After that day, everything was different. The first disciples witnessed a dead man walking. Their lives would be forever changed, defined by “life before Easter” and life “life after Easter.” On numerous occasions, Jesus showed up in resurrected form before he ascended. In the season of Easter we will examine six “after Easter” encounters with Jesus. What did he say and do? In what practical ways does resurrection change my daily life? Nothing will ever be the same.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
Risen Christ, by your death and resurrection you brought dawn to darkness. You have made a new way, from death to life, cross to crown, grave to glory. We are frail creatures in a world of change and decay. Rule over us in your resurrection power. Subdue sin and evil, disease and destruction. We have nothing apart from you, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Confession
O Lord, I live a world of dead ends. There is always an end. An end to my energy. My time. My love. My patience. My money. My very life. I am trapped by limits. I am burdened by my frail, finite limits. I have exhausted all other options. Nothing else satisfies. You burst forth from the grave to give me life beyond the horizon. You are my singular hope, my only prayer. Risen Savior, have mercy on my dead ends.
Word
“Although the doors were locked…” John 20:26
Meditation
Today’s meditation is by Megan Roegner.
In attempting to read the story of Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances in John 20 with fresh eyes, my attention was captured by locked doors. They are locked when Jesus first makes his appearance to the disciples on Easter and are locked again when he appears for the second time, eight days later, to show Thomas his hands, feet, and sides.
The parallel in this detail led me to other parallels: Thomas is often treated as the exception—the disciple who doubted contrasted with the other disciples who believed. But, really, the other disciples believed because of sight, too. They are hiding behind their locked doors “for fear” in verse 19 even though Mary Magdalene had brought them the news of Jesus’s resurrection earlier that day. Despite their locked doors, Jesus appears and shows them his hands and his side. But even after seeing the truth of the resurrection for themselves and hearing Jesus’s words of “Peace be with you,” they are still behind locked doors in verse 26 when Jesus returns for Thomas.
The English teacher in me sees a symbol in the disciples’ locked doors, a representation of every person’s struggle to believe without sight—the way fear so often dominates trust. But despite the locked doors of our hearts and minds, Jesus still enters and gives us a path to belief. Our barriers do not keep him out.
The English teacher in me also has a poem for every occasion. In her poem “St. Thomas Didymus,” Denise Levertov, who converted to Christianity when she was 60, writes in the voice of “Doubting Thomas.” Her Thomas, though, is not one who is shamed because he struggled to believe; rather, he is transformed because Jesus fulfilled his need to see and touch:
“But when my hand
led by His hand’s firm clasp
entered the unhealed wound,
my fingers encountering
rib-bone and pulsing heat,
what I felt was not
scalding pain, shame for my
obstinate need,
but light, light streaming
into me, over me, filling the room
as if I had lived till then
in a cold cave, and now
coming forth for the first time,
the knot that bound me unravelling.”
I don’t think Thomas is the exception. He may not be the model of who we should be, but he’s a good representative of who we are. Jesus tells Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” because our lives would have so much more peace if we could, but he still unlocks our doors and unravels our knots when we fail, so the light can stream in.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for your persistent love that knows no barriers. Help us be guided by faith, not ruled by fear. Amen.
Benediction
The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (I Pet. 5:10-11)