John 20:19-31
Many of you know that I am a
lectionary preacher. The lectionary is a
prescribed set of readings that run throughout the liturgical calendar on a
three year repeating cycle. During the
year, the readings change and the gospel that is focused on changes. But one day never changes. No matter what year it is in the cycle, the
Sunday after Easter is always the same.
It is always the gospel of John, and it is always this story of “doubting
Thomas”. All year round and year after
year the texts turn and shift and change position, but always, always, always, the
Sunday after Easter is Thomas.
When I was considering Thomas and the
other disciples this week, I started thinking that it makes sense to look at
him every year. This is traditionally a
low Sunday in the church, a Sunday where there is less going on. Attendance won’t be as high as last week, we
don’t have as much special music, and everyone knows that the busyness of
Easter and Holy Week has relaxed.
The disciples too are in a low
space. In our reading for this morning,
it is still that same Easter day. The
women have been to the tomb, and Mary Magdalene has come to the disciples and
reported her encounter with the risen Lord.
But to the disciples, it must seem like a story. A good story, a hopeful story, but
never-the-less just a story. As much as
they want to believe Mary, they do not really believe, and so they are hidden
away in a locked room. Hiding in fear
that what happened to Jesus might also happen to them.
I think we always read this text after
Easter because that is the response for many of us as well. We came to church last week, we heard the
story of the empty tomb and the promise of resurrection and new life, and we
really wanted to believe. In our heart
of hearts, we wanted the story of Jesus’ conquering death to be true. But yet, there is something that holds us
back. It could be our brain’s in-ability
to accept such fantasy as truth, it could be our distrust of the whole
institution of the church, or it could simply be that we haven’t yet seen that
risen Lord. Like the disciples, we are
spending today much in the way we have spent every day. We have heard the story of the risen Lord, we
just have a really hard time believing it.
In our gospel reading, Jesus intervenes. He enters into the space, beyond the locked
doors, and he brings a message of peace.
He assuages doubt in the mind and heart by showing his wounds to the disciples. Seeing his hands and side, they can begin to
comprehend, that though he really did die, now he really does stand among
them. He offers them peace, not
judgment, and then he sends them out to take his message of peace to the
greater world.
Thomas was not there of course, and so
when the disciples go out and tell him that they too have seen the Lord, he
acts much as they originally did. The
disciples didn’t really believe the story Mary told, and so it is no surprise
that Thomas doesn’t really believe the story that the disciples tell. It is not that he doesn’t want to believe, it’s
not even that he doubts, it is simply that he has not had his own experience of
the risen Lord, and so he cannot come to the place of faith that the others are
in yet.
I have always hated that we call him
doubting Thomas. I want to re-name him
as “wondering Thomas”. Thomas is a deep
thinker, a wonderer, a person who wants to know more and to touch and
experience his world. When Jesus hears
that Lazarus is ill and tells the disciples that Lazarus is really dead, Thomas
is eager to experience more. “Let us also go, that we may die with him” Thomas
says. He wants the same experience of
faith that Lazarus has. When Jesus is
speaking about his impending death Thomas wonders “Lord, we do not know where
you are going. How can we know the way?”
Thomas shows that he wants to follow Jesus, he wants to experience Jesus, he
wants to see and touch the world to know his faith more deeply. Is it any wonder then that we find him
declaring “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger
in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Thomas is a wonderer, and he is always
desiring a new faith experience.
Jesus doesn’t judge Thomas the way the
other disciples might, or the way we might be tempted to. A week later, Jesus again returns to the
disciples in the locked room. Again he
offers them his peace. Not condemnation
for not believing the faith stories of others, not judgment, but peace. Jesus approaches Thomas and offers him the
chance to reach out and touch. He offers
him the chance to have a tangible faith experience so that he too can come to
believe, and then go out and share that good news with others.
The final line of this section is the
declaration of “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
come to believe.” Many scholars believe
that this is the original ending of the gospel of John. It appears that these are meant to be the
final words of the gospel, written to spur later generations on to faith. We, the readers, are called to be those who
have not seen and yet come to believe.
