The Resurrected Jesus Comes to Us

Nicole Berlucchi reflects on how the Risen Jesus shows up in the Gospels and how He is still showing up in the same ways for us today.

With Lent behind us and Easter upon us, we are living in the season of a Risen Jesus. A Jesus Who shows up behind locked doors, saying, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19). A Jesus Who invites us into His wounds when we have doubted His presence (John 20:27). A Jesus Who shows up again and again despite our weaknesses, so as to call us to follow Him. (John 21:19)

As I walk through these next weeks of Easter, I find the Lord asking me to come closer, and I think it’s an invitation for all of us who have wrestled with control, doubt, and finding the Lord’s will.

When He’s Inside the Room with Locked Doors

I don’t know about you, but there are parts of my life I like to think I’ve opened to the Lord, but the truth is I haven’t. Rooms where the entanglements, mistakes, shame, pride, hurt and pain seem too much. I want to tell Jesus: “Lord, I’ve locked this door for a reason,” and I find Him saying to me, “That’s exactly why I am here.”

When He appears to the apostles, locked away, afraid, ashamed, unable to face the world, He comes for the same reason: He is bringing peace to restless hearts who can’t imagine where to begin. He reminds them and us that life after death (sin) begins with Him, whether we have sinned or have been sinned against.

During Easter, Jesus invites us to allow Him into those locked parts of our life, where we can’t see a path forward or we’re afraid of what the future holds if we face these hard or ugly things we locked away. He reminds us He is already there, in the room, saying: "Peace be with you."

When He Invites Us Deep Despite Our Doubt

I found myself in December getting quite sassy with the Lord on a few life points. I was questioning His goodness despite being able to acknowledge it simultaneously. It was just that I wasn’t getting exactly the things in the time that I desired it, and couldn’t He, well, do it my way so I could know He was paying attention? Much like Thomas, I found myself thinking, I will only trust you if … Oh, the parameters, we think we can lay out for an all-powerful God.

Still, in His goodness, He does not pull away and turn His back. Instead, He invites us: Come, touch My wounds. He doesn’t do it to guilt us. He does it so we connect to Him, so that our trust surpasses understanding. He does it so we know His love for us has conquered even death and continues to each time we show up in Reconciliation. He restores our relationship, even though we were the ones to sin.

When He Asks Us to Follow Him, Knowing Our Habit to Stick with What We Know

I am constantly wrestling with where God is asking me to go in this life. I have had moments of bold moves and moments of stalling, but perhaps my most common move is hedging my bets. I find myself saying, I will do this, Lord, but I’m also going to be doing this “thing I know” over here because I don’t really understand what You are asking of me quite yet.

In the Gospel, when the apostles set out to fish, they come back with nothing, but as soon as Jesus is there telling them what to do, and they follow his instructions (not knowing it is Him but still instinctively trusting His voice), they make a big catch. Jesus, just a few moments later, is telling Peter to follow Him.

Jesus reminds us this Easter that we should be listening for His voice in everything, even those things where we feel well-versed in life. When those things begin to feel dried up, He is waiting for us to listen for His voice and invite His Instruction. He allows us to be pleased with these successes and satisfactions, but we are reminded that there is more He wants from us. He will always return to His call for us to follow Him to wherever He needs us to go.

This Easter, He calls instructions to us. When we see the fruits of listening to Him, are we jumping out of the boat to see what else he has to tell us or are we sitting in the boat marveling over our catch? This Easter I hope we have run to the Lord, so He can tell us what more He wants to ask of us.

Our Lord is alive. This Easter, look for Him in those unexpected places. Listen for Him in places you haven’t been listening. Let Him invite you to intimacy in the face of any doubts. Jesus wants to bring new life. As we journey towards Pentecost and prepare to receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, may we be attuned to how the Resurrected Lord is showing up in our lives in order to help us receive His Spirit so that we can do His Will and carry Jesus to others.

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Copyright 2026 Nicole Berlucchi
Images: Canva