My Lord And My God

2nd Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31

"My Lord and My God!!"

19 ¶ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."

26 ¶ Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you."

27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing."

28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.RSV

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the risen Christ.

I would like to share with you this morning a letter, a special letter written by the twin of Thomas

Dear Thomas,

After so many years, I am glad that I can finally write this letter to you. I was not sure that it would be possible. I am more skeptical than even you, and I was not sure how I would ever be able to believe in this Jesus of Nazareth you followed. He was crucified and that was the end of it as far as I was concerned. Yes, you had some hallucination I thought. Hanging around with those twelve, it was no wonder you’d begin to lose your mind. But it was clear that you at least were serious about it when you left for India. I pray that this letter will reach you so that you can share my joy. Your dedication to proclaiming Jesus was always inspiring to me, even if I thought it was wrong-headed and unbelievable. But let me tell you what happened to me.

As I’d written you, we had to leave Galilee to live in Jerusalem. There was no more living for us there, so we left to find a better circumstance in the city. Here in Jerusalem a tailor can make more money, but expenses are greater. Whether we will come out ahead, I am not yet sure. We found some rooms to rent, Naomi and me and the children. Of course, we were very nervous, even frightened, about leaving our homes and families to live in this crowded, busy place. We did have contact with cousin Micah, but he lived some distance away from our new home in the city.

As it turned out, our neighbors are wonderful people. Stephanus and Miriam welcomed us warmly when we arrived and made sure that we were provided for even the very first day we moved in. Naomi was sick within the week of our arrival and Miriam made extra trips to the well for our water. I could well expect our friends to treat us so, but we were strangers to these people. We were afraid that we’d left this neighborliness behind in Galilee.

Not long after this we received word that Naomi’s mother died, and so we had to go back to Galilee to take care of some business and to visit and mourn with her family. We did not look forward to the long trip, and our donkey had a sore hoof and was unable to make the journey. When Stephanus learned of our situation he immediately offered us the use of his donkey and cart, so that the children could ride and we could make better time. This generosity was difficult to accept, but I could tell his sincerity in the peaceful look in his eyes as he encouraged me to make use of his donkey and cart.