This is a homily I preached Sunday, the week after Easter Sunday. The text is John 20:19-31. Be blessed.
The text opens with the disciples behind closed, locked doors on the evening of that day, (of Christs resurrection) the first day of the week, for fear of the Jews. Mary had testified to seeing Jesus earlier and several had seen the tomb empty, but Jesus was still gone. These are people, like us, who have lost Someone they loved. They didn’t just believe in Jesus, they loved Jesus. And Jesus had been killed. They believed He was the Son of God, but He was also their Friend, their Companion, their Teacher. The one with whom they felt secure. Jesus would know what to do if He were here, He always knows what to do. Furthermore, this One they loved had been betrayed by someone they thought they knew who had then committed suicide. This One they loved had been unjustly accused, violently beaten, raged against, publicly killed while people mocked and scoffed. Not to mention the guilt they might have felt, many of them had deserted him themselves in those last hours. Talk about trauma.
The effects of all that on our psyche, emotions, bodies, beliefs, are enormous. All that Jesus’ empty tomb meant had not penetrated their grief. A few days is not enough time for hearts to heal, for heads to clear, for promises to matter.
Have you seen death up close and personal? Have you sat with a loved one as they slipped from your grasp, passing to somewhere beyond your physical presence? Think for a moment about that time. The one you love is gone. For some, like me, it was a child, too young to die. For some, perhaps a violent ripping away in an accident of some kind, or worse in an act of rage or criminal activity, for some perhaps a sudden physical malady, like a heart attack or aneurysm that took their life before you could say goodbye. For some, an aging parent who had lived a long life and you had time to say what needed and wanted to be said, but still…they are gone and your heart is crushed. I would suggest to you that this is where the disciples are this evening.
And in this context, JESUS CAME.
Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.” How would you feel if your loved one whom you had buried just days before walks in the room; not a vision of them, but them truly? If my daughter walked back into the room after her death, I can see myself looking deeply into those blue eyes, “Is it you, really my Mikal?” I can imagine patting my face to see if I was awake, looking around the room at everyone else to make sure they are seeing her too. Is this real? And what joy! Oh my, what joy! Wouldn’t you do the same if your loved one suddenly appeared from the dead? How happy would we be? Overjoyed. Our grief would vanish in joy. The questions around our confusion and sorrow, would lose their importance. All the “Why’s?” we ask, trying to understand or make sense of loss, no longer there. She’s back!
What alone can take grief of death away? Reunion! Not time. I buried my daughter over twenty years ago. In a heartbeat, I could be on the floor weeping and missing her like it happened yesterday, save for the grace of God. Love knows not time, and the pain of separation from those we love we never get over. But reunion, reunion eradicates grief. That’s what happened to our brothers and sisters in this passage…reunion. Jesus is here! Feel that joy for a moment. I can imagine how I would feel and it’s glorious. Beloved, reunion is coming, a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus. I want to invite you to believe that with me all over again. Embrace it fully and let it inform your life, both sorrows and joys. Jesus is coming back; the dead in Him will be raised; a glorious reunion is coming and all grief will be vanquished…forever. Dwell on that a while.
And what does Jesus say and do? He says, “Peace be with you.” This was a post-resurrection, “Peace be with you.” One commentary noted: This symbol-laden greeting is the equivalent of “it is finished”(John 19:30). This was the peace of reconciliation to God. Then He shows them His wounds. The display of wounds is not only an act of identification, a proof to the disciples that the man standing in their midst is Jesus, but also, they explain the wellspring of His peace. The peace of God was entirely dependent on these specific wounds—the scars from the crucifixion declare peace for the world. Beloved, because of the resurrection of Jesus, we have PEACE WITH GOD! All other kinds and types of peace we desire hang upon this greatest peace and we have it! When we pass the peace, do we know what we are doing? Real peace has been won for you. Embrace this by faith and rest in that a while.
And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 2:7, God creates humanity by breathing into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life. What God did in the OT to create humanity, the glorified Jesus does to create a new humanity, which has new life by Jesus’ breath.
Jesus breathing His Spirit on them is a beautiful picture of Jesus helping them to understand the new way of relating to Him. They were not going to “be with Him” physically for a while, but by Holy Spirit, His very Spirit He would be in and with them always. Instead of being limited by a physical body that can only be in one place at a time, Jesus, by His Spirit was going to be in all of them at all times. Now, we are never alone. Jesus is with us, in us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Rejoice in that a while.
When the disciples told Thomas “We have seen the Lord.” He wasn’t having it. His pain at the death of Jesus was too great to risk getting his hopes up and them being dashed again, so he stated his conditions to believe in no uncertain terms, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” Wow. What a statement. Sadly it’s a statement I’ve heard numerous times. Usually it’s more along the lines of, “After the way they treated me, I will never believe!” Or, “If God loved me, He wouldn’t have (fill in the blank). I’ll never believe.”
