John 20:17-31
“Mary!”
She turned and said, “Rabbouni!” (which means Beloved Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them what he had said to her.
It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Thomas, the twin, the one called Didymus, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The others told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more doubt. Believe!” Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”
Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. 31 But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.
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That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid .., Jesus came and stood among them.
We’re back at Easter night, the first day of the week, the day creation began. Or re-creation. Or our creation. The first thing I noticed is that the disciples have regrouped. Three nights before, at Jesus’ arrest and trial, they scattered like quail in the face of danger. But, by Sunday evening, they are back together. No texting or tweets, those who loved Jesus just knew to go back to the last place, go back to the house, lock the world out, gather all the bits together, compare memories, and grieve. Jesus created a new family at the foot of the cross with his mother and the beloved disciple, but his love and the disciples’ loyalty have joined them together, too. Fearful, but together. Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit onto/into his disciples is a second creation reminding us of God breathing life into the first human beings. The image of new life provides an important link with Jesus’ announcement that those who believe in him receive new life as children of God. The Holy Spirit is the breath that creates and sustains this new life, like it did long ago, in a garden called Eden.
Thomas, the twin, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The others said to him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Doubting Thomas. Some days are more Thomassy than others, for me… Some days the wounds of the world or ourselves would swallow us whole, and believing in the goodness and power of God’s love is difficult. Some days I would dearly love a little solid proof, a little less mystery, less reason to wonder.
To believe in Jesus is not to say you believe in the truth of the story. To believe in Jesus is to say, “I abide in you, my Lord and my God, and you abide in me.” It affirms an on-going, whole body, mind and spirit relationship between Jesus, the Word of God, and you as the believer. It’s not factual truth that we’re believing in, it’s more real than facts or proof.
Jesus’ first resurrection appearance is to Mary in the garden, she runs back to the disciples saying, “I have seen the Lord!” But they don’t say “Great! That’s amazing!” Instead, Jesus finds them huddled together with the doors locked in fear. They, too, could be thrown out of the synagogue, they, too, could be crucified or stoned.
Jesus appears to them and they rejoice when they see the Lord in his death-revealed body. They repeat Mary’s exact words to Thomas when he comes, but, like them, Thomas also requires a personal encounter. Actually, we all do. That’s how faith happens. I can’t teach faith in confirmation class. I teach a bit about the Bible and how Lutherans interpret it. I teach a bit about the communal nature of worship and service and fellowship. But the experience of God has to be theirs at some point if it is to catch hold. When the Samaritan woman left the well and ran back to her townspeople telling of her meeting at the well, they went to Jesus themselves. They said, “It is no longer because of what you said, but we have heard for ourselves.” This isn’t a slight against her. Believing in Jesus is not about believing in someone else’s experience. Belief is in having your own encounter with the Word made flesh. Belief is not aimed at eternity, it begins with the fullness of life and grace here, now. An actual experience, an epiphany of God in your own life.
Because, the resurrection is not just the resurrection. Jesus said, “I AM the Resurrection and the life.” God is both glory and earthly. Belief and life are synonyms in this Gospel, and together they form the groundwork for a relationship that sustains and sends out disciples of all times and places and styles.
After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.”…
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side.”
Thomas wanted to touch the wounds; to see and feel, and experience for himself. We get that.
But, have you ever wondered why Jesus still had wounds?
It doesn’t seem to occur to Thomas and the others that the risen Lord should now appear to them perfect, whole, unblemished. That’s interesting. Unlike his other signs and healings that were characterized by restoration and wholeness, the resurrected Jesus is not pristine. He still bears the marks of death.
It is this wounded Savior, then, who is the standard for the coming kingdom of God. Through Thomas, we witness the wounds of the body of Christ. And, actually, of course, they are all around us.
Too often, in our real lives, we don’t want to see them, we don’t want to touch them. We don’t want to get that involved, or be that vulnerable. We usually try to ensure that marks of imperfection and pain (ours and those of others) be kept covered, as if such “not seeing” will help in some way, will preserve dignity or prevent embarrassment at being seen for who we are, as we are.
But, if Jesus is raised with wounds, maybe that – and not perfection – is what God prefers to work with; maybe our wounded-ness is where transformation and transcendence can take root – like a seed falling on soft, broken ground, not onto hard-packed, perfected ground. Seeds need the soft earth to open. Earth needs seed to fall, to become something new.
Jesus’ bodily appearance is full of mystery – how did he walk through locked doors, yet allow Thomas to touch his physical wounds? But, we see in this story the tender compassion of the living word of God. Jesus knows his disciples are afraid for their lives—he grants them peace. He knows they need his continued presence and power—he breathes the Spirit into their flagging hearts. He knows they have lost their way, their sense of purpose—he commissions them to a ministry of witness and reconciliation. He knows they can hardly believe their eyes that he is their Jesus, the same one who was nailed to the cross—so he shows them his wounds. He knows Thomas is missing—he comes back the next week to make sure the Twin is not left out. He knows the last thing they need to hear is that they failed him miserably and he is disappointed—he utters not a single word of recrimination, but grants them the kingdom.
It is not surprising then, that in the presence of such immense tenderness, the reading says the disciples rejoiced. Easter, in these terms, is the breaking-in of a new age to come in which there will be only compassion, peace, restoration and love like this, love for all the wounded and broken, for the afraid, believing, skeptical, strong, and faithful – love for all. It is ours to practice this living, this loving of imperfect, ordinary – to become Easter people, rising anew and going out into the world with joy and good news.
Christ is risen. Alleluia