carry the ache of missing someone we love. In that moment, a vague sense that “they are in a better place” is not strong enough to hold us. We need something solid.
Christianity offers something solid: an empty tomb and a risen Saviour.
“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Context first. It is the evening of the first Easter Sunday. Earlier that day the women found the tomb empty (Luke 24:1-12). Two disciples walking to Emmaus met Jesus on the road, though they did not recognise Him until He broke bread with them (24:13-35). They rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others, and while they were still talking, “Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (24:36).
The disciples’ reaction is very human. They were “startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost” (24:37). The Greek word there is pneuma, spirit. They assumed they were seeing an apparition, a disembodied spirit. That was the one category they had for a dead man appearing.
Jesus’ response is remarkable for its patience and its physicality. “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (24:38). Then today’s verse. Look. Touch. See. Flesh and bones. And just in case they were still unsure, verses 41 to 43 tell us that He asked for something to eat, and “they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” Ghosts do not eat fish.
Luke, who tells us he “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (1:3), is making a deliberate point. The resurrection of Jesus was not a vision, a metaphor or a feeling the disciples had. It was bodily. The same Jesus who was crucified, with the wounds still visible in His hands and feet, was alive again in a real, transformed, physical body.
Why does that matter so much?
First, because it shows that the cross worked. Romans 4:25 says Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” The resurrection is God’s public declaration that the sacrifice was accepted and the debt was paid. If the tomb were still occupied, Paul says plainly, “your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).
Second, because it tells us what kind of future God has planned for us. Paul calls the risen Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The firstfruits were the first part of the harvest, the guarantee that the rest was coming. Jesus’ resurrection body is the first of a great harvest. The Christian hope is not that we will float away as spirits for ever. It is the resurrection of the body and life with Christ in a renewed creation. God does not abandon what He has made. He redeems it.
Third, because it shows us the character of Jesus. He does not leave His frightened disciples with a vague reassurance that everything will be fine. He points them to Himself. His hands. His feet. His wounds. The scars of the cross remain on the risen Lord, and He uses them to reassure frightened people. When our hearts are shaken, He does the same for us. He points us to what He has done.
Now let me guard this carefully.
The hope of resurrection does not mean we are not allowed to grieve. Christianity does not ask you to pretend that loss does not hurt. Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus, even though He knew He was about to raise him (John 11:35). Paul does not say “do not grieve”; he says we do not grieve “like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Christian grief is real grief, but it is grief with a horizon.
And the hope of resurrection is not wishful thinking. It rests on a historical event, witnessed by many. Paul lists them in 1 Corinthians 15: Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred people at one time, James, and finally Paul himself. When he wrote, many of those witnesses were still alive and could be asked.
So if you are grieving this morning, hear me. Death is a real enemy, and it is right to feel its sting. But for those who belong to Jesus, it does not get the final word. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
This Friday, bring your fears about the future to Him. Read the resurrection account again slowly, perhaps the whole of Luke 24. Let your heart remember who you are trusting: not a memory, not a teacher who died long ago, but a living Saviour with scars in His hands.
Jesus is alive. Your future is safe in His hands. Face today with the Saviour who has already defeated what we never could.
Reflection
1. How does the bodily resurrection of Jesus change the way you think about death and about the people you have lost who trusted in Him?
2. Jesus pointed His frightened disciples to His wounds. When you are afraid, what truths about Jesus can you point your heart towards?
Prayer
Risen Lord Jesus, thank You that You are alive. Thank You that You were delivered over to death for my sins and raised to life for my justification. Thank You for Your patience with frightened, doubting disciples, and for Your patience with me. I bring You my fears about the future and my grief for those I miss. Help me to grieve with hope. Fix my eyes on Your nail-scarred hands and on the empty tomb. Holy Spirit, fill me with resurrection hope and courage today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
Jesus is alive. Because He lives, death does not have the final word, and my future is safe in His hands.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
Enjoyed today’s devotional? Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a daily devotional.
