Lectio: John 20:19-31
April 9, 2010
John 20:19-31 (Today’s New International Version)
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus [a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe [b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Fear, peace and joy
Forgiveness
Locked doors, presence
Belief
These are the words that I find captivating in this passage. In lectio, I know that I’m supposed to settle in one theme, one word or phrase, and let that continue to speak to me. But this passage doesn’t feel that way to me. Jesus’ friends arrive in the scene behind locked doors, desperate for their own safety, rightly terrified that the authorities will implicate and kill them next. The sense of tension and terror in that room are palpable.
Jesus arrives, through locked doors. Immediately, that tension and fear turns to love and joy, and that love and joy is focused on forgiveness; their own forgiveness at first, but then Jesus’ mission to them to go out and forgive.
The scene is repeated for Thomas (more like us and our culture than we usually admit): Prove It To Me! Thomas isn’t just “my atheist friends”; Thomas is me even at my best moments; I want and need to experience God tangibly. Jesus arrives again, through locked doors. Thomas (and I) again believe, and the entire story concludes with a call to belief, in the form of action.
I pray, thinking about the many locked doors in my life, the areas in which I have hurt or been hurt, or just don’t want to go. Those locked doors are no match for the presence of Jesus the Christ. Come, Jesus, appear behind those doors, and bring me joy and peace, that I might once again forgive, receive forgiveness, and believe.
Listening as a Sacred Calling
April 8, 2010