The Risen Jesus - Pt 2

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:19-23 ESV). We’re going to see three important things about how Jesus dealt with the disciples when he first appeared to them after the resurrection. Remember our reading is set in the evening of the day he rose from the dead. That morning Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene (cf. John 20:1-18). But now he appears to all the disciples (the eleven apostles) at once. The three important things to notice are: the doors are locked; the disciples are frightened; and Jesus comes to them and stands in their midst. Those three facts tell us three things we can know about how the risen Christ deals with us today. Today we will look at the first of these things.

The doors were locked. Yet, Jesus did not have to knock. He did not even have to open the door. He simply was there. And he wasn’t a ghost. Look at verse 20: “He showed them his hands and his side.” In another place he said, “Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (cf. Luke 24:29-39). So he has a physical body. But it is not exactly like ours; it is the same, yet different. He was simply there, in spite of the closed doors. That says so much to me. I know the disciples were afraid. Their purposefully locked the doors to keep everything and everyone else out. However, if a sealed tomb and death itself cannot hold him, how could a simple locked door? He simply appeared. Which means that today in your life, Jesus can go where no one else can go. He can go where no counselor can go. He can go where no doctor can go. He can go where no lover can go. He can reach you, and reach into you, anywhere and anytime. There is no place where you are, and no depths of personhood that you are which Jesus can’t penetrate. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead fits him to do what no one else can do. There is no one else like him in all the universe. He is alive, and he is the one and only God-Man. What he is capable of you cannot imagine. And it is a healing wonder to contemplate that in all the complex layers of your life, which neither you nor anyone else can understand, are familiar territory to him. He comes in!