NOTES for Joh 20:1-31
When reading the accounts of the Resurrection, the fact becomes obvious that the apostles, despite everything Jesus had told them during His earthly ministry, were completely unprepared for the meeting with the Risen One. John does not mention the burial garments ("linen wrappings") by chance; they were what first made the apostles think that something unusual was happening (vv. 1-9). Indeed, according to Jewish custom, the body was wrapped in a shroud so tightly that it was practically impossible to unwrap it without damaging the fabric. Meanwhile the apostles saw the shroud in which Jesus' body had been wrapped not only whole, but evidently not even disturbed, so that the head covering with which the head of the deceased was usually bound ("the face cloth," v. 7) remained lying separately, apparently in the place where the Savior's head had been before the resurrection. There was no way to explain what had happened except as a miracle. But the apostles, apparently, still did not understand very well what exactly had happened.
Of course, Mary Magdalene saw the risen Jesus at that same time in the garden and immediately reported this to the apostles (vv. 11-18), but her testimony was probably not enough for them. The real meeting took place that same evening (vv. 19-23), and then the apostles were finally able to be convinced that their Teacher was truly alive. Jesus does not accidentally give them the opportunity to look at His hands, feet, and side (v. 20): the marks of the wounds were meant to convince the apostles that before them was not a ghost, not a shadow that had come out of the tomb, as they might have thought after hearing from Mary Magdalene that the Risen One did not allow her to touch Him (v. 17).
This was extremely important, for the issue was not only the Person of the Risen One, but also the nature of the Kingdom. If it were no different from the world of shadows and spirits, then its influence on the world would be no stronger than the influence exerted on it by shadows and spirits, which can sometimes reveal their presence but are unable to affect the existing order of things seriously, and still less can they change it radically, in the way the world changes when it becomes part of the Kingdom.
But, evidently, for all its objectivity and tangibility, the Kingdom still differs in some essential ways from our world, which is not yet transformed. It is not by chance that the Lord nevertheless places Thomas's desire to feel Jesus' wounds with his own hands below trust in testimony (vv. 24-29). After all, the main thing in the Kingdom is determined by trust - trust in God, trust in Jesus, trust in one another. It is the foundation of everything. Without it there is no Kingdom. And it cannot depend on the possibility of touching with one's hands what one believes in or the one whom one trusts. Not because this is forbidden, but because the main thing in the Kingdom cannot be touched with hands. The main thing in the Kingdom can be touched only with the heart. And everyone who wants to live the life of the Kingdom must be ready for this.