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
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(1) Author Unknown