John 20:19-31
“What Next?”
April 16, 2023
A week ago, this chancel and altar table were filled with gorgeous spring flowers.
A week ago, those of you who were sitting in the pews or attending via Zoom were probably, at some point in the service, thinking about what the rest of your day would look like.
I’m pretty sure the kids last Sunday were all anticipating diving into Easter basket goodies.
A week ago, the temperature at the Sunrise Service hovered around 20 degrees while this morning at 6:15 a.m. it was a balmy 58 degrees.
This week later story in John’s Gospel is a rare one.
Mark ends his Gospel abruptly with an empty tomb.
For Matthew there is a brief mention of Jesus showing up to and commissioning a few disciples to continue his work.
Luke has the Road to Emmaus story on Easter night but it’s a very short interaction and as soon they figure out it was Jesus over dinner, he disappears to heaven.
John alone goes into what it is like to be a disciple a week later.
And who stands out in this story?
The one for whom belief comes after seeing.
Thomas was known as the Twin, but none of us call him that.
He will forever be known as Doubting Thomas
But remember he wasn’t there when Jesus appeared so an emphasis is placed on his doubt but all the rest of them saw Jesus so we have no idea if their reactions would have been the same as Thomas’ if they hadn’t been there the week before.
John’s Gospel places tremendous emphasis on believing.
The children last Sunday knew what a verb was – it’s an action word.
Mark talks about believing 13 times, Matthew mentions it 9 times and in Luke you find believing seven times.
John refers to believing over 90 times.
And it’s always a verb in his Gospel.
He uses the word “believe” to signify that there is trust in how God is acting through Jesus and then to act on that trust.
When you believe, you wash someone’s feet.
When you believe, you lay down your life for a friend.
When you believe, you abide in love.
John, contrary to the litmus tests that are often used to separate real Christians from others by exclaiming what we think or feel being a Christian is, Jesus in John’s Gospel wants to know what we are going to do as a believer.
It’s the whole, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” approach to belief.
The peace here that Jesus speaks of 3 times in these 12 verses is a peace of action, it’s a state of being.
The translation of his words, “Peace be with you” would have translated then to “Be whole.”
We have no idea what Thomas believed exactly and it doesn’t seem to matter nearly as much to Jesus as much as what Thomas would do with that belief.
We are early in the 50 day Easter season.
As Easter people, we need more than one day a year to spread the good news through our actions.
Resurrection is an everyday event, and we can be Christ-bearers to the world that needs reminding that every new day is another chance at spreading the love and peace that is God’s to give and ours to share.
How will we be a force for resurrection, for rebuilding, for offering another opportunity for hope to be passed on?
Our world is hurting big-time.
Three years ago when this reading came up in the Lectionary we were in some of the worst times of the early pandemic and the concept of fear hit very close to home.
Now fear looks different.
Yes, COVID is still a very real presence with many of us who know people right now who have tested positive in the last week or two.
Fear of COVID has not been eliminated but its impact has lessened with action – research, vaccinations, information disseminated.
As we’ve learned from this Gospel lesson, even in the face of fear, Jesus’ grace increases. We are not alone. We have hope and ourselves to offer an increasingly frightened world.
We get to be the ones, who through our actions spread Jesus’ message to all we encounter – “Peace be with you.”
We could use some of that peace Jesus is spreading around right about now!
Here Jesus was right after a gruesome death and what is he trying to fill these frightened and leery disciples with?
Peace – in Hebrew it is shalom while in Greek it is eirene – concepts that mean so much more than a lack of conflict.
To the Jewish ear back in Jesus’ time this way of thinking of peace referred to the messianic kingdom – the way that things will be in the Kingdom of God – a way of being that is marked by justice and mercy and reconciliation and this all starts with forgiveness – the calling card of Jesus as he makes his presence known in a locked room then and is what we as his followers have to share.
That is to be our hope and our joy.
Are we able to be such peace bearers?
Who and what must we forgive?
Let’s start with ourselves and move outward into our world spreading Jesus’ message of peace not by claiming a title or spouting off rhetoric but through our living as forgivers because we are forgiven.
Jesus returns to empower his followers.
As one writer put it, Jesus returned not to prove a point,
not to give us something to profess centuries later,
but to give us his spirit,
to breathe his eternal, loving Life into us
so that we would be his new risen body,
raised not as one individual but as a community.
He returned from his grave to send us out of our graves,
send us into the world to love, to forgive, to bless,
to do justice, to labor with God for the mending of the world,
empowered not merely by optimism
but by the infinite Spirit that cannot be killed,
that endures tragedy and overpowers evil
and burrows through death to new life.
(Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light)
These are times that call for action.
These are times that we can each be peace-bearers through those actions.
Easter was the beginning of our story.
As the poet Mary Oliver asks:
“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Amen.