The question I have today, is can we
really do that? Can we come to believe
if we haven’t seen? I am not sure that
we can. Go with me here . . . Think of
your own life of faith, when did you come to believe. Some of you may have grown up in the church
so a moment of belief may be more nebulous and harder to pin down. Others of you may be like me, and did not come
to genuine faith until later in life. And
I am sure there are also folks here this morning who in their heart of hearts
aren’t sure that they really do believe, and that’s ok.
If we follow the story of the resurrected
Lord in the gospel of John, we find that people don’t come to faith because of
second hand encounters. People don’t
hear someone else talking about Jesus and then decide that they too are going
to follow Jesus and believe all the stories about him. That just doesn’t happen.
Look at the text. Mary sees the risen Lord, tells the disciples
about it, and they don’t believe. The
disciples see the risen Lord, tell Thomas about it, and he doesn’t believe. Only after everyone has had a personal encounter
with the divine, do they come to an actual faith. Why would we expect it to be any different
for us?
On top of that, why would we expect
anyone else to believe in Christ, simply based on the stories we tell them of
our own faith encounters? Have you ever
tried to convince someone to believe in Jesus, or to convince someone about the
goodness and validity of the church?
I’ll be honest with you, I have tried, and I have failed every time. I cannot bring someone else to faith. I can talk about my faith, I can tell them
about why I go to church, but I cannot convince anyone to believe what I
believe. I just can’t seem to do it. What I can do is invite them to church, and I
can introduce them to a group of people who help me see God. But I can’t convince them to believe using
only my personal stories.
I think the reason I can’t, that we
can’t, is because everyone needs to have their own experience of the
resurrected Lord. Whatever this looks
like in our day and age, everyone needs to have something happen, to experience
a movement in their heart, to have their own personal encounter that eventually
moves them to faith. Some folks have
that experience after they are invited to church and are embraced by a faith
community, but others don’t.
It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t share our
stories. I think sharing our stories is
the seed that will later bear the fruit of faith. Mary shared her story with the disciples
before their faith could grow, and the disciples shared their story with Thomas
before his faith could grow. Sharing our
stories is laying the ground work. We
just shouldn’t be surprised when people don’t believe our stories. Our personal stories of encounters with God
will not be enough to convince someone else of the validity of our belief. If it didn’t work for the disciples in the
gospels it won’t work for us. God, the
Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, needs to move in people’s lives for them to
come to faith. It seems to be the only
way.
I think we always read this story of
wondering Thomas on the Sunday after Easter because I think this is the day
that we always need to hear it most.
Some of us are here because we are still high on Easter, and we have
been sharing the good news with others, and we are frustrated at their lack of
belief. We can’t figure out why people
don’t understand what we are talking about when we talk about how we love the
church. We need to remember that we are
simply called to share our stories; and that only God has the power to give
people the gift of a personal encounter with the risen Lord that will lead to
faith.
And some of us are here thinking that
we don’t really have that faith at all.
We need to hear the story of Thomas and know that there is a space of
grace for our wondering and doubting.
There is nothing wrong with hearing the Easter story and saying in our
heart “Is that really true? Did that really happen?” There is nothing wrong with seeking out a
different encounter with God, nothing wrong about asking after more
information. Last week we heard the
Easter story and this week we are back to see if we can find out more. We are searching after our own personal
encounter with the risen Lord.
And so, every Spring we celebrate
Easter, and every Sunday after Easter we find ourselves wondering with
Thomas. We wonder why we have been given
an encounter with the risen Lord that leads to faith, and we wonder why others
have not. Like the disciples, we are
still figuring things out a bit. But
like the disciples, Jesus has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit and sent us
out to tell our stories anyway. May we,
like Thomas, continue to wonder and search for more answers. And may we, like Mary and the disciples continue
to tell the stories of our encounters with the risen Lord. Amen.
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