The past is a foreign place. That’s a point made regularly by a favorite author of mind. It’s a reminder that when we try to understand the mindset of people for distant from us in history, we are always going to fall short. Their ways of thinking, their ideas and understandings of events are formed from a different worldview than ours.

So I’m not surprised that the way the narrative of the Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in the Upper Room describes the events doesn’t make much sense to me. The disciples are gathered in a locked room for fear of the leaders of the people. Jesus appears in the room, bids them peace and then shows them the wounds on his body. *Then* the disciples are glad. What makes them glad at that point? The wounds? If so, why?

In this week’s sermon I explore this question. I believe their joy is less about the wounds in front of them as what the wounded savior in their midst signifies to them and the world.