And as they spake these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be to you. But they were abashed and afraid, supposing that they had seen a spirit. Then he said unto them, Why are you troubled? and wherefore do doubts arise in your heart?
Behold mine hands and my feet: for it is I myself: handle me and see: for a spirit hasn’t flesh and bones, as you see me have.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, ‘Have you here any meat?’ And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honey comb, and he took it, and did eat before them.
Of late I have been thinking much about what it means to be truly human. Jesus teaches me three things here which I think we may too easily overlook. If you feel invisible sometimes, or like a ghost, or like the living dead, then maybe these three things will be helpful.
First, men were created to experience life through ‘touch’ just as much as by seeing and hearing.
Behold mine hands and my feet: for it is I myself: handle me and see: for a spirit hasn’t flesh and bones, as you see me have.
Recently I delivered some eggs to a 70-year old woman in my village. She is an absolute delight, this customer of mine. As I gave her the eggs I put my hand on her shoulder, and she reached up and put her hand on mine. And I realised that she hasn’t been touched by another human being for some time. She was divorced about 20 years ago and has lived alone ever since.
In another case, a girl I am fond of told me about a recent experience she had overseas. This individual is very tactile, often having little kids clinging to her, and frequent with hugs. But when she was abroad, nobody touched her for over a month. When someone finally did, she felt the warmth of that person’s hand on her shoulder for more than an hour afterwards.
It is a sub-human life if touch is absent. Seeing and hearing is not enough.
Secondly, Jesus teaches me in this passage that to be fully human, to be a perfect human, you need to have scars, and be willing to show them.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and feet.
The scars we have shouldn’t be hidden, but shown. I suppose that angels and ghosts don’t have scars. But men do. The scars tell a story of what men have done to you. They don’t make you ugly, they make you unique. The scars tell a story, and its a story worth telling, and your friends will want to hear it. The scars reveal who you are, they need to be shown - not hidden.
Thirdly, eating makes you human, especially eating with people you love.
And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, ‘Have you here any meat?’ And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honey comb, and he took it, and did eat before them.
When I delivered food to widows and widowers for Wiltshire Farm Foods, many of the customers ate with the TV on. They said it was to have the sound of another human in the house. But I think the TV masked rather than solved the problem of loneliness. Even before the Fall, the Lord makes it clear that it is not good for man to be alone.
In short, to live a fully human life, we need to reach out and touch others (and let ourselves be touched), we need to show our scars (our true friends won’t reject us because of them), and we need to eat with others. Failing to engage in these three actions will result in us feeling like ghosts, feeling like the living dead.
But doing them will help us live a life that is truly human.
Which, at the end of the day, is what it's about:
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
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Hey thanks for reading this far. Because you could have done a million other things, and you chose to do this. I really appreciate that.
May the Lord bless you abundantly today.
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