Loving God, you continue to give the gift of faith to your people, working within us and through us and among us by the power of your Spirit.  Make us aware this day of the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst, who continues to be at work wherever people gather in his name – for in his name we pray. Amen.

            We’re not sure why Thomas wasn’t there that evening, but he wasn’t.  He had left – only for a little while – and misses the most amazing thing ever!  Perhaps he was the only one brave enough to go out and get some groceries.  Perhaps nature was calling and he had gone to relieve himself.  Whatever the reason for his absence, it was a whole different story when he came back than when he had left.

         When Thomas left them, we know that the disciples were fearful.  That’s why the door was locked.  It is also likely that they were still in shock after the crucifixion of Jesus. While John tells us that Mary Magdalene announced that she had seen the Lord, we are not told whether any of the disciples believed her or not.  However, we can guess from Jesus’ greeting to them that they were certainly not at peace.

         Not once, but twice, Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you” (Jn. 20:19, 21).  Having shown up in a locked room, Jesus knows that they will think that they are seeing a ghost.  And so he shows them his scars.  He shows them his hands and his side, for he knows that they will have a hard time believing what they are seeing.  Then, he breathes on them, gives them the Holy Spirit, and commissions them. And Thomas misses the whole thing.

         One would think that this would be a lot to process even for the disciples that were there that evening and saw Jesus with their own eyes. How much more so for Thomas, who is hearing all of this and trying to make sense of it.  Really, can you blame him for wanting to see Jesus for himself? He’s not asking for special treatment. He’s just asking for the same experience that the other disciples have already had.

         And so Jesus comes back for Thomas.  Jesus returns the following week, once again not bothering to use the door.  He comes with the same greeting of peace and shows Thomas his hands and his side.  “My Lord and my God!” says Thomas (Jn. 20:28).  And we hear Jesus say those words that are for us and for all who are to come: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (Jn. 20:29).

         The verses that follow tell us that these are exactly the type of people for whom the gospel of John was written – those who have never seen Jesus and yet have come to believe. In fact, John says to us that this is “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” (Jn. 20:31). John is not talking about an intellectual kind of believing, but a life-giving faith.

         It is, after all, entirely possible to believe in Jesus without experiencing any new life at all. With this type of faith, you would believe that there was, in fact, a man named Jesus who lived and taught in first century Palestine and who died on a cross.  You might even believe that he was the Son of God and the Messiah, and that he was raised from the dead.  But you don’t really believe that any of this has anything to do with you.  We might refer to this as an intellectual kind of faith.

         However, this faith becomes personal when we not only believe that these things actually happened, but that Jesus lived and died and rose again for our sake.  That is when Jesus becomes “my Lord and my God,” just as Thomas said.  We believe, in this case, that we are separated from God by our sinful human nature, and that in this state, death is the end for us.  We also believe that Jesus became human in order to remedy this situation and overcome the power of sin and death once and for all.  He did this by taking our sin upon himself and nailing it to the cross as only he, the sinless One, could do.  And then he destroyed the power of death by rising from the grave.

         When we believe that Jesus is my Lord and my Saviour, we recognize that it is through him that we receive the forgiveness of sins, salvation, and the resurrection to eternal life.  God makes us this promise as we are baptized by water and the Spirit and confirms this promise to us every time we receive the Lord’s Supper in faith.  Thus, we are strengthened in our faith through our participation in the communion of saints, for when we know that Jesus came for us, we also know that he came for everybody else, as well!

         This is where we get into the kind of faith that truly trusts the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  For we are not called simply to believe, but to share that faith with others.  Once those first disciples had encountered the risen Jesus and knew that he was alive, they are immediately sent out.  They are sent out in the power of the Holy Spirit to announce the forgiveness of sins and to hold fast (or embrace) the ones who have not seen and yet have come to believe (workingpreacher.org).

         This is something that many of us would probably say that we can’t do – or maybe we just prefer to leave it to others.  Yet, it is only when we step out there and actually rely on the Holy Spirit that we discover what God can do through us.  In fact, that is when our faith becomes life-giving – both to us and to those around us.  For the risen Christ continues to live among us through the Holy Spirit, bringing life and faith to those with open hearts.  Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Amen.

Easter 2 (NL 4)                                                         John 20:19-31

April 8, 2018

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved