2nd Week of Easter 2021 - Monday (EF) - John's Gospel and the Locked Room

Throughout the Easter Octave last week, the Gospel readings of the different accounts of the Lord’s resurrection and his appearances to his disciples were taken from all four Gospels.

For the remaining Sundays and ferial days up until Pentecost, the Gospels are taken from St. John. The Gospel of John was the last of the Gospels to be written, nearly 60 years after the Lord’s death and resurrection.  By then there were thousands of Christians in places like Jerusalem, Rome, and Antioch. 

And St. John seems to address his Gospel to those who had already received the Gospel—those who had already been baptized. They had already responded to the Gospel call to faith and conversion, even in the midst of early persecutions. By then, many of the apostles, including St. Peter and St. Paul had been martyred. St. John records many deep and often mystical teachings of the Lord, fitting for those Christians who had already begun to grasp the fundamentals. 

It's sometimes said that where Matthew, Mark, and Luke reveal the flesh and bones of Jesus, St. John reveals His Spirit—His Heart. After all, the fourth Gospel was written by the beloved one who laid his head near the heart of Jesus at the last supper. John’s Gospel draws us into a deep, intimately, loving relationship with the Master—invites us to recline our ears, like St. John near the heart of Jesus, to grow in love of him and to hear his love for us.

The story of the Lord’ appearance in the locked upper room would have deeply resonated with the Christians of the late 1st century. Again, with those early persecutions, they would be tempted to lock themselves away from the world, like the disciples in the Gospel. They, like the apostle Thomas were being called to believe and witness without having met the Lord personally, they might not have even met a living apostle. 

But the Lord pronounces a blessedness for those who have not seen, and still believe. Pope Benedict XVI called the Lord’s pronouncement, “the beatitude of faith”. “In every epoch and in every place” Pope Benedict said, “blessed are those who, on the strength of the word of God proclaimed in the Church and witnessed by Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the love of God incarnate, Mercy incarnate. And this applies for each one of us!”

We like St. Thomas, are called to peer lovingly and gratefully at the wounds of the Lord in his hands and side, to come to discover more deeply through the gift of faith his great love for us. Through the beatitude of faith—our lives become filled with that divine love which impels us into the world to draw others to him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.