Have you ever been so afraid that you would only gather behind locked doors?
In this week’s Gospel reading, the disciples are just that afraid.* Fear has narrowed their world. Just as with Mary at the tomb, Jesus comes quietly to his followers, offering peace and inviting them to see that there is more to the story than death. There is new life. There is resurrection.
Resurrection does not force its way in; it meets us in the spaces we have closed off. The locked rooms of our lives, where our despair, our confusion, our fear about what is happening in the world resides, become the very places where Christ meets us and tends to us.
When Jesus shows his wounds, he makes clear that the violence he endured was real. God does not erase injustice; God carries it and accompanies all who suffer. The wounds remain—but they are no longer the end of the story. There is more.
Then Jesus breathes on them, echoing the first breath of God in Genesis. The same breath that called creation into being is now renewing a fearful, grieving community. And they are sent out to bear witness – not because they understand everything, but because they have received peace. Even Thomas, full of doubt and absent that first night, is not shamed but simply invited to see and touch. Despite his own inner turmoil, Thomas also recognizes Christ in their midst.
This is resurrection faith: a quiet, persistent love that meets us where we are and calls us out of hiding, into the open, and into community with the Divine and with one another.
While we live in a time when fear is pervasive, many of us reading this reflection do so from a place of relative safety. Let us be the brave ones—those who step forward, reach out, and offer to others the peace we ourselves have received.
-- Kate Lasso, 8th Day Faith Community
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If you’d like to explore what this kind of love looks like in action, you might listen to an inspiring conversation between Tara Brach and Palestinian peace activist Mohsen Mahdawi.
