He wanted them to know that he had gone through the danger, not around it, so he told them to look at his hands and feet. Those wounds said that he had been to Hell and back, literally and figuratively, and that proved that he was who he said he was. I am getting to know some of you by your hands, as, week after week, I place pieces of bread in them. Some of the stories are long and hard, others are just beginning. All of them are precious, though, because all of these hands have been dipped in the chalice of Christ's death and resurrection.
Some hands are smooth and soft as a baby's bottom, and still take it all for granted.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. And we have no fear of putting our hands in his hand, because we know where his hands have been. 2 Taylor, Home, p. 122-3.