Chapter 5: Behind Locked Doors

That same Sunday evening the disciples were gathered in a room in Jerusalem with the doors locked. They were afraid. The same authorities who had crucified Jesus were still in the city and the disciples had no way of knowing what would happen next.

When the Emmaus disciples arrived they found the eleven already saying that Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter earlier that day. They added their own story. While they were still talking, Jesus appeared in the room. Not through a door that opened. Not through a window. He was simply there, standing among them.

They were terrified. They thought they were seeing a ghost.

JESUS“Peace be with you.”— John 20:19

His first word to them was not an explanation of where he had been or what had happened. It was peace. Offered to a room full of people who had abandoned him three days earlier.

They still could not believe it. Luke records they were so overwhelmed with joy and amazement that disbelief held on a moment longer than it should have. Jesus understood.

JESUS“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”— Luke 24:39

He showed them his hands and his side. They saw the wounds. Then he asked if they had anything to eat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it in front of them. It was a deliberate act — not because he was hungry, but because it settled the question completely. Ghosts do not eat fish.

The fear dissolved. The room filled with joy.

Then Jesus did something unexpected. He breathed on them.

JESUS“Receive the Holy Spirit.”— John 20:22

Then he added a commission that would define the work of his followers going forward.

JESUS“If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”— John 20:23

This was not the full outpouring of the Spirit that would come at Pentecost. It was a foretaste, a first breath of what was coming. The same God who breathed life into Adam in the garden was breathing something new into this room. The disciples who had been hiding in fear were being sent out with authority.