Meditation: Luke 24:35 Then the two told what had happened on the road and how he had become known to them in the breaking of the matzah.
36 They were still talking about it when — there he was, standing among them! 37 Startled and terrified, they thought they were seeing a ghost. 38 But he said to them, “Why are you so upset? Why are these doubts welling up inside you? 39 Look at my hands and my feet — it is I, myself! Touch me and see — a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I do.” 40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 While they were still unable to believe it for joy and stood there dumbfounded, he said to them, “Have you something here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 which he took and ate in their presence.
44 Yeshua said to them, “This is what I meant when I was still with you and told you that everything written about me in the Torah of Moshe, the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds, so that they could understand the Tanakh, 46 telling them, “Here is what it says: the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day; 47 and in his name repentance leading to forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to people from all nations, starting with Yerushalayim. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Thursday within the Octave of EasterLook at my hands and my feet. (Luke 24:39)
As the funeral service ends, a young man and his girlfriend walk out of the church. Unexpectedly, he turns to her, gets down on one knee, and asks her to marry him. While it may seem like an unusual setting for a proposal, the man was actually being strategic. “I will love you and care for you for the rest of your life,” he tells her. “I want to be with you until the day of my funeral.”
Is it any less strange—or strategic—that the greatest demonstration of God’s love was the death of his Son? Or think about the way Jesus proved his resurrection to his disciples: by showing them his still-wounded hands and feet and side. Up until that point, the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. But now came the “big reveal,” the moment when they discovered that by dying he had overcome death. All at once, their sorrow was turned into amazement and joy.
Jesus’ victory looked so different from what the disciples had expected. Instead of arriving with a king’s crown or a huge army, he returned bearing the wounds of a brutal death. Even though he is now risen in glory, his body remains marred. He isn’t just restored to his former state—he is transformed in a way that reflects the price he paid for our salvation. God didn’t just press a reset button. He took Jesus through death into a new and eternal life.
Jesus’ scars are the marks of his love for us—a love unto death. Every day, he invites us to gaze at these wounds and to see in them the proof of his victory. What’s more, he wants to convince us that he can turn our own wounds into marks of triumph. There is no situation too desperate for him to overcome.
Jesus, the scarred and wounded Messiah, has already “proposed” to you. He is already living out his vows to love you and honor you and be true to you all the days of your life. If you ever find yourself doubting, just look at his hands and feet.
“Jesus, thank you for the marks of your victory! Strengthen my faith in your power to heal and restore.” Amen!
Acts 3:11 While he clung to Kefa and Yochanan, all the people came running in astonishment toward them in Shlomo’s Colonnade.
12 Seeing this, Kefa addressed the people: “Men of Isra’el! Why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk through some power or godliness of our own? 13 The God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, the God of our fathers,[
Acts 3:13 Exodus 3:6, 15] has glorified his servant Yeshua — the same Yeshua you handed over and disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the holy and innocent one, and instead asked for the reprieve of a murderer! 15 You killed the author of life!
“But God has raised him from the dead! Of this we are witnesses. 16 And it is through putting trust in his name that his name has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes through Yeshua which has given him this perfect healing in the presence of you all.
17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did not understand the significance of what you were doing; neither did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.
19 “Therefore, repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be erased; 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’s presence; and he may send the Messiah appointed in advance for you, that is, Yeshua. 21 He has to remain in heaven until the time comes for restoring everything, as God said long ago, when he spoke through the holy prophets. 22 For Moshe himself said, ‘Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you. 23 Everyone who fails to listen to that prophet will be removed from the people and destroyed.’[Acts 3:23 Deuteronomy 18:15–16] 24 Indeed, all the prophets announced these days, starting with Sh’mu’el and continuing through all who followed.
25 “You are the sons of the prophets; and you are included in the covenant which God made with our fathers when he said to Avraham, ‘By your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.’[Acts 3:25 Genesis 22:18; 26:4] 26 So it is to you first that God has sent his servant whom he has raised up, so that he might bless you by turning each one of you from your evil ways.”
Psalm 8:2 (1) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
The fame of your majesty
spreads even above the heavens!
5 (4) what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them;
humans, that you watch over them with such care?
6 (5) You made him but little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
7 (6) you had him rule what your hands made,
you put everything under his feet —
8 (7) sheep and oxen, all of them,
also the animals in the wilds,
9 (8) the birds in the air, the fish in the sea,
whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
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