Peace Be With You

This is Caravaggio's amazing "Incredulity of St. Thomas," dated around 1602. It brings to life the scene of Thomas' encounter with the risen Jesus in John 20:26-29, where Thomas touches Jesus' wounds with his own hands.
John 20:19-31, the continuation of the Easter story, is the gospel for this week. We spent time immersed in it during Wednesday's Confirmation Class, our first time gathering since Lent began.
Reading the story, we realized that even though Jesus has risen and resurrection life is offered to the world, Jesus' disciples are still frightened and are acting like Easter hasn't happened. They are scared that what the authorities and crowds did to Jesus will still be done to them, and they are ashamed because Jesus has fully shared his life and blessing with them but they ran away, even after pledging to stay with him. They lock themselves in a room, which becomes a kind of tomb because they are afraid to live the life and love of Jesus fully. But he comes to them, he gets inside the closed off room, and offers them his peace. It is the peace of love without limits. He teaches them about the power of forgiveness; his very presence with them is the experience of God's forgiveness that overcomes their failure. He tells them that as they practice forgiveness with others, people will be released from great burdens, both those who have caused wounds and those who have suffered them. Jesus peace is the peace of knowing that you are loved by God in all circumstances and that God's love can make good things come out of situations that start out really bad. Jesus says that as the Father has sent him, so he is now sending them out into the world to be the good news of God's love. Amazing! And he breathes his very own Spirit, his life, into them!!
Later in the story we hear about Thomas, who isn't there the first time Jesus comes. We've always heard him called "Doubting Thomas" because when the other disciples tell him they've seen Jesus he has a hard time believing them and wants to see Jesus for himself. "Doubting Thomas" is a bad name and an unfair one. Thomas is the only one of them not locked in the room. Maybe he's the only one who actually believed Mary Magdalene when she said she had seen and talked to the risen Jesus. Maybe he was out looking for Jesus so he could follow him again!
Jesus invites Thomas to touch his wounds, and Thomas does. It must have been hard because Thomas, too, had run away when Jesus was arrested, and he knows his abandonment hurt Jesus. He's willing to confess it, and to receive the new life and new purpose that Jesus is now giving them. Amen!
Are there times when we know in our hearts the lessons Jesus has taught us but we're afraid to do them? When? What does it mean that even when we fail once (or even more), Jesus comes to us, loves us, forgives our sins, and chooses us to again be the ambassadors of God's unlimited love?