April 12, 2026

Easter 2, Year A

John 20:19-31

Epiphany, Winnipeg

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah.

Today the disciples of the risen Christ are in a locked room, hiding away in fear. They’ve heard the news, but they haven’t seen it yet. So the’re finding shelter together in a quiet and hidden place. See if you can see yourself in that place somewhere.

It’s not a big room, not much more than you’d need for ten or eleven or twelve people. There are no windows, because what good is hiding in a room with windows when you’re afraid of being discovered? There’s a door at the end of one wall, and the latch on the doorknob is locked and the deadbolt is locked and the security chain is in place and maybe, maybe, they’ll be safe.

Of course these disciples afraid. They’re afraid of the temple authorities, the same temple authorities, those leaders of the people who happily worked with the Roman governor and his troops to have Jesus put to death. Imagine your own fear, knowing that if people put names and faces together they could come after you too.

There are ten gathered in that room. There should be twelve, but two of them are missing. One of them, Judas, turned against Jesus and all the others. He was bought off by those same authorities who wanted Jesus dead, and the last time anyone saw Judas he was standing there with the ones who came to arrest Jesus. Nobody has seen or heard from him since. His old friends Philip and Nathanael quietly wish him good riddance and couldn’t care less what happens to him. Some of them are just kind of in shock; they’re not mad at Judas, they just can’t believe what he did…it all blends in with all the blur of events of the last few days. Simon and Andrew - they’re brothers who stick together sometimes – they worry about Judas, because he was a friend. They even hope they might see him again, even as awkward as that might be. Peter had that incident where he denied even knowing Jesus, so he feels something for Judas, because he knows what it’s like not to have been a loyal friend.

Thomas is missing too. He’d been one of the ones who could always say what everyone else was thinking but were afraid to ask – “Where are you going, Jesus? We don’t know where you’re going. How are we supposed to know?” Nobody knows where Thomas is. Maybe he got stuck in a lineup at the market where he was trying to pick up a few things for them all to eat – you can imagine him there, maybe with a hood pulled over his head, trying not to be noticed. He might have jumped to the other side too, just like Judas had. Who knows when someone might crack or turn away? Or maybe the authorities they’re all afraid of arrested Thomas too. Maybe he’s the first one of the next ones to go.

There are ten left there in the room. One of them is consoling another one, with sort of a manly-caring but too-manly-to-hug pat on the shoulder. Four sit in a small circle of chairs trying to talk through what’s been going on; Bartholomew sits in a corner, where no one can sneak up on him, knees pulled up to his chest, rocking a little and humming something to himself. James and John are having a chuckle about something Jesus said once, because even when you grieve you remember those funny moments…

Everyone’s mad at Peter because he denied even knowing Jesus. But they all secretly think they might have done the same thing he did. There’s one disciple who nobody calls by name; he’s only ever been called the one Jesus loves. Some of the disciples, but not all of them, have that jealousy or hurt that goes on between siblings sometimes: “You were always mom’s favourite.” “Dad loved you more.” “That disciple there – he’s the one Jesus loved.”

Everybody’s afraid, nobody knows what will happen next, and after three years following Jesus they’re not even sure who they are any more.

There is a lot of love in that room, too. It’s that bond that forms between people who’ve known each other a long time and have so many shared experiences. These disciples have had miles and miles of walking together, sometimes chatting merrily and sometimes saying nothing for hours, but always more-or-less on the same path. They’ve eaten together - who knows how many times? - they’ve laughed and argued and been to wedding feasts and seen all kinds of crazy things, like a blind man healed, like Jesus sitting in the hot sun with that woman at the well – who does that? – like all that food on the hillside for thousands of people…when Jesus drew so much generosity out of that boy who had just a little bread and fish to share.

There’s also a confused kind of love that forms between people who have been through something awful too. Sometimes that experience draws people together, closer than ever. Sometimes it can drive them apart; even the ones who have loved each other dearly.

Then the risen Christ comes into the room, out of the blue, and that room starts to change.

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

A week later they’re all in the room again, but the doors aren’t locked. Maybe they’re not so afraid any more. Thomas is there this time, and the risen Jesus shows up again and the room heals some more and Thomas starts to heal…and maybe some of that complicated stuff that happens between people who have known tragedy together starts to heal. This little community of disciples starts to heal, and they can keep on believing again.

But did you notice how all that healing starts to happen? Jesus comes in unannounced and says “Peace be with you.” That’s the easy part. We’ll do that ourselves in a few minutes – we’ll pass on the peace that Jesus has given to us.

And then the Risen One shows those disciples his wounds: The wound in his side where the spear had gone in, and the wounds through his hands or his wrists, wherever the nails might have been. He doesn’t come with a perfect body, and being The Risen One doesn’t turn him into some kind of ideal person. He comes bearing his wounds – carrying them – and baring his wounds – showing them – and then the ones who were so afraid begin to believe again. When they see that Jesus is wounded, maybe even just like they are wounded people themselves.

And isn’t it something that when they tell Thomas that they’ve seen Jesus, he knows exactly what he needs to see to start believing again? He doesn’t need to see power and he doesn’t need to see a superhero. He needs to see Jesus’ wounds; he needs to see this one who died from those wounds, but who lives again…and still lives with those wounds. Sometimes people call him doubting Thomas, but he’s not doubting at all. Thomas knows exactly what he needs for his dying faith to come back to life: He needs to see Jesus’ wounds.

When we step back from that room where the risen Jesus meets a handful of disciples for the first time, it’s not too much of a stretch to see that that room looks like the world around us – the big big world in the news, and the big big world closer to home and even right here in this room and the big big world right here inside each of us. There’s love and there’s jealousy, there’s violence and sometimes peace, there’s fear and there’s hope, maybe there’s trauma and maybe there are a lot of good memories. There’s loneliness and there’s kindness and consolation. It’s broken and it’s beautiful, all at the same time.

And what happens in this broken and beautiful world? Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.

The risen Jesus comes into the room here. He doesn’t come with a step-by-step plan that will restore our faith, or with a project that will make everything alright. He doesn’t come to set a perfect example so that we can learn to be perfect too. Thank goodness we don’t need to be perfect… The risen Jesus just comes into the room, shows us his wounds, and says, “This is my body given for you (can you see those hands?), this is my blood, shed for you (can you see that side?).” Then the risen and wounded Jesus breathes his Spirit on us and sends us – as wounded and scarred and loved as we are - sends us into the world with that same Spirit of love and forgiveness and life:

The Spirit of the wounded one; the Spirit of the Risen One.

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!