2nd Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31
? Thomas
"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." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 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." 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." 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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." John 20:19-31, RSV.
Grace and peace to you from the risen Lord. Amen
Our gospel lesson this morning concerns the disciples and one disciple in particular, Thomas. Thomas is the disciple that has received a certain adjective before his name, he is called doubting Thomas. But I wonder if that is fair.
Let us get a feeling for what was going on at this point in the lives of the disciples. The disciples were crowded into the upper room. They had heard word just that morning that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. The women had come to tell them he had risen. But they didn’t believe. They had their doubts. John and Peter went and checked it out. Peter saw, but he couldn’t put it all together. John saw and believed. So, I would imagine that he went back and spent the rest of the day trying to convince the rest that what he saw, the empty tomb, the folded linen clothes, the head piece sitting by itself, that this was all the signs that Jesus had indeed risen.
Can you imagine the conversation that took place during that day? They were too afraid of the Jews and the Romans to go out and see, or look for Jesus, so they sat in that upper room sulking, praying, arguing, discussing, pondering, recalling the words of Jesus. I can imagine that John was leading the conversation and Peter boldly trying to make sense of it. The women, especially Mary was trying to convince the rest of her conviction that Jesus had risen, because she had traveled the long road of doubt and despair and had come to the conclusion, the realization, the belief that Jesus had indeed risen.
As they were all talking, pondering about the news the women and Peter and John brought back that the body was missing. Jesus appears in the room. Notice the first word out of the Jesus’ mouth was peace be with you. Jesus came and brought a calming effect to the disciple. He brought peace.
A peace that is seen in the following illustration.
An artist was commissioned by a wealthy man to paint something that would depict peace. After a great deal of thought, the artist painted a beautiful country scene. There were green fields with cows standing in them, birds were flying in the blue sky and a lovely little village lay in a distant valley. The artist gave the picture to the man, but there was a look of disappointment on his face. The man said to the artist, "This isn’t a picture of true peace. It isn’t right. Go back and try again.
The artist went back to his studio, thought for several hours about peace, then went to his canvas and began to paint. When he was finished, there on the canvas was a beautiful picture of a mother, holding a sleeping baby in her arms, smiling lovingly at the child.
He thought, surely, this is true peace, and hurried to give the picture to the wealthy man. But again, the wealthy man refused the painting and asked the painter to try again.
The artist returned again to his studio. He was discouraged, he was tired and he was disappointed. Anger swelled inside him, he felt the rejection of this wealthy man. Again, he thought, he even prayed for inspiration to paint a picture of true peace. Then, all of a sudden an idea came, he rushed to the canvas and began to paint as he had never painted before. When he finished, he hurried to the wealthy man.
He gave the painting to the man. He studied it carefully for several minutes. The artist held his breath. Then the wealthy man said, "Now this is a picture of true peace." He accepted the painting, paid the artist and everyone was happy.
And what was this picture of true peace?? The picture showed a stormy sea pounding against a cliff. The artist had captured the furry of the wind as it whipped black rain clouds which were laced with streaks of lightening. The sea was roaring in turmoil, waves churning, the dark sky filled with the power of the furious thunderstorm.
And in the middle of the picture, under a cliff, the artist had painted a small bird, safe and dry in her nest snuggled safely in the rocks. The bird was at peace midst the storm that raged about her. (1)
Jesus brought a peace that was as calming at that bird in her next while the storm raged around her. He brought a peace that calmed the disciples so that they could indeed understand that Jesus was raised from the dead.
I iimagine that this peace was a reassuring peace that drove away their doubts and they could believe with the whole heart that Jesus was raised from the dead. They were not imagining it, it was not a ghost, but it was Jesus standing before them.
Then he left. He left as quickly as he came.
Can you imagine the conversation the disciples had after Jesus left.
They believed it was him. They celebrated. They were excited. I can imagine they danced around, hugged each other, had tears flowing from their eyes, they might have said, "Yes, John was right, Mary was right, He has risen. He was right when he told us after 3 days he would rise again." Can you imagine the joy, the excitement, the wonder, the thrill of these people. Here they were wondering, hoping, but hoping with not too much hope least they be disappointed that he had not risen. Here now Jesus appeared in the middle of them. Jesus was , alive, risen from the dead. He stood among them. Their reaction was joy, tears, happiness, excitement, a burden of despair had been lifted from their hearts and souls. The sorrow of the previous Friday had turned into excitement, joy and fulfillment of the resurrection promise.
In the middle of that celebration Thomas returns. I imagine Thomas had left that upper room to get some air, to gather his thoughts. To try to make sense of all of this. I imagine that Thomas wanted to be alone with his grief. Then he returns and finds out that Jesus had appeared to the group. Thomas comes in and the rest exclaim in one voice, ’’Thomas, we have seen the Lord." Can you imagine his reaction? He looks around at them with an utter lack of comprehension. For him, Jesus, his friend, his master, his teacher, the one whom he had placed his entire trust, faith and belief is dead. His despair was great. And now he decides to return to his friends and mourns with them, and they tell him "Thomas we have seen the Lord,"
A bunch of madmen he must have thought. They are crazy with their grief. In his misery and loneliness, he feels rejected. He feels like an outsiders, and so he remarks angrily, "So, so you’ve seen the Lord, so what? I’ll believe that when I see him myself, when I stick my finger into the scars in his hand. and thrust my hand into his side, then I’ll believe and not before." Can you sense his utter despair, his hopeless anger. And then he had to endure a week of waiting, wondering if Jesus will return to the group again.
Then Jesus returns and shows Thomas what he had shown the others the week before. Jesus shows him his hands with the nail marks, his side with the spear mark, and Thomas like the rest doesn’t have to touch or put his hand into his side, all he says is’ "My Lord, and my God!" He believes.
Thomas believes. He does not have to touch Jesus. He just hears the words of Jesus and he believes. Thomas does not doubt but believes. I think his doubt before was more than doubt but confusion. He had not received the peace of Jesus, so he did not have that calming effect on him. So all the emotions that were welling up in him came to the surface so he uttered those words, I will believe if I touch his hands and see the spear make in his side. Thomas did not doubt as much as he let all the other emotions rise to the surface and he uttered what we could think was doubting.
Thomas believes as the rest of the disciples did. No one touched him, they all, including Thomas believed as they saw Jesus appear to them. All they needed to believe was the appearance of Jesus in their midst.
Thomas believed just like the rest of them. He believes not by toughing Jesus, but just looking upon him as the rest did.
The text does not say if Jesus gave his peace to Thomas before he left, but I would think that he did. Thomas needed that peace of Christ that passes all human understanding.
Then Jesus says to the disciples, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Jesus is saying that those who have not seen him yet believe are blessed.
We are blessed because we have faith in Jesus without seeing him face to face.
Frederick Buechner says Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.
Thomas had faith and his faith allowed him to question whether Jesus was alive or dead. We have faith and that allows us to believe in the risen Lord without seeing him face to face. But at the same time, we have doubts from time to time and that is alright, because those doubts make our faith stronger.
Lord we pray that you will allow our doubts to make our faith grow stronger and stronger.
Blessed are those who believe and have not seen.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale March 24, 2008
You may freely use this but please give credit. Not for commercial use.
(1) Author Unknown
