Jesus Appears - Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-40; John 20:19-21

I wonder what the disciples were thinking about when they were sitting in the room hiding from the Jewish leadership who wanted to kill them. I wonder what they said to each other when the women, and then Peter, and then Cleopas and his wife all came back and said that they had seen Jesus. We know that Judaism taught the resurrection and that Jesus had prepared them before his death that he would rise again the third day, but then again, it had never happened before, and the Sadducees, who were the main religious leaders at the time, preached against it.

While they are in this room, “Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” If Jesus was a resurrected being, how could he just appear into the room? The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching, “Resurrected bodies have control over the elements. How do you think the bodies will get out of the graves at the resurrection?” That’s a good question, I guess I had imagined a lot of shovels. But what about those who’s bodies have disintegrated away? Or been cremated? Resurrected bodies must be able to perform feats that go beyond our mortal possibilities in order to even be resurrected.
The quote continues, “When the Angel Moroni appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Prophet saw him apparently come down and ascend through the solid walls, or ceiling of the building… It was just as easy for the Angel Moroni to come to the Prophet Joseph Smith down through the building as it was for our Savior to appear to his disciples after his resurrection in the room where they were assembled when the door was closed… How could he do it? He had power over the elements.” Jesus’ words of comfort fell on deaf ears and “they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.” This is a fair conclusion considering the fact that spiritual appearances had happened throughout the history of Judaism and resurrection had not. And Jesus had appeared out of thin air, and without an understanding of the nature of resurrected bodies, the assumption could very logically be that it was a spirit.
Jesus can understand that they are concerned and continues, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” So Jesus shows them that not only is he a flesh and bones body, but he also demonstrates that it is in fact himself, Jesus Christ. In these few verses it doesn’t explicitly say that they felt the nail marks in his hands and feet but I feel like it’s implied by his statement by him saying, “hey look at my hands and feet, it is me… Jesus.”