Bold Thomas – John 20:19-22, 24-29

It is clear from the Gospels that the disciples of Jesus had absolutely no idea that Jesus’ prediction of his resurrection would have any possibility of being true.  In fact, according to John, no one was even entertaining the possibility of Jesus’ resurrection.  As far as everyone was concerned, He was dead and gone.

Mary’s revelation that she had seen the Lord and that he wanted to meet with them was met with much scepticism.  After all, it would be easy to believe that Mary was simply hysterical with grief and had made up the whole story or at the very best had mistaken the gardener for Jesus.  The disciples had no way of verifying her story, even though they wanted to believe it was true.

I think about families who have lost loved ones under mysterious circumstances.   If someone were to come and tell them that their loved one was alive, I am sure they would go to whatever lengths they needed to see if it was true.

And so the disciples – hoping against hope that there was a possibility of Jesus’ being alive – gather in the place where last they had shared a meal with Jesus. Once everyone was there – or at least everyone who was available – they locked the door and waited.  Expecting a knock on the door, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of Jesus. He revealed to them the wounds that he suffered showing them his hands and his side so that there could be no doubt that it was him.  And just as he had given them his peace at the Last Supper, he again gives them his peace – a peace not like the world could give, but the peace that can only come from God and that could penetrate to a person’s very heart.

But with that word of peace comes a mission – a mission that will be called upon to take up with the help and presence not of Jesus physically walking with them but with the presence of the very Spirit of God the Father and God the Son. As the Father had sent him into the world, now he was sending them.  And just as he had been sent with the Holy Spirit of God, so gave to them the same Spirit so that they could indeed do what he had done and even more.  With his breath, the creative and redeeming Spirit of God was put into them, the same Spirit that had begun creation and had begun the process of redemption now was given to them so that they might have the strength and the wisdom to teach, heal, guide, and forgive the sins of all who would hear Jesus’ words and come to believe in the work and mission of God.

But Thomas had not been able to be with them that day.  He wanted to believe but he needed to see for himself. His reaction to the disciples’ message has been the subject of much ridicule over the years.  His reaction has come to be associated with anyone who has struggled with believing the unbelievable. Imagine if you will the struggle Thomas felt in his heart and mind over the appearance of Jesus to the others.  I am sure he desperately wanted to believe it was true, but  could not bring himself to a point of peace without being able to physically see and touch Jesus for himself. Surely it is not unreasonable to have doubts about the veracity of such a story – one which tells of a friend once dead now alive!

And so it is that eight days later with all the disciples gathered together that Jesus comes again to them. He greets them with his peace and then says to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless but believing.”  And while Thomas is often scorned for his apparent lack of faith, I am sure that the other disciples who dared neither to ask nor to touch Jesus might have wanted to do what Thomas was so bold to ask.

Thomas removed any doubt that might have been in their minds.  A ghost could not be touched as Jesus was touched by Thomas.   Remember that Mary never hesitated to believe he was really alive in the flesh, and she reached out to hug him. The disciples were more restrained - perhaps even fearful - but Thomas wanted to be sure.  He wanted not only to see and hear Jesus but to touch Him. He wanted to sense the presence of the risen Lord in every way.  And so he is allowed to touch the hands of Jesus where the nails were and put  his hand into the side of Jesus where the spear had pierced him. Only then could he declare that this is his Lord and his God!

Jesus then tells Thomas that he is one of the fortunate ones. He was able to see Jesus and touch Jesus. He was able to affirm that indeed Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.  His boldness in asking to touch Jesus could be seen as a negative by those who believe that everything to do with God must be taken by faith alone. How dare someone doubt that God could raise someone from the dead!  But Thomas’ boldness adds to the record of the resurrection in a significant way.  No longer can anyone say that Jesus’ appearance to the disciples was merely that of a ghostly apparition.  Further proof of the reality of the resurrection will come when Jesus shares a meal with the disciples and speaks his words to Peter who will become the Rock of the new community.

Thomas may have been a doubter at first but for many people who find faith in the God who came in the person of Jesus, who suffered, died a human death, and yet was resurrected to life.  For those people, Thomas is a point of contact and assurance.  As a church and as the people of God, we need to remain open to the fact that not everyone experiences God in the same way; and God respects our need to approach him from where we are.  I want us to remember that it was not Jesus who gave Thomas the nickname of doubter; nor did Jesus condemn him for his boldness. It was those around him and those who commented on his actions that gave him that label. In God’s eyes, he was not a doubter; he was a seeker, a seeker for the truth that no one could ever contradict.

Indeed it is true – as Jesus says – that many more people would never have the opportunity to touch his hands or his side and yet believe.  And we who have come to faith in the time after these events are blessed for believing without seeing; but let us not disparage Thomas, for Thomas is the touch point for many who struggle with things unseen.

Faith in God has never been an easy thing no matter what generation or time people have lived.  In each generation, people need to come to their own decision about God and to find their own path through this life as they seek to discover each day what it means for us to be in relationship with him.

And whether we find God first in our mind, our heart, through sight, sound, or touch, let us ever remember that God’s desire is for us to believe his promises are true, that he is not dead but lives and that there will ever be a place for each of us in his heart and his world!

AMEN.