We begin at the empty tomb today in the
darkness of that first day of the week, Mary, Peter, and the beloved disciple
did not know what had happened. Had the body of their teacher and friend been
stolen? It would be a day filled with an empty tomb, heavenly messengers, and
the news that the man they had watched be crucified on a cross; the man whose
dead body had been laid in a tomb, was now walking and talking to their friend
Mary. How could they make sense of what was happening to Jesus; or to them? What
were they to believe? What were they to do?
As evening sets on this same day, the
friends and followers of Jesus to whom Mary brought the message that she had
met the risen Christ. But what are they doing as this day darkens into
night? They are huddled behind locked
doors, they are not celebrating. In fact they have locked the door in fear that
what happened to Jesus will happen to them.
All is
quiet in the room, then in a moment of fear and surprise, Jesus comes
with a message of comfort, "Peace be with you." A message he repeats
again, the first time when they see this figure suddenly appear before them.
Once again after they realize that they, like Mary before them, have finally
met the risen Christ. But notice here that they neither recognize him nor
rejoice until Jesus shows them his hands and his side. Thomas is the only
disciple absent;
Maybe you have had the experience: one of
your friends, family members, comes back from seeing a movie, or going to a
concert, or visiting a beautiful place and says to you, “You have got to see
this!”
You listen with interest, even as you are
trying to picture what it would be like and distinguish between what is hype
and what is real.
It is not exactly right to say that you
don’t believe the testimony of your friends. It is more that you don’t have the
experience of your own to compare to theirs. To experience and to know fully
what you believe about what they are reporting, you will have to go to the
movie, or the travel destination yourself to that particular spot. In order to
offer your own personal testimony, you need to have your own experience. (1st
hand experience)
The evangelist, John, knows this. John’s
gospel exhibits a pattern in which someone hears about Jesus and needs more --
and then receives what they need to come to their own experience of the life
Jesus is embodying in the world. (more proof!)
In Chapter One of John, we have
the first recording of this action occurring
when Philip says to Nathaniel, “We have found him about whom Moses in
the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth” (John
1:45) Nathaniel replies with skepticism: “Can anything good come out of
Nazareth?” All Philip can say in reply is, “Come and see.” Nathaniel
will have to experience Jesus and draw his own conclusion, which, in fact, he
does. Within three verses, Nathaniel is saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the
Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
When the woman at the well goes into town
after her meeting with Jesus and says to her neighbors, “Come and see a man
who told me everything I have ever done!” John says that many of them
believed on the basis of the woman’s report, and many more believed because
they heard Jesus themselves. The story ends with some of them saying to the
woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we
have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the
world” (John 4:42).
Moving forward to Easter morning. Mary
tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” John does not tell us if
they believed her testimony or if they tried in any way to verify it. He merely
continues the story by saying that on Easter evening, they were behind locked
doors, afraid that the forces that had conspired to bring about the crucifixion
of Jesus might come next for them. Instead, Jesus comes into the secured
room, saying, “Peace be with you.” He shows his hands and his feet to
them demonstrating that the Risen One will be forever recognizable as the
Crucified One. The disciples rejoice to see him. They tell Thomas what Mary had
told them: they “have seen the Lord.”
Thomas replies with the post-resurrection
equivalent of, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46), or the
Samaritan woman’s “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep. Where do you
get that living water?” (John 4:11), or Mary’s “Sir, if you have carried
him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away” (John
20:15). Bearing Nathanael’s skepticism and Mary’s broken heart, Thomas needs
proof he needs more!
Thomas will not be shamed into believing
or shamed into at least keeping his unbelief to himself. Neither will Thomas
ignore what he knows in order to believe something he does not know. Thus,
Thomas’s journey to faith is important for the people, the would-be believers
for whom John writes. His words in vs.
31of our text today says: 31 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. Thomas
openly doubts, & questions He’s not
satisfied with second-hand reports and wants to see for himself. He was,
present and & witnessed the beatings
and whipping of His dear friend, His Lord’s crucifixion and has probably been
trying to get his life back together & figure out what to do next. This may
be the cause of his absence when Jesus appears.
Thomas encounters Christ himself when
Jesus reappeared again, Thomas stating, “My Lord and my God” He
experiences a resurrection of his own. No more doubting Thomas; now believing
Thomas. But that comes after he has a chance to voice his doubt. And sometimes
faith is like that – it needs the freedom of questions and doubt to really
spring forth and take hold. Otherwise, faith might simply be confused with a
repetition of creeds or giving your verbal consent to the faith statements of
others. But true, vigorous, vibrant faith comes, I think, from the freedom to
question, wonder, and doubt. It is work effort, like a boomerang – question
things let it go – & it come back to
us in a way that makes sense, that we
understand)
It is believed that John’s gospel ended as
did our reading today at 20:31 & chapter 21 was added later on. With this
conclusion, unlike Luke who opened his gospel with the explanation for his
writing of his "orderly account," John, the author and narrator,
finally steps into the scene to explain why he has written his gospel in the
closing sentence. The risen Jesus, John explains, did many other signs in the
presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. These are written
so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and
that through believing you may have life in His name. John recorded these
stories so that people like ourselves, future readers and generations to come
may read and "come to believe that Jesus is the . . . Son of God, and
that through believing you may have life in his name."
This makes Jesus resurrection, just that
much more visible, more real. John offers us his experience to reassure us that
we did not have to be there in person. We did not have to walk the paths with
Jesus. We did not have to witness the miracles first hand. We did not have to
be locked in that upper room. Through the reading of John's message John shares
the stories and experience so that we can come to believe, and, in believing,
we may have life eternal.
From the opening of John’s Gospel “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Big bang opening to the final intimate moments of comfort and assurance, John
wants us to know that we did not have to be there in person to believe and come
to know Jesus. In John’s gospel the gift of the Holy Spirit comes immediately,
whereas unlike in Luke’s gospel the gift of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost comes 50
days after the resurrection. The
presence of God, not matter what, in Risen form or Spiritual form is with us.
We didn’t have to be in the room with the
disciples or with Thomas to meet the Risen Christ or to witness His Risen
presence. Christ meets us, comes to us, wherever we may invite Him to be with
us in His Risen Spirit.Through these readings we understand Christ more
vividly- & know that HE is undefeatable, ever present, in human/divine
form, risen form, spiritual form, we are NEVER Without HIM. He is always with
us.
As we experience the story of Thomas,
we are invited to trust that Jesus will keep showing up, alive, and with a body
that holds together the worst that has happened to him and his risen life. He
is eager to reveal himself, not only through appearances but also through the
written word.
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who
have not seen, and have believed.” These blessed ones have come to belief.
Jesus does not require perfect faith from the start. What he asks for is an
open heart, one not closed to belief, but not closed by belief either. He asks
for this open heart, so he can lead us, and keep leading us, from honest doubt
to honest faith and in so doing come to know and understand more fully our
Risen Lord.
Resources
Lucy Lind Hogan – Working Preacher
on John 20:19-31
Mary Hinkle Shore - Working
Preacher on John 20:19-3 1
Honest Doubt, Honest Faith John 20:19-31 By The Rev. Charles
Hoffacker
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