2 Luke 24:36-48
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!" But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (ESV)
Proofs
Irenaeus of Lyon
28 June 2010
Like the disciples who saw the risen Christ, we too have proofs that He is living in baptism, Lord's Supper, in the preaching of the Word of God, and in holy absolution. We put our hands into His wounds when He plunges us into His bloody wounds through baptism. The cup of His suffering becomes our cup of blessing through the new testament in His blood. The lips of our pastors display his glorified wounds to us. The Lord still lives among us when we forgive anyone's sins, and so they are forgiven. These are the signs and seals of inexpressible Easter joy. Leo the Great (d. 461) spoke of the Lord's presence and the joy it gave the disciples in a sermon for Easter.
Leo the Great
"Many proofs followed the resurrection, on which the authority of the faith to be preached through the whole world might be based. And although the rolling away of the stone, the empty tomb, the arrangement of the linen cloths, and the angels who narrated the whole deed by themselves fully built up the truth of the Lord's resurrection, yet He often appeared plainly to the eyes both of the women and of the Apostlesnot only talking with them, but also remaining and eating with them, and allowing Himself to be handled by the eager and curious hands of those whom doubt assailed. For this reason He entered when the doors were closed upon the disciples, and gave them the Holy Spirit by breathing on them, and after giving them the light of understanding opened the secretsof the Holy Scriptures, and again Himself showed them the wound in His side, the prints of the nails, and all the marks of His most recent passion, by which it might be acknowledged that in Him the properties of the divine and human natures remained undivided, and that we might in that way know that the Word was not what the flesh is, so as to confess God's only Son to be both Word and flesh."
Prayer
Lord Christ, Your glorious resurrection gives a joy above all sadness, because it assures us that all has been well and completely done for us by You. Pour out Your life-giving blood from Your blessed wounds that we might drink unto our joy. Amen.
For all those who are troubled in their hearts over the burden of their sins, that the gospel might be proclaimed to them and that they would come to Jesus for rest
For Pastor Robert Hill, pastor of St. Paul and St. Paul Lutheran Churches, Wimbledon & Kensal, ND, that the Lord would bless him in his calling
For Bishop Walter Obare of Kenya, that he might continue to confess the holy faith of the prophets and the apostles, Christ Jesus Himself the chief cornerstone
Art: PISANO, Andrea The Baptism of the Multitude