John 20:19

John 20:19. When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors had been shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst; and he saith unto them, Peace be unto you. The message sent by the Lord to His disciples through Mary Magdalene was, ‘I ascend unto the Father.' In other words, it was an intimation to them that that glorification had begun whose distinguishing feature would be the bestowal of the Spirit upon the members of Christ's body. In this thought lies the connection between the last narrative and that now before us, as well as the special point of view from which the Evangelist desires us to look at the manifestation of the Risen One which he is about to relate. In this also we see the difference of aim between John and Luke, in what is universally allowed to be the record of the same scene (Luke 24:36-43). Luke would prove to us the reality of the Resurrection body, and would show that Jesus is substantially the same as He had been: John would show us that, while He is substantially the same, yet it is Jesus filled with the Spirit whom we behold. Hence the structure of John's narrative, in which it will be observed that the second ‘Peace be unto you' (John 20:21) takes up again the same expression in John 20:19 (comp. on chap. John 13:3), and that John 20:20 is in a certain sense parenthetical. This aim of our Evangelist also explains the stress which is laid upon the fact that this manifestation of Jesus took place ‘when the doors had been shut.' That we are to see something miraculous in this is clear, alike from the repetition of the statement below (John 20:26), and from the whole tone and bearing of the narrative. Any idea, therefore, of the withdrawal of the bolts of the doors must be at once dismissed. It is impossible to do justice to the passage unless we admit that, at a moment when the doors were shut, and when no one could enter through them in the ordinary way, Jesus suddenly stood in the midst of the disciples. But this is all that we have any right to say. The travesty of the whole scene presented by those who have ridiculed the idea that a body with ‘flesh and bones' (Luke 24:39) should penetrate through the substance of the wood, finds no countenance in the words with which we have to deal. Such a thought is not present to the mind of John. He dwells himself, and he would have us dwell, upon the simple circumstance that, at an instant when an ordinary human body could not have entered the apartment because the doors were shut, the glorified Jesus ‘came and stood in the midst.' Thus looked at, the passage sets before us what is no doubt miraculous, what is at variance with our present knowledge of the properties of a material frame, but at the same time nothing unworthy of the solemnity of the hour. As at Emmaus Jesus suddenly disappeared from those whose eyes were opened and who knew Him, so here He appears with equal suddenness to those who are ready to recognise Him. How He thus appeared through the physical obstacles presented by a room closed on every side it is not possible for us to say. The properties of matter spiritualised and glorified are entirely unknown to us from any experience of our own, nor is light thrown upon them here further than this, that Jesus, in His glorified humanity, had the power of being present when He pleased, without reference to the ordinary laws which control the movements of men. In this absolute subjection of the body to the spirit, John sees proof and illustration of the fact that in the person of Jesus dualism has disappeared, and that the perfect unity of body and spirit has been reached. The old struggle between the material and the spiritual, between the limited and the unlimited, has been brought to an end: the spiritual and the unlimited have absolute control. As ‘the first Adam became a living soul,' so ‘the second Adam became a life-giving Spirit' (1 Corinthians 15:45), and such life of the Spirit the disciples shall immediately receive. The salutation of the Saviour when He manifested Himself was ‘Peace be unto you;' and the meaning and force of the salutation are deepened by the contrast with the ‘fear of the Jews' spoken of immediately before. As in chap. John 14:27 (see commentary), this is the salutation of a departing Master, not of a dying Father. Amidst the troubles of the world upon which the disciples are about to enter, and when there is no help from man, Jesus is at hand to speak peace: ‘In the world they have tribulation,' but in Him ‘peace' (chap. John 16:33). It will be observed that the Evangelist seems carefully to distinguish between ‘the disciples' (John 20:18-19) and ‘the Twelve' (John 20:24). Hence we should naturally conclude that this manifestation of the Risen Lord was not limited to the apostles; and Luke 24:33 shows that this conclusion is correct.