Day 36
john 20: 19-21
19On 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." 20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
The Disciples Meet the Risen Lord (john 20: 19-21)
Jesus appears in a locked room and imparts to his disciples the Holy Spirit. Thomas is not convinced by the story but Jesus appears to him Individually.
We often refer to this room as the ‘upper-room’, but we have no evidence for that. We know that they gathered later in an upstairs room in Jerusalem (Acts 1:13) and we presume that this was the room they had always used for their meetings. What we do know is that it was ‘locked ... for fear of the Jews’. It is easy to imagine the fear of this small group and how they jumped at every unexplained noise and footfall. If the authorities had gone to such extremes to stop Jesus, surely they would eventually get around to dealing with the disciples in a similar way. Then, suddenly, without a sound Jesus ‘came and stood among them’. He greets them in the usual Jewish way. We have already noticed that ‘peace’ for the Jew meant much more than it does for us. If any doubt remains in their minds about who he was, it was removed when they saw ‘his hands and his side’ (verse 20).
Think: In many countries today there are persecuted Christians behind locked doors for fear of the authorities. Pray for them.