Jesus understands. His raw emotional pain was saying: I loved Jesus and I thought this was going to go another way, and the way it went, is so horrible, so not what I thought, so hard to understand, so messed up, that I’m not taking that chance again. I think Thomas may have thought, I saw Him heal so many. I saw Him multiply bread and fish. I watched Him walk on water and speak to a storm to be still and it obeyed. I saw him raise Lazarus who had been dead 4 days! But He didn’t come off the Cross. He died. So, I want definitive proof before I engage my heart again. I trust my senses, and my understanding, more than your words, your testimony.
Ever felt like Thomas? Have you ever had your Christian hopes dashed? Have you ever walked with Jesus, hearing Him say things and seeing him do things, and thinking you knew where you were going and suddenly hell seemed to break into your Christian life and rob you of something dear, all the while, it seemed, Jesus stood by and did nothing: Didn’t answer your prayer like you wanted, allowed something to happen, dare we voice it, that He shouldn’t have let happen to you? Ever been there? We run ahead of Jesus in our minds so easily and so often. We think we know…and when we find out we don’t know, we begin to doubt God’s love. We don’t understand the mercy in the restraining love of God. It’s too big for us. When you think God didn’t do what He should have done, I want to encourage you to look at the cross of Jesus Christ. Because on that day, His very Son was hanging on that cross dying and He had power to save Him, yet He restrained His power for love of you. The day my daughter died, I used everything within my power to save her. If I had had more power I would have used it all. To have power to save my child and yet restrain my power for love of another is beyond what I could do. Yet, God restrained His power and did not save His only Son so He could save you and your children. That’s power, a mysterious love beyond our understanding. The next time He doesn’t seem to answer your prayer the way that you want Him to, consider the Cross of Jesus and thank God He restrains Himself sometimes and doesn’t do what makes sense to us, what we would do. Hallelujah!
Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came.
Again, Jesus came. Pronouncing the blessing of Peace, this time to Thomas as well, he helped Thomas, loving him, patiently teaching him. This is a beautiful reality in our life in God. He comes. Again and again, He comes to us. He comes to us primarily through His written word which carries His breath – His life giving Spirit. He also comes in dreams, visions, through other people, in countless ways, He comes.
Believe that. Take courage. Jesus comes.
And the faith that Thomas had in Christ, came forth in his response, 28 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 believed.” What a statement! It’s a beatitude for me and you.
How could one believe in the risen Lord without the benefit of a resurrection appearance? For Thomas, faith came by hearing the word of the risen One addressing him personally. For those who come after, me and you, faith comes through hearing the risen One speak to us personaly through the written word of God by the Holy Spirit. I think that’s what Jesus was saying. Thomas, you can believe without seeing me in person. My words will come to you now, through others by the Holy Spirit.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Beloved, we do not have to see to believe. We do not have to understand everything that happens to believe. We can embrace the mystery of God, there will always be things we don’t understand or didn’t see coming. We do not have to like everything that happens to believe. We don’t have to have perfect relationships to believe. Our faith in Jesus comes by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. All the things written by people who saw Jesus alive have been written so we can believe. I want to encourage you today not to decide whether you are going to believe or not believe based on church people. Base your belief in the Word of God. Because that excuse will not stand in The Day. The Word of God is a means of grace to help us believe. Read and meditate on God’s word, live in it and give the Holy Spirit a lot to work with.
I would guess that most, if not all, reading this have been touched by death in some way, some perhaps very recently. In the midst of this pandemic, we are made aware of our vulnerability to something we can’t control, and we can’t see. An invisible, airborne virus, potentially lethal lurks about. We can’t see it, but we believe in it. I also believe its true because someone I know and trust personally had it, was very sick, was in ICU, was put on a ventilator and didn’t know if he would ever come off of it. He did recover. And I believe his testimony. He experienced it up close and personal. I choose to believe him about this virus. I believe it and it’s caused me to change my behaviors. Patterns have been altered, and perhaps permanently changed. There were things I used to do that I don’t do any longer, and things I didn’t do that I am finding myself doing now. Pandemic or not, death touches us. And we believe in things we don’t see all the time.
In I Peter 1: 3 and following, the Apostle Peter, likely at the very end of his life, has a fuller understanding of Jesus’ resurrection than he had on that first Easter night. He’s come through that liminal space he was in and has walked with Jesus, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit for some time.
He encourages us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that …your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Although you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Consider taking verse eight of I Peter 1 and making it your prayer of proclamation: Make it personal.
Although I have not seen Him, I love Him; and even though I do not see Him now, I believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for I am receiving the outcome of my faith, the salvation of my soul.
Hallelujah and Amen.