They were startled and terrified at the sudden appearing of Jesus in their midst. They thought they were seeing a ghost. The confusion continues. It appears that the disciples are yet to come to terms with the post-resurrection occurrences which continue to unfold as the days go by. The two disciples to whom Jesus appeared while going to Emmaus (and of whom we heard about in yesterday’s Gospel passage) are back in Jerusalem and are met with the seemingly “good news” of the Lord appearing to Simon. And as the two also recounted how the Lord had joined them for the journey and conversed with them, the house goes into panic as Jesus suddenly appears and stands in their midst. The apparent joy and excitement that had pervaded the room is suddenly replaced with questions and doubts. Instead of Jesus being overwhelmed with hugs and embraces from his friends, he is met with gazes and blank stares. It took reassurances from Jesus to slowly restore calm in the house. Even so, amazement and questions still abounded. Why so?
Jesus’ resurrection was not a one-time event, and certainly coming to believe in it had to take place in stages. Jesus’ immediate followers had been with him from the time he embarked on his public ministry. They had heard him preach and witnessed the might acts God wrought through him. If there was any group that should have been at the forefront of understanding the “recent events that took place in Jerusalem,” it certainly had to be this group. However, they were yet to connect the events with what Jesus had told them regarding himself because they had not passed through that portal of Jesus’ resurrection. Their minds had still to be “opened” in order to comprehend the resurrection of Jesus. In other words, they were yet to experience their own resurrection. It was only through their own “resurrections” that they could come to understand Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus had to resurrect in them.