Please pray for Amber, Anne W, Daphne K, Eugenie, Lisa Neill, Lindsay,
Luke, Margaret G, Mervyn Thomas, Richard, Robyn, and Ross.
 

We continue to pray for our parishioners each week. 
This week we pray for Gerry, Anne, Carolina & Graeme, and Jean
If you, or anyone you know, would appreciate our prayers or pastoral care, please contact
Murray on 0421 234 541 or Debbie in the church office on 3358 6945 or office@mruca.org.au

Reading
John 20:19-31
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
¹⁹When 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 Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
 
Jesus and Thomas
²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  ²⁵So 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.”
²⁶A 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.”  ²⁷Then 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.”  ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 

 ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The Purpose of This Book
³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.


Reflection
There is tension in the house in which the disciples are gathered. The rooms are dark, the doors are locked. They are scared, going out might lead to being recognised and arrested, even torture and death. Who can they trust? They know it’s hard to tell a friend from an enemy. Things have ended very differently from how they thought their journey with Jesus would end. Mary says Jesus is alive, that she has seen him, they have not - is she a reliable witness?

Easter 2020 and much of last year saw us locked in our homes, out of our churches and restricted in our movements. Despite this, the church lived on, in homes, via the internet, letters in the post, through acts of kindness, and in people’s hearts as the Spirit led us to be something different. Closed doors have never been a barrier to the living Christ and today’s reading is a powerful illustration of this.