After the pain: A sermon on John 20:19–20

Abstract

In the Gospel of John, readers encounter a community of believers who gather behind locked doors even after they have heard Jesus is alive. What can one make of their actions? Why are they not rejoicing, spreading the good news? Something is amiss. Jesus is alive, but the disciples are terrified and appear uncertain about what to do next. Using a trauma-informed hermeneutic, I interpret the actions, words, and apparent mood of the disciples in John 20: 19–20 as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Jesus’s visible scars testify to his pain and prove that the person in the room is the same person who hung on the cross. In a similar vein, the scars, visible and invisible, of trauma survivors tell stories of unimaginable horror. Many people who survive traumatic events manage to integrate their experiences without prolonged injury to their mental health. For others, however, this is not the case. Fragmentation, not integration, characterizes their post-trauma narratives. Is there any escape for those who live in this prison? For John, the answer, the healing, is in the Risen One. Ultimately, Jesus’s scars speak life and bring hope to a community haunted by loss.