Verse 18. And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and said this to her...,4 and that he had spoken these things to her (For it is very probable that the disciples, when they heard this, either did not believe the woman as before, or believed her because her story had been confirmed by Peter and John, and began to grieve that they also had not been vouchsafed such a vision, – then Jesus Christ appears to them on the same day. At first, He aroused in His disciples a desire to see Him, and then, when this desire was strong in them, He appeared to them as well).

Verse 19. And I am later on that day from the Sabbath, and the door is shut, where His disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst... 5 In the evening, Jesus Christ came, because then the disciples were especially afraid, and then everyone gathered. And He did not knock at the door, so as not to frighten them, but passed through the locked ones, like God, and also because His body had already become thin, light and pure. He stood in the middle so that all could see Him.

Verse 19... And she said to them, Peace be unto you... (i.e. do not be troubled. When Jesus Christ was dying, He also left peace to His disciples: "Peace I leave with you," He said (John 14:27). Jesus Christ gave joy to His wives, His disciples, before any conversation, because this sex was condemned to sorrow, and to the disciples He grants peace), because they assumed enmity on the part of Jews and pagans.

Verse 20. And these rivers, showing them His hand (and nose) and His side... 1 Find and read the interpretation of the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke necessary for the explanation of this verse, beginning with the place where it says: "And that is the story that was on the way... to the words: "And yet they do not believe for joy and wonder... (Luke 24:35; 41).

Verse 20... For the disciples rejoiced, having seen the Lord.2 Do you see the fulfillment of the words of the Lord? Before His sufferings, He said to His disciples: "And when I see you, your heart shall rejoice" (John 16:22).

Verse 21. And Jesus said unto them, Peace be unto you... 3 After Jesus Christ had eaten a portion of the baked fish and honeycomb that had been given to Him, as the Evangelist Luke said (24:42), the disciples were convinced that it was Him; and now Jesus Christ calms their agitation, which has taken place, probably from joy, so that they may be attentive to what He intends to say.

Verse 21... As the Father sent Me, and I send you.4 Even before His sufferings on the Cross, Jesus Christ said to God the Father: "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, and I have sent them into the world" (John 17:18). Read the explanation of these words. By entrusting His work to His disciples and appointing them to His successors, Jesus Christ thereby lifted up their spirits.

Verses 22-23. And he said to them, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." To whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven: and to whom you hold, they hold on.5 But before Jesus Christ said: "For if I do not come, the Comforter will not come to you" (John 16:7); how does He now give the Holy Spirit to His disciples? He breathed, imparting to them the grace of receiving the Holy Spirit, making them capable of receiving Him, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit, not now, but when He descends." Or – by the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ here called the spiritual gift to forgive and not to forgive sins, which He then communicated to His disciples (and which is greater than the gift of miracles. When Jesus Christ said to the paralytic: "Thy sins are forgiven" (Matt. 9:2), the scribes said: "Who can forgive sins, but God alone" (Mk. 2:7)? If ye bind them on earth, they shall be bound in heaven: and if ye loose them on earth, they shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18), but then He only promised them, and now He has given them. Find in the seventh chapter of this Gospel the saying: "For the Holy Spirit is not with him, for Jesus is not glorified with him" (John 7:39) and read his explanation. Thus, Jesus Christ breathed as a source of grace-filled gifts – He breathed in order that we might know from this that He had previously breathed into Adam the breath of life. By holding understand the same as binding, unforgiveness. As the king, when appointing generals, so Jesus Christ, when sending disciples, invests them with power above all (Those who, out of fear of demons, have firmly established themselves on the height of Divine contemplation and have closed their external senses like doors, – they receive the Word of God that has imperceptibly come to them, which appears without striking their external senses, which communicates to them peace, i.e. freedom from passions, and the breath, i.e. the grace of the Holy Spirit, and which reveals its invisible action in external signs).

Verse 24. But Thomas, one of the two, the said Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.6 Probably, after the disciples had dispersed and, leaving the Teacher, had fled, Thomas had not yet seen them (Although Thomas was absent, yet through the brethren of his apostles he also became a partaker of the grace of the Holy Spirit communicated to them, as St. Cyril said. that only later, when he saw the hands and rib of the Savior and believed in the Resurrection, then he received the same grace, so that he would not be inferior to the rest of the apostles in any way).

Verse 25. And the disciples' friends said to him, "I have seen the Lord... 1 They said when Thomas had already come to them.

Verse 25... And he said to them, "If I do not see the wounds of nails in His hand, I will put my finger into the wounds of nails, and put my hand into His side, I have no faith.2 Just as to believe without any reasoning and as it happens to the light-minded, so to examine to the smallest detail and to test in measure is characteristic of the dull-witted. For this Thomas is blamed. While all the disciples, who were fully trustworthy, claimed to have seen the Lord, Thomas did not believe, not so much distrusting them as considering the Resurrection itself impossible. He himself wants to see the Lord; moreover, he wants to see wounds from nails. But Thomas's inquisitiveness does not stop there: he wants to put his finger in the wounds from the nails and his hand in the side of the Savior, so that it would not be a ghost. As we know, he heard from other disciples that the Savior only showed them His hands and side. And so Thomas considers the sense of touch to be more reliable than sight.

Verse 26. And in the days they were beaten inside His disciples, and Thomas with them... 3 inside the house where they gathered.

Verse 26... Jesus came by the closed door... 4 He came to persuade Thomas, who did not believe, because he did not despise even the one, though he be dull in comparison with the others. But why did Jesus Christ not convince Thomas when he made the above demands, but eight days later? Because, having been instructed during all this time by other disciples, Thomas could more easily be convinced.

Verse 26... And he stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you...,5 as he had said before. Again, Jesus Christ is doing the same thing that He did in Thomas' absence.