Fathers

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What the Fathers say

John 20:19

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Since then it was likely that the disciples on hearing these things would either not believe the woman, or, believing, would grieve that He had not deemed them worthy of the vision, though He promised to meet them in Galilee; in order that they might not by dwelling on this be unsettled, He let not a single day pass, but having brought them to a state of longing, by their knowledge that He was risen, and by what they heard from the woman, when they were thirsting to see Him, and were greatly afraid, (which thing itself especially …

Homily on the Gospel of John 86 ↗

Gregory of Nyssa

That He did not abide in death, that the wounds which His body had received from the iron of the nails and spear offered no impediment to His rising again, that after His resurrection He showed Himself as He pleased to His disciples, that when He wished to be present with them He was in their midst without being seen, as needing no entrance through open doors, and that He strengthened the disciples by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and that He promised to be amongst them, and that no partition wall should intervene between them …

The Great Catechism 32 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

By his unexpected entry through closed doors Christ proved once more that by nature he was God and also that he was none other than the one who had lived among them. By showing his wounded side and the marks of the nails, he convinced us beyond a doubt that he had raised the temple of his body, the very body that had hung on the cross. He restored that body that he had worn, destroying death's power over all flesh, for as God, he was life itself. …

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 12 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and He hath spoken these things unto me. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. …

Tractates on John 121 ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

The first question of this Gospel reading strikes the mind: how was the Lord's body truly real after the resurrection, if it could enter to the disciples through closed doors? But we must understand that if divine operation is comprehended by reason, it is not wondrous; nor does faith have merit when human reason provides proof. But these very works of our Redeemer, which cannot at all be understood from themselves, must be weighed by another of his operations, so that more wondrous deeds may lend credence to wondrous things. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 26 ↗

Bede

Wherein is shown the infirmity of the Apostles. They assembled with doors shut, through that same fear of the Jews, which had before scattered them: Came Jesus, and stood in the midst. He came in the evening, because they would be the most afraid at that time.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