Remember when I told you?

Was it the same Upper Room?

OK, first with the caveats.  The story of Jesus' appearance to Thomas comes to us from the writer of the Gospel of John.  The idea that the Last Supper took place in an Upper Room comes from the writer of the Gospel of Luke.  There is a rule about taking details from one gospel and superimposing them on another.  Just the same, we tend to think of the Last Supper as taking place in an Upper Room, which leads me to ask, "Was it the same Upper Room?"

You know, that locked room where the disciples were hiding out for fear that they were the next ones on the Romans' hit list.....was it the same Upper Room?  In the same house?  Did the disciples....and Thomas....meet the risen Jesus in the very same place they had shared the Last Supper?

You can see the connections, right?  Jesus saying "This is my body given for you.  This is my blood poured out for you" in the very same place where he holds out his hands to show the wounds of the nails and invites Thomas to place his hand on his side where the soldier stuck his spear.

It is like an object lesson for all the concrete learners of the world, a divine 'graphic' to help us connect Jesus' promises with the really risen Jesus.  "This is my body"  which is simply another way of saying  "This is my love" and "This is my faithfulness." I can assure you I would have been second in line behind Thomas; there is nothing like a good concrete object lesson to cement my learning.

According to the Gospel of Luke Jesus told his disciples to remember him, (which really meant remember my love and my ministry and my connection to the Great Creator) whenever they shared that simple ritual of bread and wine, of body and blood, given out of love for this world and all the creatures in it.

Remembering is good, but I'd rather look around to catch a glimpse of the risen Jesus patiently waiting for someone to reach out and touch those wounds....for when we touch the wounds, we touch the heart of God.