SUBJ:
The resurrection day appearance of Jesus to the disciples with emphasis
being laid on His physical appearance and with especial emphasis on His
nail pierced hands and feet.
AIM: That we
might fully appropriate the reality and the necessity of the
resurrection as the reason these words are preserved for us.
INTR: The
exciting events of the day of our Lord's emergence from the tomb
continue to stir and elate believers in that they have been made
partakers in it and await the answer to it in ourselves. 1. Tradition
is easy to adhere to and is often done with little substance. We must
ever guard against allowing the wondrous truth of the resurrection to be
only a symbolic observance. 2. By faith we may be transported to such
scenes as this and be enabled to embrace the reality and revelation
given us thereby. 3. And we can continue in that way and grow in our
understanding of all that He has done and in our awareness of life from
the dead.
THESIS: Our Lord's
post-resurrection ministry aimed specifically at grounding His
disciples, and us, in the truth that He was indeed dead and that as a
result repentance and remission were assured to all who believe and that
He lives to continue with us ever.
I. A Natural reaction observed
(vv. 36-37) 1. We pause to consider the series of events that left
them huddled together in fear and uncertainty. 1) Things had gone
downhill for them from the time of the ordeal in the Garden, trials
before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and condemnation under Pilate and
on to the cross. 2) They had, no doubt, plunged deeper into a sense
of despair. 2. A second eyewitness report had just been delivered to
them and was met with unbelief as was the other. 3. But then, Jesus
appeared it he midst and declared "Peace be unto you." 1) A question
of doors and the fascination with the abilities of a glorified body.
2) But they were not asking how He got in - they were too afraid to do
anything. 4. Theirs is the reaction of a fallen human nature that
fears what it cannot explain and especially anything that appears to be
supernatural. The fact of His death had fully registered in them. 5.
They recognized the form, they had heard the report that He was alive,
but resurrection was not within their ability to understand - it was not
natural to them or us. 6. But we compare their reaction to that of
Mary Magdalene on seeing Him alive.
II. The glorious Gospel
revelation to them (vv. 38-40) 1. He greets them with searching
questions as if to say did not I tell you what would happen? 1) Why
are you troubled? 2) Why are you having unbecoming thoughts? They
thought they had seen a ghost. 2. To them, seeing was believing and
He accommodated their doubts: 1) Behold my hands and feet (a first
directive) 2) The declaration - "it is I, myself." 3) The
invitation to touch Him and experience the fact that He was alive and
intact: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the Word of life; (1 John 1:1) 4) Compare the reaction
here to that of the Transfiguration - the difference was His death (and
He was dead) and His resurrection. 3. He showed them His hands: 1)
It would seem that He approached them to enable a closer look and to see
the effects of the Roman spikes. 2) This would take them back to the
scenes of Calvary and He would continue to preserve that memory as both
tokens of redemption accomplished and the ultimate sacrifice of love.
3) Consider from Wm. Hendriksen: "When Jesus notices that these men are
still filled with fear and doubt, he directs their attention to his
hands and feet. He shows them these bodily members. John has "his hands
and his side." What Jesus wants them to see is undoubtedly the stigmata,
the marks of his crucifixion. It is, of course, impossible for us, who
do not as yet possess the resurrection body, to understand how it was
possible for the body of Jesus to be, on the one hand, so unlike our
present bodies that he was able to enter a room without opening either a
door or a window; yet, on the other hand, so similar to our present
bodies that the very scars resulting from his crucifixion were still
showing." 4. Death had indeed seized Him, but now He stood in their
midst in defiance of all that human nature said could not be - He was
alive forever more.
III. A second confirmation of His humanity
(vv. 41-43) 1. They seemed to transition from doubt and fear to such
joy as to express something on the order of "this is too good to be
true." 2. A thousand questions may have flooded their minds and He
would answer them all. 3. The next question would settle it for now.
"Have ye any meat?" 1) This would further solidify the fact that He
was still the same man and would remain so. 2) He ate with them.
4. And even now He is in the same form in glory and will appear the
second time without sin unto salvation.
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