Realistic Resurrection Responses

John 20: 19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

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 them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, 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 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.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, 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. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

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 have come to believe.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

But 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.

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Thomas really didn’t ask for anything more than what the other disciples received. So why do we focus on his alleged doubting?

Our gospel passage begins right after the one we heard last week, Easter Sunday, when two disciples looked into the tomb, saw the linens set aside, saw no body inside, and went home to ponder what had happened. The story says “one saw and believed”.

And even though Mary could not conceive of anything other than Jesus’ dead body being stolen, once her eyes of faith were opened and the resurrected Jesus was revealed to her, her response was to go to the disciples and proclaim to them – “I have seen the Lord!” It has been said that in that very act, Mary preached the first sermon of Christian witness.

But those same disciples, that very same day, are now together in a house with the doors tight shut. They are not full of joy from what they have seen, and what they have been told. They are full of fear.  They perceive their lives to be at risk, just as Jesus’ life was. They do not understand that Jesus is really alive, and that this means that Jesus has conquered death for them all, for us all. They do not understand those words Jesus had said to them even before his death by crucifixion, that those who save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for his sake will save them. All those times they heard, “Do not be afraid” – but they are still locked in out of fear.

And still, Jesus suddenly is there. The door didn’t open or close, but there he is. Is he a ghost? No, he shows them his hands and his side. His wounds are real. His body is real. But he is also transformed somehow into new life. And when they all see him there in front of him, that is when they are ready to rejoice. The story from others doesn’t do it for them. The circumstantial evidence of the empty tomb and the linen left behind, that doesn’t do it for them either.  Seeing him there with them, seeing how he got there without opening the door, seeing the wounds in his hands and his side, this convinces them. Is that faith? or is that proof?

But Thomas is not in the room. Where is he? He must not be as afraid as they were, if he is not cowering in fear in the upper room like the rest of them. I would imagine that, much like Mary, Thomas had seen his beloved teacher, friend, and Lord nailed to a cross and crucified, and he saw no reason not to believe that Jesus was dead and gone. Perhaps he had gone back to work as a fisherman.

Whatever his reason for not being there, when the rest of the disciples find him and say to him, “we have seen the Lord”, his reaction is just about the same as theirs had been when Mary said the same thing to them. Clearly they didn’t believe her, since they had been hiding out in the room that same night. To say he is doubting is putting it mildly. He simply does not believe them. Since they saw the wounds in his hands and side, I would imagine they told him as much, and so it was natural for him to say that unless he saw Jesus the same way they saw Jesus, he would not believe them.

He’s not saying he doesn’t believe Jesus – he is saying he doesn’t believe the disciples. It is simply too absurd to believe.

So a week later, the disciples are together, and Thomas is with them, and Jesus is suddenly there again. Jesus knows that Thomas has been skeptical, and so Jesus singles him out, and offers to show him the wounds in his hands and side. But Thomas doesn’t need that any more. Just like Mary, just like the disciples, it is clear to him now that this Jesus is risen and is his Lord and his God.

Jesus doesn’t treat Thomas any differently than the rest. He had said to them a week before, “Peace be with you.” He says that again now. He had showed them his hands and side a week before, and he offers that to Thomas now. Jesus understands that it is hard for us to trust without verification.

John’s last words from Jesus are “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” And John ends this gospel by saying that many other signs were done by Jesus that are not included in this book, but that these are written so that we may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that through believing we may have life in his name.

Belief and doubt are not opposites. They are not an either / or. It is not surprising for a claim as crazy as a man being crucified and then rising from the dead three days later to be met with doubt. It is not surprising for the claim that God would come to earth to give himself up for death to prove that death is not the end for us - to be met with doubt. It is not surprising that Mary could not convince the disciples, nor could the disciples convince Thomas. It’s the same reason why we are not called as disciples to convince others to believe. We are called to believe, to accept Jesus’ offer of peace and grace which is freely offered to us all. We are called to feed His sheep, to tend his lambs. This is the way that Jesus is revealed to the world. This is the way to make disciples – not to convince people or to win them over, but to show how we are Christians by our love. Not to hide our doubts and questions, our own sin and darkness, but to acknowledge them. Not to fear death, but to show that we truly believe Christ has conquered death, has disabled its power over us. Not to judge others, but to forgive them, just as Jesus says to the disciples, “if you forgive the sins of others, they are forgiven”. Our forgiveness brings healing and grace to others. Similarly, our inability to forgive others causes their sins to be retained, according to Jesus.

If we can open the doors of our church and our hearts to those who find it hard to believe, and to share both here and wherever we go that that it’s ok for it to be hard, sometimes, to believe something this incredible and amazing, and that this is a safe place to express and explore and to show our fears and doubts and wounds and sins, then maybe, just maybe, they will experience the amazing grace and peace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ in and through us and will come to believe and to follow.