‘Doubting Thomas’ – 19th April 2020 – Second Sunday of Easter

John 20.19-end

When 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.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So 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.’

A 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.’ Then 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.’ 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 come to believe.’

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But 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.

The Sermon

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – Amen.

I’m writing this on Thursday, April 16^th – I expect sometime this afternoon or early evening we’ll be told that our lockdown will continue for at least another three weeks. Let me take this opportunity to hope that you and your family and friends are managing under these exceptionally challenging conditions.

I’d like to spend some time with Thomas tonight. He gets a bit of a mixed coverage in the Gospels; he comes over as being quite gutsy in the story of Lazarus when it’s he who suggests that the group should join Jesus in going to see Lazarus, despite the risk. “Let us go and die with him” are his words, and the disciples are rallied to return with Jesus to Judea. He shows courage and resolve; at this point he’s willing to die with Jesus if that’s required. He then seems to drop out of sight for a while, and makes less of a good impression at the Last Supper, where he comes over as being a bit confused as to what’s expected of him. In John 14, we read:

“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Perhaps this gives Thomas a bit of a hint that the path ahead for the disciples is going to involve great sacrifice; they need to walk ‘the way’ of Jesus. It’s not going to be easy. And indeed, like the others he scarpered when Jesus was arrested, despite his earlier willingness to die with Christ.

And so we come to tonight’s reading:

“When 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.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

The disciples were in their own ‘lockdown’ – they were understandably afraid that the Jewish religious authorities might try to finish the job they thought they’d started by crucifying Christ. Where Thomas was at this time isn’t clear; maybe taking a brief bit of exercise, maybe trying to get some time on his own in which he could think through what had happened over the last week or so. There is a poem by Thomas Troeger about Thomas that starts with the words:

“These things did Thomas hold for real:

The warmth of blood, the chill of steel,

the grain of wood, the heft of stone,

the last frail twitch of blood and bone.”

Thomas indeed knew the reality of what had happened; his world view was very much that of a good Jew; when you died, you stayed dead. Blood flowed and went cold and clotted; steel spikes broke flesh, a steel lance would open a body up. And then it’s over; a final twitch, you’re dead. One can imagine Thomas trying to wonder whether ‘the way’ of Christ simply ended in death, and if so, how could he follow it, and, what would be the point.

When he returns and is told the news of what’s happened, he famously retorts that he won’t believe that Jesus has been miraculously resurrected until he can see things for himself. No, more than that, his doubt is so strong that he won’t believe that Christ is risen unless he can stick his fingers in the wounds. Or, as Troeger put it:

“His brittle certainties denied

That one could live when one had died,

until his fingers read like Braille

the markings of the spear and nail.”

Thomas seems to be suffering from what we’d call today an ‘existential crisis’ – something has happened – or has been reported to him – that is so ‘out there’ that it forces him to reconsider everything he holds as his firm and central beliefs as a Jew, despite everything he will have experienced as a disciple.

Sometimes, things happen that are just so big that we can’t cope.

Many years ago, when my mother was seriously ill in hospital, we got talking about times in her life she’d been really worried or scared. I expected her to tell me of the times she’d been ill or in danger in the Second World War, or when I’d given her cause for concern, but she added “A Saturday night in October 1962” – the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when she had gone to bed, with me in the next room, not sure than she – or anyone else – would see the following morning. An existential event in her life, totally outside of her experience and beyond her control.

This Easter, we’ve all experienced an event which has overturned our expectations and made many of us wonder ‘Will things ever be normal again’.

Like Thomas, we currently find our certainties challenged. We’re confined to our homes, we learn the news of the same changes applying to country after country in the world as Covid-19 brings about a ‘new normal’. Some people feel they need proof that it’s as bad as we’re told; some believe that it’s ‘just the ‘flu’ and that all the precautions are not needed. Like Thomas, most of us are a bit distanced from the reality of death and suffering – we’re told what’s happening, but fortunately for most of us we’re not there when proof in the form of death is given.

When Jesus appears the second time, he brings the proof Thomas demands – in the form of his wounds. Thomas acknowledges Jesus as ‘My Lord and my God’ – a statement that would be resonant with the citizens of the Roman Empire as this was how you were supposed to speak of the then Emperor. To use it as Thomas did is an act of love for Jesus, and act of treason against the Empire. His courage is returning.

In being exposed to the wounds of Christ, Thomas regains his faith; he’s admonished by Jesus because he needed to see to believe. Thomas had to come back to faith, by experiencing something at his level of understanding. He couldn’t argue with the fact that death was not the end of things, and he himself would eventually become a martyr, speared to death, probably in India.

Thomas’s rationality, his logic, his form beliefs in the Jewish understanding of life and death failed him at the time of crisis. I think all of our beliefs are currently being challenged in a similar way; but Thomas’s experiences are guidance for us. He went from brave, to confused, fled, returned, demanded proof, regained faith and courage and also eventually understood that the ‘way’ described by Christ would involve suffering and his eventual death as a martyr.

Troeger’s poem finishes:

“May we, O God, by grace believe

And, in believing, still receive

the Christ who held His raw palms out

and beckoned Thomas from his doubt.”

In this time of uncertainty, fear, confusion, and doubt, when many of the certainties of our daily lives have been washed away, may we receive the certainties of Christ into our lives.

Amen

The Prayers

The following prayers are based on today’s gospel reading - John 20.19-31

“...the doors of the house were locked for fear….” (v.19)

We pray for our locked-down nation and world
for those feeling isolated, lonely or depressed
for those feeling scared for themselves or for those they love
for those for whom lock-down is not a place of safety, but one of danger.