Sermon - 2nd Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31            

                                                                      Doubting Thomas

We make a point of reading this story of Thomas and his doubts EVERY year.  Perhaps you realize there is a three-year cycle of appointed readings.  Year A draws readings from Matthew; Year B from Mark; and Year C is Luke.  But regardless of the year, on the Second Sunday of Easter, we read John 20:19-31.

Those who put designed the cycle of readings knew that it would be important for us have the opportunity to speak about the doubts which occur.  Those who put together the cycle of readings understood that it would be difficult for those who were not in that upper room on the first Sunday to believe.

We are among those who were not in the room “on that day.”  The remaining disciples were in that room, with the doors locked.  They were afraid. 

Then Jesus comes and stands among them.  He greets them, “Peace be with you.” 

The next two sentences seem confusing, or perhaps in the wrong order.  But when I remember how carefully these Gospel accounts were put together, I stop thinking these two line are improperly arranged.  They must be put together this way to make a point, so I begin to look for what the arrangement is trying to tell me.  Of these two lines, i is the second line which tells us that the disciples “rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”  I would have thought that they would “rejoice” right away.  But before we get to that rejoicing, they are shown Jesus’ hands and side.  Look at the order for yourself.  It is verse 20.  After Jesus greets them, he shows them his hands and side, THEN they rejoice.

Another reason why we shouldn’t think this is a mistake or an incorrect reporting of events is what happens next in the Thomas story.

What is it that Thomas sets up as his criteria for believing?  Thomas says he will not believe that Jesus has returned until he sees what?  Answer - Seeing the mark of the nails in Jesus’ hands.

Those who carefully put the Gospel together are trying to tell us something about doubting and believing.  Perhaps what they are trying to tell us has something to do with those hands and side.  Maybe the ability to believe that Jesus is alive isn’t as difficult as believing that hanging on a cross is the gateway to this resurrected life.

The LCM Bible Study group was discussing Romans 4:21 this past Tuesday.  This is the part of Romans were Abraham is lifted up as the model of what it means to follow God.  Paul argues in Romans 4 that Abraham is the “Father” of all the faithful, not because of his Jewish identity but because of his total and complete dependence upon faith.  And Paul writes that the hallmark of this faith is Abraham’s ability to trust that God was able to do what God has promised.  Of this, Paul says Abraham was “fully convinced.”

The inverse of this is to see those who are not “fully convinced” as persons who remain in doubt.  Persons like Thomas, or others who have not seen with their own eyes. 

Most conversations reveal to me an ability to believe that God is able to do what God has promised with regard to resurrection.  When we see God as the one who created life, it is logical that God could bring to life one who has died.  There isn’t as much doubt about that among us as one might think.

Where doubt enters the picture is when the image of the cross is interjected.  Doubt rears its head when nail marks are set forth as the way to the resurrected life. 

Maybe the ability to believe that Jesus is alive isn’t as difficult as believing that hanging on a cross is the gateway to this resurrected life.

This may be why substitutionary atonement is so popular among us.  Substitutionary atonement allows us to see the death of Jesus as a “once-and-done” event; “No need to go there again.”  We prefer thinking of Jesus as the one who suffers at the hands of an angry mob so that we don’t have to face that same fate.  But it is those who write about Jesus who set forth such an explanation.  Whereas Jesus spoke of his followers taking up the cross and following.

The story in John 20 may have less to do with the inability to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Maybe what this story exposes is our inability to believe that the cross is the way to this resurrected life.

What would Christianity look like to the wider audience of Jesus’ followers took up their crosses?  How would Church life change should we hear Jesus’ words about those who have two coats sharing one with the neighbor who has none?  Just think of the consequences should those who believe in Jesus also come to believe that it is in dying to oneself that life is found.

We do doubt, don’t we.  We doubt that the way of Jesus is the way – certainly not the way for us in today’s world or our culture.  How would we survive if we sold our possessions and gave everything to the poor? 

We doubt that God’s plan for changing the world is setting loose a whole host of persons less concerned about their own life and more concerned about the lives of the forgotten and overlooked.

The writers of the Gospel accounts were very careful in their work.  And they were insightful.  They knew how difficult it was for the disciples to accept that the cross was Jesus’ appointed path.  And they understood it would be difficult for us as well.  It may, in fact, be easier to believe in the ability of God to bring life where death has entered the picture than it is to see the cross as the way to the life that God has promised. 

We would just prefer a differing route.  We would like to hold on to the resurrected Jesus while abandoning his invitation to follow where he has lead the way.

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my had in his side, I will not believe.” 

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Amen.