April 16, 2023 Sermon
Sermon title: "Thomas Hesitates to Believe"
Scripture: John 20:19-31
(Other lectionary choices include Acts 2:14a and 22-32, Psalm 16, and I Peter 1:3-9.)
John 20:19-31
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19When 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." 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Jesus and Thomas
24But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So 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." 26A 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." 27Then 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." 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
The Purpose of This Book
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But 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.
We are in what is called the second Sunday of Easter, or Eastertide, and our ecclesiastical color is white, and will stay white for a while. Today's Scripture lesson says it was the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the first EASTER, the day Jesus rose from the dead! We are told that the doors were locked, and Jesus came and stood among the disciples, saying, "Peace be with you". Could it be that these first few words of today's Scripture are a lesson, a SERMON to us, that Jesus, the Risen Christ, is always with us? I had not thought of that until a friend recently suggested that idea to me: Jesus is ALWAYS with us. So, he doesn't need to unlock locked doors. He is always with us! An interesting concept, and maybe John's Gospel is preaching that to us right off the top!
But the sermon title is "Thomas Hesitates to Believe", so let's mention that. This is the guy known as "Doubting Thomas", of course - but look what happens: He (Thomas) is the first person in John's gospel to say, "My Lord and my God!" But that was what the author of John has been pointing to from the beginning! Remember how this Gospel opens? "In the beginning was the Word....and the Word was God." What does that look like? John is saying it looks like this: the Risen Jesus of Nazareth....and Thomas is the first to proclaim it! Jesus is God! True, he takes his time, and he wants some evidence. Wouldn't WE? But once he is convinced, he says, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus chastises Thomas a little bit for believing because he sees. And then Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (Jesus may be talking to you and me and everybody else who has come to believe without seeing what Thomas saw!) But let's have a good word for Thomas. Tradition has it that he traveled all the way to India to spread the Gospel, and that's farther than anyone else went. And also keep in mind what he said before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. As Jesus made the dangerous journey to the tomb of Lazarus, some of the disciples did not want him to make the trip. But Thomas, FAITHFUL Thomas, said, "Let us go, that we might die with him." So, let's keep in mind the TOTAL picture of Thomas: yes, he doubted - but before he doubted, he was courageous......and after he saw the Risen Lord, he went farther than anybody else to spread the Good News.
One of the things I like about writing sermons is that sometimes I learn something new, and I did this week. Thomas says he wants to put his fingers in the nailprints of Jesus and his hand in the spear wound in Jesus's side. What that says to me is that our wounds are always with us! We may recover from them, but we will always have them. The Risen Christ did, if we're to believe today's Scripture reading. So why wouldn't we? I can't pretend that this is my own idea. It comes from Nadia Bolz-Weber, and I have quoted her before. She says, "I thought of this all week when reading this story about Jesus appearing to his disciples. Because what I realize is I find it comforting that this resurrection did not erase the marks of having lived his life or even having endured his death. I find it comforting that when Jesus rose from the dead he was recognizable by his scars."
Nadia Bolz-Weber says Jesus didn't appear to his disciples wearing gloves to hide the nailprints. She says, "He (Jesus) knew that he would be known by his wounds. And", she says, "isn't that true for us as well? We can only really know and be known when we show our scars." And she quotes Beyonce: "show me your scars and I won't walk away."
Bolz-Weber continues: "Scars are like the metabolized remains of our wounds. And as you know, they can be physical and emotional. If your mom left when you were young, you will always be someone whose mom left when you were young. There will always be a mark on you in the place that was hurt by that loss."
But that doesn't have to be the end of the story. The scars may never leave because "We carry all of it (our suffering, our wounds) with us in some form or another. We are walking embodiments of our entire story. The scars from that aren't optional, but the shame is." That bears repeating: The scars aren't optional, BUT THE SHAME IS!
Nadia goes on to say that we are "Easter people", "a people of resurrection". But that doesn't mean we will be cleansed from all harm, or that all the bad things that happened to us - or the bad things WE have done to others - will be erased. "Resurrection is not about rewriting our past or forgetting what happened.... Because resurrection is not reversal. The things that happened to Jesus' body - the state sanctioned violence, the flogging, the crucifixion - remained even after he defeated death and rose from the grave. He still bore the marks of that pain, but the pain was not what defined him."
She concludes: "Our scars and our sorrow will always be part of our story but they will never be the CONCLUSION of our story. Which means that even when you feel trapped in your pain, trapped in your past, trapped in your own story like it is itself a tomb, know this - that there is no stone that God cannot roll away."
Does this sound like a sermon she delivered on Easter? It is! As for me, I started out to talk about Thomas, and I did say some things about him. But what he said about wanting to touch Jesus's wounds sent me off in a different direction. I hope that was okay! Amen.
Pastor Skip
