4/28/19: Easter 2
Scripture: John 20:19-28

It was the first Easter Sunday. Trouble was: the disciples did not know it yet to be.

“The doors of the house,” we are told, “were locked for fear.”

Quite understandable, this fear. Fear of being discovered, arrested, crucified even – for aiding and abetting a political traitor. Crucifixion was reserved for the treasonous, you know. Traitors to the violent ways of the Roman Empire, and the ethnic leaders – here, their Jewish leaders – coopted by that empire. Traitors, like this so-called “Prince of Peace” – this latest “Messiah”. And they had aided and abetted Jesus’ act of treason.

The doors were locked out of fear for their oppressors. But of course.

Pardon the pun: but guess who’s coming to sinners? One moment: doors locked. Next moment: “Jesus came and stood among them”. Resurrected, in all his transformed glory, our imperial traitor commits yet another crime: breaking and entering. Picking the lock on the doors of his disciples’ hearts. Freeing them from their spiritual prisons – by showing them his wounds, as if to say: I have compassion for yours. Saying to them, twice: “Peace be with you!”