Risen Body

Beautiful stained glass windows in Salisbury Cathedral.
In John's Gospel Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene on the morning of the resurrection, to the disciples that evening and a week later, and finally to some disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  The two evening appearances are the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter (20:19-31.)
These appearances and those reported in the other Gospels help us to understand that Jesus appeared only occasionally to his followers after he rose from the dead.  He wanted them and us to know that he was himself, in his body, but that his body was different.  That it was the same is clear from his inviting Thomas to touch him.  That it was different is clear from his appearing in a room where the doors are locked.  If the disciples and we knew only about the empty tomb, that could leave us thinking that it was just a spiritual apparition. 
I find it helpful to imagine the other world into which Jesus has been raised as woven into and through the world in which we live.  The body and soul of the Risen Jesus is so changed that he can move back and forth between the two worlds.  He brings with him his Spirit whom he breathes into us.  He announces peace, a sense that everything is as it should be.  That fills the disciples and us with a joy that nothing can take from us.