BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (John 20:19-29, NRSV). 

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

On Sunday evening of that day, the first day of the week,             
        for Jesus’ followers the future still was very bleak.
They gathered in a house where they had sometimes met before,
        and fearing the authorities they’d bolted every door.
How startled they all must have been, and maybe frightened, too,
        when Jesus suddenly appeared and said, “Peace be with you.”
He then showed them his hands and side.  Oh, how they did rejoice
        to see the Lord alive again and hear their Master’s voice!
He then repeated what he’d said before, “Peace be with you,
        for as the Father has sent me, so I now send you, too.”
And after that he breathed on them, and then went on to say,
        “Receive my holy spirit.”  He empowered them that day
to pardon sins or to condemn.  Because of this last word
        much controversy among Bible scholars has occurred.
Now Thomas wasn’t with the others when Christ came that day.
        So when they said, “We’ve seen the Lord!”  Thomas replied, “No way!
Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and feel his side,
        I won’t believe!” For he was certain that Jesus had died.
However, when they met again, after a week had passed,
        the Twin was there when Jesus reappeared, and now at last
he, too, believed.  For Jesus told him, “Put your finger here,
        and see my hands, and touch my side.  Have no more doubt or fear.
Believe!”  Then Thomas answered him and said, “My Lord, my God!”
        The doubter was the first disciple to call Jesus, God!
But Jesus said, “Have you believed because of what you see?
        Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe in me.”
What John reports that Jesus said was needed to convince
        those who have had to answer “Who is Jesus?” ever since.

RSA