Last month I shared a few personal musings I’ve had about Jesus, his crucifixion and why he chose that form of self-execution. I had one other thought I wanted to share and didn’t really have space. This month I’m sharing that thought about Jesus and his resurrection. This is no mysterious idea but I think the implications can have life changing effects on someone who rejects Jesus as God.

I want to talk about Jesus’ feet. Just to remind us, last month I asked why were his feet pierced? Consider Genesis 3:15:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Jesus the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That's talking about the Messiah crushing the serpent's head. I think Satan was trying to mock the promise of God. He's like, "You think you're going to crush my head? I'm going to nail your feet to the tree. Let's see how you're going to crush me now!!" Satan thought he foiled the plan, but he actually fulfilled it.

There’s a verse in Acts referring to the resurrected Jesus.

Acts 1:3, He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

40 days between the morning of the resurrection and the day Jesus ascended into heaven. 40 days of the risen Lord walking, eating, teaching his disciples, speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Lots of skeptics will propose many different ideas in an attempt to deny that Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the primary truth that draws the line in the sand between false religion vs. true religion and faith. Had Jesus not risen from the dead, Christianity would be a worthless religion like all the other religions out there; hopeless, powerless, worthless! Religion has no power because religion is based in human effort. Human effort is unable to build a bridge from here to eternity. We cannot connect to God through our rites, rituals, religious efforts. Whatever practice one follows might make them feel holy or happy or heavenly but in the end it is nothing but a hindrance!

40 days the resurrected Jesus walked with his disciples. The Holy Bible doesn’t describe in detail all the things Jesus did after his resurrection but the Gospels do give us insight into some moments during those 40 days. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John share moments like when Jesus met Mary in the garden where his tomb was located and instructed her to go tell his disciples she had met with a resurrected Jesus. He walked with two disciples to Emmaus and taught them about himself from the scriptures. Twice he met the disciples in locked rooms and revealed himself to them. In one of those scenes we see Thomas being confronted on his unbelief and was finally convinced Jesus had bodily risen from the dead. We witness him cooking a fish breakfast for his guys by the seashore and during that encounter he engages Peter specifically in a forgiving and restoring way. We hear him commission his disciples for kingdom work just before they witness him ascending into the air heading back into heaven.

Skeptics will criticize the resurrection saying things like Jesus did not die he simply passed out and they buried him thinking he was dead and the coolness of the tomb revived him. Well from the beatings, trauma and execution he absorbed how did he have strength after only three days recovery to move the stone away? Or they’ll say someone else was crucified in his place mistaken for Jesus…with all the hard evidence that’s too ludicrous to even acknowledge! One other negative argument proposed is that the person the disciples saw after his death was a ghost, an apparition, a mass hallucination brought on by extreme grief.

When Jesus appeared to his disciples in the locked room he made an interesting statement.

Luke 24:36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!" 37 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? 39 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.

Jesus said to his disciples "Look at my feet." The apostles are hiding behind closed doors, terrified. The women have come back from the tomb, saying they've seen him. The men don't believe it. Then Jesus comes himself. But they believed him to be a ghost. Jesus says look at my feet. Now obviously he was saying look at the nail prints so you know I was crucified. But there’s another reason I think he said look at my feet…

Look on my feet and see whether they press on the earth. A spirit, a ghost, a demon entity, a vision or hallucination has no foot prints! If I’m a ghost you won’t see my imprints on this dusty floor. Jesus left footprints on the ground. Same Jesus, same hands, same feet. Every lie about Jesus starts by taking away his footprints.

Think about it. There are people today who will tell you Jesus was just a good teacher, a nice idea, a spirit of love floating somewhere above the world, a Jesus without footprints. There are people who tell you the resurrection was a vision, a feeling the disciples had, a story that grew in the telling, a Jesus without footprints. The earliest Christians said, No, he stood in the room. He had wounds you could put your finger in. He pressed the earth with his feet. He ate fish in front of us…we touched him!

Our faith isn't built on a feeling. It's built on a man who walked out of a tomb and left footprints in the dust. The Apostle John wrote at the beginning of his first letter.

1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life…

John was one of the men in that room. He was there when Jesus said, "Look at my feet." He spent the rest of his life telling the world. We didn't follow a feeling. We touched him. He's real. He's coming back. John says remember his feet.

Isaiah wrote

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation…

I think Isaiah was writing about the Messiah when he wrote these words. Jesus is clearly the one who brings good news and publishes salvation!

Jesus is the good news and our peace who has broken down every wall! He chose the cross as his means of sacrifice to provide reconciliation and redemption fully for all of creation and all of humanity. Look at my hands and my feet it is I myself…I’m not a spirit, an apparition, a ghost, a hallucination…I am real, I am resurrected, whatever comes after me, remember my feet…you’ll see my footprints as we walk together! Let’s look for his beautiful feet making footprints through our lives!!