Isaiah 53:10-12
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Fore he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 20:19-31 (TNIV)
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus performed many others signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“One Week After Easter."
So here we are. One week after Easter. How was this week for you? How are you today, exactly one week after Easter? Is the excitement of Easter still in you? Has it begun to fade? Has it vanished all together? I ask these questions because in our text today, we find the disciples exactly one week after Easter. Before dealing fully with how we feel, lets begin to understand how these disciples of Christ are doing… one week after Easter.
Our text of John gives us a quick glimpse back to Easter and the splendid revelation of God’s glory in Christ’s resurrection. The disciples are huddled in fear behind a locked door when Jesus appears to them, and when he does - he not only reveals his resurrection, he breathes an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them.
Now, for some reason… Thomas was absent from the disciples. He didn’t get to see Jesus that night. Now the other disciples are sharing the wonderful news with him… “We have seen the Lord!” But what proof do they bring? Only their words. John earlier in his gospel has already described Thomas as a courageous pessimist, and as an honest skeptic, so it is not surprising that his response is “Not gonna believe it till I see it.”
This catches us up with the heart of today’s lesson. One week after Easter, the very same room where Jesus appeared before… Eleven disciples sit in excitement (however I find it quite funny they are still behind locked doors) but yes I imagine them sitting in excitement. And Thomas… probably sitting with his arms crossed, ankles crossed, and brow furrowed.
This is the stage set. Eleven disciples who “know” and wait anxiously; one disciple who doubts, who only has the words of the other disciples to go by. He doubts.
Here, I want to pull back a bit. I think it is far too easy for us to tsk tsk Thomas. I think it is easy to make him into a “straw man” and blow him over with the verse “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” HA! Silly Thomas. YAY modern Christians! Call it a sermon and go home.
And yet… if every one of us was honest with themselves, we would see that Thomas is not the loneliest Christian ever. I would venture a guess, that every one of us at some point has walked side by side with Thomas in the state of doubt. It is our very nature to doubt what we cannot see. It might as well be us sitting there with the eleven… arms crossed, ankles crossed, and brow furrowed.
This part of our human nature reminds me of a story I once heard of a man out on a splendid nature walk next to some beautiful cliffs and caverns. The walk, however, quickly turned less splendid when the man… walking too close to the edge found himself tumbling down the side of one of the cliffs. Luckily he managed to grab hold of a small tree growing out of the side of the cliff. Unluckily, it was too steep to climb up or down, he was far to high to jump, and he knew he was likely the only person for miles.
Having nothing to loose, he began to shout “Help. Is anybody out there? HELP!”
After a short while he heard a response, “This is God. I am here. Let go of that branch and I will catch you.” The man contemplated this, and responded, “God… don’t you have a rope or a ladder?” God replied, “Put your faith in me. Let go of that branch and I will catch you.” The man contemplated yet again, and after a long pause he shouted, “Is anyone else there?”
Believing without seeing. Thomas doubted… yes. And yet, which of us can claim to throw the first stone at him. Which of us has never had the smallest bit of doubt. Perhaps we have looked to the trouble of the world, the pain, the injustice, the senseless violence, and have thought, “How can a good God let bad things happen?” Perhaps we have been challenged by competing beliefs of many different religions. Or perhaps we are just like Thomas, and struggle to believe the words of others, wishing we could have first hand knowledge for ourselves.
Luckily for Thomas and for us, that is not the end of the text. Thomas is not left sitting there doubting. The text now turns to him with a wonderful message of grace. Jesus appears in the room with all 12 disciples, and he directly addresses Thomas.
Jesus knew he doubted. Jesus knew he had been excluded from the special revelation the night he appeared to the other eleven. Jesus even knew what that whole last week must have been like for Thomas.
Just ponder that for a moment... the only disciple left out. The only disciple with nothing but words to go by. The one disciple most like us today. And Thomas, the one left out, spent that entire week wrestling alone with his doubts.
Now, Jesus does not lecture him, chastise him, or discipline him for doubting, instead Jesus wished him peace, and in his mercy, gave Thomas that which he needed to move beyond his doubt.
And here is the truly marvelous thing about this text. It is at this moment that something new happens. All throughout the book of John, Jesus is Lord… to his disciples, to Mary Magdalene, to all his followers… and now and only now, Thomas proclaims, “My Lord and my God.” He gets it. Not only does he get it, but he gets in a deeper and much more profound way. Jesus who was once just Lord has now become Lord and God.
Like Thomas, there are times we will be challenged. We will doubt. The very best news of all is that God doesn’t let us sit forever… arms crossed, ankles crossed, and brow furrowed. In our time of doubt we will search, examine, question, and we too can gain a stronger and deeper understanding of faith, of God, and of our relationship with him.
One week after Easter. One short week. In that crowded little room, door locked, sitting with the other 11… Where do you sit? Do you sit with Thomas, as one seeking? Do you sit with the 11, still excited and buzzing? Perhaps you sit on your own, neither excited nor doubting.
Wherever you sit today, I encourage you to look to Thomas not as a bad example to be avoided, but rather as our representative in that room, as ones who have other people’s word and not first hand experience. And Jesus stands before us inviting us to see the wounds and touch his side, so that we may know the truth, and stand again with Thomas to say “My Lord and my God.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
