(For those who wish, you can see the YouTube video of this service and message here:)
John 20:19-31
19 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." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them
again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the
Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called
the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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." 26
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." 27 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." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29
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." 30 Now Jesus
did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. 31 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.
Although the doors were
shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
·
Have we had enough of
closed doors? Have we had enough of isolation? Lots of people have. I (for one)
think it is still saving lives and still keeping our health care workers from
being over-whelmed.
·
Jesus’ disciples were
not isolated for fear of a disease; they were hiding for fear of being killed.
They closed the doors to keep out people who would persecute them, not infect
them.
·
Still here we are –
locked away, maybe hearing from friends and loved ones on the phone or over
some computer communication. We smell of antiseptic. We are tired of eating our
own cooking. We are frightened by the news from both near and far. It just seem
endless.
·
However we hear rumours.
Something has been happening even as we stayed in our homes. The word has
seeped into our isolation when we weren’t looking. The rumours are mysterious
and the rumours are the same as we’ve heard at Easter all our lives. This year,
more than most, we hear the words whispered rather than shouted or sung: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”
Somehow this word of hope has entered our lives again despite the strangest
circumstances many of us can think of or remember.
·
This is the Sunday were
we often beat up Thomas, the disciple who wanted only what the other disciples
had – to see Jesus. We call him “the Doubter”, but he believed! Thomas becomes
either an example of the faith we all want or a symbol of the doubt we all
carry. Anyway, let’s cut Thomas a break and let him rest for this year at
least; he’s done enough.
·
The real focus is not on
doubt and faith, nor is it on the resurrection of the body. The focus is Jesus
entering our crumbled lives in the middle of a disaster. It’s about Jesus
present in the strange darkness of our day, and not just of this unusual year
of 2020.
·
Jesus let his disciples
know he was alive in the most vivid way in the middle of what had appeared to
be absolute failure and tremendous horror. He showed them his wounds as a way
of saying “It’s really me, the fellow you’ve known… and I’m no ghost!” and as a
way of letting them know that he has entered their wounded lives and the entire
wounded world, bringing healing through his compassion.
·
We’re all living ‘a
little closer to the bone’ these days. Our usual distractions are not available
to us. Everything and everyone is at arm’s length and more. Still, Christ is
with us and Jesus is here. We may not be physically gathered, but we’re
gathered in our separation to hear the Word, to pray together, and to be
together in spirit and in separate action. I don’t know how many people are
seeing this, but if it were only one,
then you and I are still together in Jesus’ name… which mean Jesus is here.
·
As Jesus stood among his
first disciples and showed those wounded and frightened people the wounds in
his hands and side, he stands among us now, today, where-ever you might be,
fully aware of our fears and our ills, fully aware of the fears and ills of the
world. We might not have a cure for the virus, but we have healing which brings
peace, courage, and the strength both to endure and to move on.
·
He stays with us in this
time of trouble, fear, and disaster.
·
Jesus is with us, with
our hands in his wounded hand. I hope we’d remember his first words to the
disciples on both Easter evening and the evening of the Sunday that followed. I
think it’s what he’ll say to each of us when we see him face-to-face, but it’s
what he says to us now:
·
“Peace
be with you.”
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