Looking at Luke 24:38ff Christ says, "Why are you troubled, and doubts arise in your heart? Look at my hands and my feet, touch and see."
Commenting on appearance of Christ in His glorified body, Saint Augustine of Hippo in Sermon 246 tells us that Christ wanted to offer evidence of His resurrection from the dead as a reality! "Was He perhaps already ascended to the Father when He said: 'Touch me and see'? He let His disciples touch Him, indeed, not only touch but feel, to provide a foundation for faith in the reality of His flesh, in reality of His body [ut fides fiat verae carnis veri corporis]. The well-foundedness of the reality had to be made obvious also through human touch [ut exhibibeatur etiam tactibus humanis solidatus veritatis]. Thus He let Himself be touched by the disciples."
Later on Augustine asks about the women who were asked by the Lord not to touch Him because He had yet made the ascension, "What is this inconsistency? The men could not tocuh Him if not here on earth, while the women would be able to touch Him once He ascended to heaven? But what does touching mean if not believing? By faith we touch Christ. And it is better not to touch Him with faith than feel with the hand and not touch Him with faith."
Augustine points us to the proof Christ offers: faith. "The scar of the wound on His flesh served to heal the wound of disbelief." The Lord wanted to cure those who disbelieved.
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