Jesus gives us the strength to go beyond the locked doors. He breathes the Holy Spirit on us, just as he breathed on the disciples in that upper room. The word “breathe on” in this context means “emphasizing” the Holy Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit, which breaks through bonds of death, can easily break through locked doors and give us strength and courage, and hope.

It is Christ’s mission that takes us beyond the doors! The apostles were commissioned to carry on Christ’s work, not begin a new one. The risen Lord does not hand over his mission to his disciples and leave them to it—he only gives the disciples a share in it. With God’s spirit with us, in us and working through us, we go forth just as the disciples and God will do through us “greater things” in the powerful mission that he continues!

One scholar writes just as God “breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life…so now does Christ breathe into us the Spirit of the Lord, making us a new creation. What began in Genesis, he continues through the witness of the prophets and apostles, and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Did you know that Jesus even refers to you in this Scripture, as well? It’s right near the end, v. 29. He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That’s you and me! We weren’t there, that day when Jesus came to the disciples. We weren’t as fortunate as Thomas to be able to clear our doubts by actually touching his hand and side. But we hear it, and we believe. We’re part of the story because centuries later the story gets handed down to us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”