Meditations on John 20:19-22

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

I have been deeply blessed by a series of four meditations on the nomad podcast website - the last one being this meditation on the Power of a Greeting. Anna Robinson goes through an imaginative exercise in which you close your eyes and imagine yourself as a person living just after Jesus died. Like the disciples (maybe you are one of them), you are in a locked room, and Jesus comes back - no knocking, just there.

'Hello,' he says.

I touch his arm - the soft fuzz of hair on his wrist and the veins beneath. The life. His face - he's real. There's a pain in my throat and I'm frowning and blinking and then I'm crying because I really missed you. 

'Will you stay with me?' I ask.

'No,' he says.

'Can I stay with you?' I ask.

'Yes,' he says, and smiles. 'Always.'