Thoughts going in, Sunday April 27th

John 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 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.

            This Sunday is our preschool program, hence my actual sermon will likely echo basic resurrection themes from Easter day. However, beginning this week our "Caz" service resumes on Thursday nights--hence we'll be looking at the appointed Gospel reading for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, the above passage from John 20.

            As is usually the case in John's gospel, there are many rich themes percolating in this reading. This is where Thomas gets his unfortunate nickname, "Doubting Thomas." The problem with this nickname, however, is that Thomas wasn't doubting--at least in this particular episode. The TNIV's translation of vs 27 is unfortunate stop doubting and believe. "To doubt," in Greek is distazo. We see this word used clearly in another resurrection passage--Matthew 28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. The word used here in our passage from John is a-pistos. Pistos in Greek means to believe; hence, apistos is unbelief. Thomas wasn't doubting... he had lost his faith. Spiritually speaking, it's actually a worse place to be. In this case the New Living Translation is actually superior: Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!"

            And so what follows is the pastoral work of Jesus bringing Thomas back to faith. As more than one commentator points out, Thomas does indeed return to faith, but without following through on his demand to experience physical contact (he never does touch the Lord in the story). Building on this, what we can say is that ALL people come to faith via an 'encounter' with Christ. The ascended Lord no longer shows up in our room--at least there's no promise that he will, yet an encounter with him occurs nonetheless. We encounter him through the ministry of the Church; we encounter him in the lives of others; we encounter him in his word & sacraments--but have no doubt, a living faith in a resurrected Messiah happens through encountering him.

            Then there's the theme mentioned at the end of the passage, where the evangelist tells us his purpose in writing. This is an important section for study of the Gospels. Most Christians are left wanting more when they read about Jesus in the Bible. The craving for stories from his infancy, early childhood, and teen years was something the early Christians felt as well. Some even went so far as to write fictional accounts about what the boy Jesus may have been like. But in vss 30 & 31 the evangelist plainly states that it was not his purpose to give us an exhaustive account of the life of Jesus. John, for instance, tells us nothing of Mary & Joseph in Bethlehem, etc. His purpose, rather, was to write an account that would lead to BELIEF (have pistos).

            And then there's the commissioning of an imperfect human Church to take part in God's mission for the world. From vs 21: Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. It's really a neat section when we think about it. Jesus was basically deserted by everyone in that room. Peter, his 2nd in command, had even denied him 3 times. When he comes into their midst, he finds them paralyzed in fear, with at least one person (1/11 of their total number) who had lapsed into complete unbelief. If Jesus were today's typical ruthless businessman, who knows what would've happened. He may have appeared....taken one look at the pathetic rabble and turned around and left. Or he may have been like Gregory Peck in the movie Twelve O'Clock High--he may have appeared, taken one look at the shambles, and gone ballistic; having everyone drop and give him 50. He may have screamed and lectured them for their pathetic performance....yet not even Thomas gets a lecture, per se. In this passage the risen Lord does something very pastoral; he works with what he has. He encourages scared, imperfect, even unbelieving followers. And he entrusts them with the mission. SUCH FAITH! Normally we talk about the Christian's faith in Jesus, but this passage speaks strongly of Jesus' faith in Christians!

            Not a lot has changed in 2000 years. We today are just as often paralyzed by fear or distraction; a segment of our congregations are still struggling with unbelief. Yet the message of this week's gospel is just as valid. Christ still commissions us; Christ still comes to us in his word and sacraments; valid encounters keep happening; and most important of all, he keeps using imperfect followers such as us for his beautiful mission to the world. The trick is not to look around at our paralyzed, fearful, unbelieving pathetic ranks. The trick is to look at our RISEN LORD and his faith IN US!

Cheers,

T.M.