John 20:19-31
Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
There
are only two Sundays in the church year when our gospel lesson is the same,
year after year. One is Reformation Day, and the other is today, the second
Sunday of Easter. Each year we hear the story of “Doubting Thomas.” The lesson
is appointed for this Sunday, I suppose, because part of it takes place one
week after the resurrection. But I believe there is also some wisdom in letting
us hear, year after the year, the story of Thomas.
Now,
I’m one of many who thinks that Thomas gets a bad rap. He’s gone down in
history as “Doubting Thomas,” but no one else gets labeled according to his or
her mistakes or short-comings. We don’t call Simon Peter “Denying Peter”! And
really, Thomas is not asking for any more than the other disciples got to see
without having to ask for it! With this in mind, it’s really worth looking at
more than just the part of this passage that has gotten Thomas his undesirable
nickname.
The
first thing to notice about today’s Gospel is the location. Today’s reading is
really two scenes, and the first is Easter night – so they have just heard
about the resurrection from Mary Magdalene, who saw Jesus at the tomb that
morning and ran to tell them. A couple of the disciples had seen the empty
tomb, but none of them had actually seen the risen Christ. Word had gotten
round, however, and apparently some folks were upset and perhaps quite vocally
so, because now we see that the disciples have locked themselves in the upper
room out of fear for the religious leaders. My guess is that these folks
weren’t the only cause of the disciples’ fear! This has been quite a weekend,
after all. I was telling my dad last week how much I love Easter, because it is
so full of joy and happiness, and he said, “Really? I think it’s terrifying!”
And he’s right! A man come back from the dead is indeed terrifying, on a lot of
levels, not the least of which is, “What on earth are we supposed to do with this
information??”
So
the disciples had locked themselves away from reality, out of fear. And this, I
expect, is something we can all relate to. I know I have, at the end of a rough
day, wanted to crawl under a rock and not see or talk to anyone. Life can be a
scary and discouraging place, and fear can cause us to do things we shouldn’t,
or not do things that we should. Fear can make us act irrationally or
thoughtlessly or selfishly. It can cause us to say things that we don’t really
believe are true. It can even prevent us from helping our neighbor, because
doing so might put us in a position that is dangerous for our bodies or our
reputation. But however you cut it, the disciples were fearful, and this was
cause for them to lock themselves away from the rest of the world.
Now
fast-forward to scene two, with “doubting Thomas”: Jesus did come to the
disciples in the upper room, but Thomas wasn’t with them when that happened. So
he simply wants to see what they had seen. Furthermore, he wants to touch it – for him, faith is a hands-on experience. It’s
not enough to simply hear about it. I watched a video some time ago about one
man’s take on the state of the church and how it speaks or not to a post-modern
generation. The man being interviewed explains that people today will tell you,
“I’m Lutheran, I’m Baptist, I’m Catholic,” and may even be able to tell you
what that means to them, but what the post-modern generation wants is to see that. “SHOW me,” the man insists. “I don’t want to
just hear about it, I want to see you do it. Show me your faith.” And Thomas doesn’t want any more than that.
He wants to see for himself that this isn’t just hearsay. Why does he want
this? Well, we traditionally call it his “doubts.” And while many would take
issue with this, it does seem that yes, he doubted that Christ was truly alive,
and wouldn’t believe unless he saw. He doubted the validity of hearsay – and in
a weekend as confusing as that one, who could blame him?
And
like fear, doubt is something we can all relate to. Who has never doubted? I
certainly have! I have doubted in my own abilities, I have doubted whether
someone is telling me the truth, I have doubted that world peace will ever be
achieved, or that world hunger can really be eradicated. I have even doubted in
aspects of my faith! Luckily, these doubts don’t consume me most of the time,
and mostly I try to live in hope instead of doubt. But I do know, from
first-hand experience: it hurts to doubt. My guess is that you, too, know that
pain. In some ways, it is easier to have faith, to believe, because then you
can have something to hold onto, something to count on. I would prefer to have
a doubtless faith, but the truth is, doubt has always been a part of faith.
Thomas shows us that.
Now,
having seen these two states of mind that immediately followed the news of the
resurrection – that of fear that pushed people into hiding, and that of doubt
that required sight and touch to be assuaged – I want to point out to you a
third, very important part of the story we hear today. I want you to listen
carefully: to people in both of these states, both fear and doubt… Jesus comes.
Jesus comes to those who are suffering from fear and doubt. He appears to them.
And he appears to us. When we are locked in fear, trapped in doubt, Jesus meets
us there.
And
this is one great promise we receive in today’s Gospel. It is not a promise
that we will never fear and never doubt, nor even that God will take away all
of our fears and doubts. It is a promise that when we do fear or doubt, that Christ will come to us and be
with us in that place. He will not leave us stranded there forever. And while
he may not take it all away immediately, he will bring peace to that place!
That is the second part of the promise that today’s Gospel offers us. When he
comes to the disciples in the upper room, both the first time and the second,
when Thomas was with them, his first words to them are, “Peace be with you.”
Just like those words that we exchange each week when we pass the peace – we
share that same peace that Christ shared with his disciples. You’ll find in
these next weeks as we hear of Jesus’ various appearances to people after the
resurrection, these are often his first words: “Peace be with you.” Because if
anything can alleviate fear and doubt, it is the very peace of Christ.
But this is not all that Christ brings when he comes
to us – just look what he gives to the disciples on his first visit! John tells
us that after greeting them with words of peace and showing them his hands and
side, “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” Back
in the first chapter of Genesis, God breathed over the waters and the earth
came into being. Then he breathed into Adam’s nostrils, and life was created.
Now, God – that is, Jesus – breathes into humanity once again, committing his
Spirit to them, offering them new
life. Offering them resurrection, and the promise that if and when we fall, we
will be lifted up just as Christ was on that day, and that we will be created
anew. Offering them the same promise we receive in our baptism, that we receive
every time we gather together to hear the Word and celebrate the sacraments:
that God has redeemed us, that God will not leave us in our fears and doubt,
that God will love us and forgive us, that God will fill us, both our hearts
and our bodies, that God has given us a Holy Spirit to move among us, empower
us for service, build relationships among us, and bind us together in love.
Let
us pray. God of life, when we face the many fears of this world, breathe
your peace into our hearts. When we cannot find hope, but only doubt, breathe
your peace into our hearts. When we do not know what to make of this world,
breathe your peace into our hearts. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment