2nd Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31
"Believing is Seeing"
"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 our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the risen Christ. amen
I would like to ask you think about this question this morning. The question is, "If Jesus Christ would appear to a group of people, what would your reaction be?" Think about it for a while. Would you panic? Would you run? Would you hid in fear? Would you doubt? Would you ask for proof?? Did he really appear, Would you cry out in love, "My Lord and My God?" "Would you disbelieve because you weren’t in the group? What would your reaction be to the question that Jesus appeared to a group of people?
In our gospel lesson this morning, we have two different reactions to the appearance of Jesus to the disciples. Let’s get a feel for the situation. 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 as it said in last week’s text, he 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, and 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.
So here they all were talking, praying, arguing, and then in an twinkle of an eye, in an instance, in a flash of a second there stands Jesus in the middle of them, and says "Peace be with you." What was their reaction? What would your reaction be? According to the text it says, "When he I said this he showed them his hands and his side."
I would imagine they might have said, "Is it really you Lord?" "Have you really risen from the dead? Then to prove it was him, he shows them his hand, and his side. His hands that bore the marks of those cruel nails driven in, his side where the spear was thrust and water and blood flowed from it. Then the text says,"Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." 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 in the middle of them was Jesus alive, risen from the dead, standing 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. Then according to John’s text, Jesus gives to them the power of the spirit, he had his Pentecost experience on the evening of the first Easter. But that experience is not the central point of this text, the appearance of Jesus to the disciples is the main point.
Jesus leaves as quick and quietly as he came. Then Thomas returned. Thomas had not been with the rest. He was off alone. He was so full of grief, despair, loneliness that he could not stand to be with the others. He was off alone with his grief.
He was like one of the daughters of a Christian woman in the following story. " A Christian mother died and her two daughters discussed whether they should attend church the next day since it was Sunday. One said, she thought people might think it strange that they appear in public so soon after their mother’s death. And besides, I don’t want people coming up to me trying to talk and not knowing what to say’ said one daughter. I would rather stay home alone with my grief, my sorrow. The other daughter said she was going to church. She wars going because she needed the support, the encouragement, the comfort of the believing community. She needed this group to share her grief, she needed this group to pray with, to sing with, to talk about her mom with, she needed her Christian friend". So she went to church."
Thomas was like that first daughter. He couldn’t see any value in staying with the community as they were grieving the death of Jesus. Instead, Thomas went off by himself. He wanted to be alone. But in that aloneness he missed something. He missed seeing Jesus. Thomas the text says decides to come back, for what reason we don’t know, but he returns and instead of finding a group of crying, mourning, sad people, he finds them full of cheer and joy. Tears are falling from their faces but they are tears of joy and happiness instead of tears of sorrow and mourning. 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. Then Jesus asks, "Thomas have you believed because you have seen me?" Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Thomas you don’t have to see, just believe. Believe the witness of the others, believe the words that I told you, believe have faith, trust. " This might have been the fuller expression of Jesus to Thomas on that day, but might not that be Jesus words to each of us too?
Somehow I think that Thomas has taken a bum rap all these years, for we call him "Doubting Thomas" but how like us is Thomas?? Couldn’t we just as well call him Thomas or Joe Thomas, or Alice Thomas, because all of us at one point or another have wished or wondered why Jesus doesn’t give us a sign, or a voice or same sort of revelation so that our faith, our belief, our trust in him might remain strong and true. Sure Thomas was angry, he didn’t know how to control and express, his grief, but he didn’t ask for anything more than Jesus showed the other disciples a week earlier. He just missed it. And for some reason he wouldn’t or couldn’t believe the witness, the testimony of the others.
I wonder if most of us who answered that question what would your reaction be to Jesus appearance to a group of disciples might not have answered like Thomas if we weren’t there.?? I wonder if we would have been there if we would have believed without some proof, some evidence that this person was really Jesus?? Jesus says we don’t need signs, we don’t need special signs or wonders, but the testimony, the witness of the others, the witness of the church, the promises of his words as recorded in the Bible are all our faith needs. These are enough to let us exclaim as the disciples did, "We have seen the Lord." These are enough to let us fall on our knees as Thomas did and cry out, "My Lord and My God."
There is really no way, no proof in a measurable way, in a way that would be true to all, that could answer all the questions we have about the risen Christ. But we don’t need that all we need is faith, trust, assurance, and belief, in the witness of the gathered saints, and in the words of the proclamation of Jesus through the Bible and through its presence with us in the sacraments and the word.
One proof, one sign of the resurrection is before us this morning, is a baptism. Would his parents, his sponsors, be bringing him here if they didn’t have some faith, some trust, some belief in the promise of the resurrection? Would they be bringing their child here if they didn’t believe that somehow through the words spoken, the water poured, that their child would be living in the promise and the hope of the resurrection that Jesus promised to each of us because he rose so, we too might rise? Jesus said to Martha in John’s gospel, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me though he die, yet shall he live."
Proof, do you need proof of the resurrection of Jesus? Look around, the proof is sitting all around you For each of us are a living proof that Jesus rose from the dead. Why else would we be here? It is Christ, it is his spirit that calls, gathers and enlightens us each week with his proclaimed and spoken word. Peter says in his first letter chapter 2:9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you ore God’s people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Proof, what more proof is there of the power of the resurrection that you and I. God chose us, He called us, he has forgiven us, he has cleansed us, He has made us his people, his children.
What would your reaction be to the risen lord appearing to a group of people?? It would be, "Yes, we have seen the Lord," "My Lord and My God." because of the power of the resurrection is alive in each of us to bear his fruit.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale April 12. 2004
