24th April 2022 easter 2

John 20: 19-31

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. 21Jesus 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. 

Reflection: How was your Easter experience? Did you find time to receive the rich and healing blessings of the Lamb who was slain, who is now our Risen Lord? Perhaps you are like Thomas not ready to accept the revelation of the scriptures, perhaps you need proof, perhaps you need something more...

Sometimes I feel like life is a marathon. We seem to have so many hurdles, challenges and muddy puddles to get through. We get tired, thirsty, dirty, blisters, and still we keep going. Until finally we can say -Well, we made it. After Easter sometimes I feel like saying we made it! We made it, through Holy Week and Easter, one of the busiest times of the year, a time when our churches typically have more people in and out than during any other eight-day stretch, and this year certainly we in the Bellinger parish saw people come to our services ... visitors, families, and the faithful. The journey from Palm Sunday through Holy week, with 3 days offering a time to pause, be quiet and reflect at Taize Services; Maundy Thursday – celebrating the last supper and stripping the alter; Good Friday, offering prayers for the world and each other, letting go of things that hold us and walking with Christ to the cross. Then the quiet of Holy Saturday followed by the joy of Easter Morning as we greeted the risen Lord. 

And now perhaps we’re wondering when things will get back to normal. I have to think the disciples hiding together in that locked room were likewise wondering when things would return to normal. But what is normal? Then or now – normal can be many things depending on how we see it.

With the onset of Covid a little over two years ago, countless things have changed. Perhaps we still watch the daily numbers, perhaps we have had Covid or know family members, friends or neighbours who have. Perhaps we are still living, fearful and not sure how we can ever get back into ‘life’. Perhaps we are watching the news from Ukraine whilst we have also watched the recent devastating floods and wondered – what next? So, what is normal?

And, truth be told, even when things do resume more along the lines of what we’re accustomed to, we may pause to consider whether we want to embrace fully what we once called ‘normal.’ These times have exposed more deeply some of the inequities we have perhaps accepted too easily. Those in the middle class compared with the experiences of those less fortunate. The struggles of those who have lost jobs, homes, loved ones, those doing the more mundane occupations typically had to keep the country running. And also the fragile nature of the middle class, with limited financial savings. The many people who now suffer anxiety and mental health issues that they did not before. So much has happened, so much has changed. Will we, can we, do we want to, go back to this normal?

All of which makes me think of Thomas, who is featured in today’s gospel, which is the second half of the Easter story in the book of John. Thomas’ story is one of the few stories that is included in the lectionary every year. But as I read this story this year it sounded quite different to me.

I know that we tend to think of Thomas in terms of his doubting, and certainly in some ways, his doubting gives us permission to likewise have our moments. But what if that doubt were part of a larger determination on dealing with reality, on getting things back to normal, on moving forward now that the worst has happened? I mean, have you ever wondered, why isn’t Thomas in the upper room when Jesus makes his first appearance? Perhaps it’s because, unlike the other disciples who are hiding behind locked doors, Thomas has already accepted what has happened, has moved on, and is now out and about rebuilding his life from the fractured pieces that were left to him after the horrific events of Good Friday. 

I read somewhere a fictional story about Thomas who had just slipped out to get the groceries at the market when the other disciples got to see the Risen Jesus. You know, he’s buying the spices, herbs, veggies, fish and figs oh … no roast lamb as it was still too expensive. No cheese either as the monger was still waiting on a delivery from Cana. Not to mention other things that were missing off the shelves. The story tells how he had to wait in a long checkout line and he’s quite grumpy when finally, he got home, gives the secret door knock only to have this wild tale told to him by his friends that the Master had appeared while he was gone. Of course he’s going to be more than a little irritable and say, ‘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.’

It’s hard for Thomas to accept the testimony of his friends when they tell him ‘We have seen the Lord.’ Remember that Thomas had seen his Lord recently – on Friday – nailed to a cross in agony and isolation. The joyful confession of the other disciples probably seemed like much wishful thinking to Thomas a cynical realist. Which is why, when he does see his Lord, I think his noticeable change in tune is less about simply coming to faith and more about realising that, after the resurrection, reality itself had changed and there would be no normal to go back to.

I mean, can you imagine it… how do you even talk about normal when someone has been raised from the dead? What can possibly be the same? Your work, your sense of meaning, your relationships, your purpose, your view of past, present, and future – all of it is changed forever by God’s act of resurrection in the garden. And I have to wonder if John’s choice of a burial garden for the initial Easter encounter testifies, to John’s belief that there is more going on here than simply the resurrection of Jesus. Is John suggesting that we are witnessing the re-creation of human existence itself.

So, when Thomas confesses ‘My Lord and my God,’ he is abandoning all his ideas of normal and opening himself to a very different reality than he could have previously imagined because creation isn’t static but is still happening. Similarly, Jesus affirms and then blesses later believers – ‘blessed are those who believe and have not seen’ – Jesus is simultaneously challenging and inviting and blessing all of us to recognize that, in light of the resurrection, the future is always open. The future is evolving and always open to change.

The question then should be ‘what will we be free to do or try, as we walk in the light of the resurrection?’ What will we carry forward with us with regard to worshiping, connecting, teaching, serving and more? What part of our old ways will we let go of, things that seem now not just non-essential but perhaps not even that helpful in light of our re awakened and refreshed sense of mission? 

On Good Friday those who attended the service were given a rock to hold, and encouraged to think about things in their life that they were going to leave behind, to put at the foot of the cross and leave…. Perhaps we now can shift our focus as it were, to look beyond what we think is death is to the wonderful gift of Easter that is before us. To journey from the dark to the light, from old self to the new self as now knowing that Jesus is alive transforms us.

When we reassess life, death, and all in between will we possibly care, for instance, nearly as much about getting stuff right?  Will we be concerned about the small stuff will it matter that we no longer do all the things we once did or will we be more concerned about nurturing our own and other peoples faith so they, in turn, can tend the broader community with both physical and spiritual needs? The future is still open. God is still at work creating, re-creating, and sustaining us to do things we could not have imagined previously.

Of course, none of this is as easy as it sounds. However, perhaps as we continue to journey the road and meet the Risen Lord, we can learn quite a bit from Thomas. It has been said that Thomas, died when he saw the Risen Lord. Died to his old beliefs, to his fears, to his sense of reality, to his deepest convictions about himself and the world. Nothing will ever be the same again! Which is why I wonder whether his exclamation, ‘My Lord and my God’ was as much a grief-stricken and bewildered cry as it was joyful, victorious confession.

‘My Lord and my God!’

Thomas now realises that Jesus is there And Jesus is here, with us. Jesus is there amid the necessary changes and faithful adaptations, and he’s calling us forward, blessing those who believe though they do not see. That is us and he’s promising to be with us and for us forever.