The (NRSV) text for this sermon can be found here. Even if you have read it before, I encourage you to read it again. Perhaps God wants to tell you something new about or through it!
Jesus said to them again, "'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.'" John 20:21
May
the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in Your
sight, O Lord, Eternal God, Holy One.
Today’s Gospel lesson contains the
story of Jesus’ second and third post-resurrection appearances as documented by
the Gospel of John. The third appearance is also the story of how Thomas earned
the nickname doubting. I invite you to join me in dialoging with the
story. What questions come from it? Which questions can it answer, and which
remain unanswered? Was Thomas as faithless as tradition portrays him? Should we
take a warning from his lack of acceptance? Or is there another, better lens
through which to understand the story?
As I
read and re-read this story over the past few days, I discovered there are a
number of possibilities not evident from the text. The first is who was
present, which I believe influenced the participants’ reaction to the event. In
the writing of this time, women and children were generally excluded from
descriptions and counts of groups. Since here the term “disciples” rather than
“apostles” is used, I conclude that women as well as men were present, perhaps
even families with children. Another question is why: for what reason
are the disciples locked in this room, away from the rest of the community? The
text states they are fearful of the Jews. I want to be clear that throughout
this Gospel, this refers not to Judaism as a whole but to the leadership of the
Jewish community in Jerusalem at this time, during the first century.[i] This leadership, in collusion with their Roman
overlords, was responsible for crucifying the disciples’ Rabbi and Lord. Of course the disciples in today's story were fearful; what
was to say they would not be next? Their fear was real and justified. The fact
that the group hid together in close quarters also begs the questions: Why
was Thomas absent? Where had he gone? Was he the only one brave enough
to venture out to gather needed supplies? Had he drawn the short
straw that day, taking his turn procuring the group’s needs? By default of his
being absent from the group’s safe haven, Thomas was excluded from the experience
of the rest of the disciples. He was about to be surprised by an experience
uniquely his own.
Based on the newness of what God did
in the Resurrection of Jesus, reactions of shock and disbelief from those who
first experienced it should come as no surprise. We’ve heard the story so many
times, we assume the ending is a given. It was not so for those who first lived
it. Doubt is found to some degree, from various participants, in all four of
the Gospels.[ii]
And isn’t it completely reasonable that such an unexpected surprise would lead
to “paralyzing astonishment,”[iii] and
the related reaction of doubt? While the text says the disciples accepted Jesus’
post-crucifixion appearance, I wonder how long it took them. As I read the
story, I imagine a very pregnant pause and some hanging jaws. When Mary
Magdalene encountered the resurrected Jesus near the tomb only a few days
earlier (in the section immediately before today’s reading), John’s Gospel
details how it took several moments for her mind to understand what her eyes
saw. When she returned to the disciples with her tale, I doubt she was accepted
at her word. Why should Thomas’ reaction show any less surprise, or be subject
to the judgment that disbelief equals unfaithfulness?
Was
Thomas as faithless as tradition portrays him? Or should we understand his
response as a normal human reaction, a part of his God-given intellectual
capacity? I think God wants us to be gentle with Thomas just as God wants us to
be gentle with ourselves. God did a new thing in the Resurrection of Christ,
and continues to do new things in our lives today. In spite of the disciples
surprise and doubts, they were commissioned by Christ. “Peace be with you!” He
tells them. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” I believe this
commission speaks to us today just as it spoke to the disciples two thousand
years ago. We are each called as a whole person – doubts and all – to be
engaged in a relationship with the Living God and to serve those around us.
Bibliography
Hendricks, Jr., Obery M. The
Gospel According to John in the New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised
Standard Version. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, 2001.
Most, Glenn W. Doubting Thomas. Harvard
University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007.
