READ SCRIPTURE (John 20:19-31)
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 Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and 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 said to Jesus, “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.”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing, you may have life in his name.
REFLECT ON THE READING
We see and sometimes touch wounds all around us, but these wounds are not usually life-giving. They are our own wounds and wounds we have caused in others. They are the wounds of a suffering humanity. But they are also the wounds the earth has suffered, not least at our hands. They are signs of our sin. But Sunday after Sunday, through word and sacrament, we encounter Jesus Christ, and we discover that he shares our wounds. He is risen, but the wounds of his crucifixion have not disappeared. These signs of God sharing our need and death have become instead the source of the Holy Spirit giving life, of forgiveness proclaimed to us and by us to others, and of peace in shared community. In faith, we may see and touch those life-giving wounds by hearing the scriptures, by celebrating the holy communion, and by turning in empathy and with shared resources to our neighbors and our world.
PRAY TOGETHER
Almighty God, with joy we celebrate the day of our Lord’s resurrection. By the grace of Christ among us, enable us to show the power of the resurrection in all that we say and do, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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