Empowered and sent

Thomas was one of the disciples of Jesus, but Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared to those huddled in the closed and locked door place they stayed. It is curious that Thomas does not base his faith on the word of witness from his companions but needs to experience the resurrected Christ for himself: in this perhaps we have an example of what we seek when we come to this sacred space. The question often arises in discussions of Thomas is about the permissibility of doubt or questioning in the faith journey of believers. It is a disservice, I think, to call Thomas Doubting Thomas because if we are honest, most of us have doubts or questions from time to time.  Doubts mean questions. Questions seek answers. Asking questions about faith related things can be difficult, it can drive us to read heavy and complicated tomes, attend class, or find a group of mutually interested seekers to explore answers. Thomas witnesses to the ability to question, to seek a fuller knowledge of the one in whom we place our trust by personal experience, and to take an almost scientific approach to the evidence. In this sense we might label Thomas the patron saint of scientists who seek answers through empirical evidence.

What was Jesus’s response to Thomas?

Jesus came to the disciples again, entered into their company behind their closed and locked doors. He did not know and gain entry. He simply appeared among them. How you ask? Well this little detail suggests something important about a resurrection body in contrast to a resuscitated body. When a person has an out of body experience, wherein their physical body has stopped functioning in a way that sustains life, they are clinically speaking dead, but the reports they give us is they are aware of light, or a presence of someone they know, or see all that is happening to them as if they were observing from above. When such experiences are shared with us, it is because the person has been resuscitated, their heart beats again, their lungs pump oxygen, they are alive again.  Some people say they got the message that they were not finished on earth and had to return. Some say, the experience was comforting, that they no longer feared death, that there is something – someone beyond the gate of death. They feel compelled to share their experience.

Jesus was not resuscitated. Jesus died, was buried, and three days later rose from the grave in a resurrected body. He walked and talked with disciples on their journey to Emmaus and they did not know him until he broke the bread. He was seen but not recognized by Mary Magdalene until he spoke her name. He came to the disciples inside a locked room, to show Thomas what Thomas needed to see, in order to believe. His first words were: Peace be with you. Jesus did not question Thomas about where he was last week. He did not chide Thomas for doubting the testimony of the others. Jesus met Thomas where Thomas was saying: look, see the marks on my hands and side. Thomas’s response was a confession of faith: My Lord and My God.

Peace be with you is the resurrected one’s self introduction. When God comes among us, do we recognize the holy presence because they are moments of peace? Do we also acknowledge the holy presence in times of brutal violence, with the scars evident? In both, it is possible to realize we are not alone but have been found. I think it is very good news that in the different conditions and seasons of our lives, Jesus appearance brings us peace. It is equally disconcerting at times to realize that we are sent to places we might rather not go, and we may delay going out of fear. In this we find ourselves in the company of the disciples.

Why else would the disciples who saw him a week ago still be huddled behind closed locked doors?

The disciples had received the Holy Spirit and were commissioned and are once again inside a locked room. Does that bother you? It bothers me. They have the Holy Spirit; they have seen the risen ONE; they are already commissioned to go out with the Good News, and they are still hiding? They may well have reason to still be afraid of religious persecution as our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, Kenya, Yemen, Syria, and so many others places are today. But the Peace offered them by Jesus is not a guarantee of safety nor will it permit them to remain in hiding. No sooner have they rejoiced in the resurrection, their encounter with the Risen Christ, Jesus tells them they have a new status and a new job. They are no longer merely disciples: they are now apostles: sent into the world. I suggest that they know that and they also know it will not be an easy or popular task. They may need time to get their evangelical legs in shape. If and only if we accept the same commission can we find empathy with their decision to wait a week: to study the matter; to plan, prepare, before just rushing out.

Remember Jesus did not chastise them for still being in this room, nor did he criticize Thomas for needing his own experience. I think this story is more about Jesus offer of himself, over and over, to people longing to see him.  John names the fears of the disciples. Jesus meets those fears with grace.

I suggest this morning that those same instructions are given to us. The Christian community must go out from behind its closed and locked doors, be apostles in the world bearing the Holy Spirit. This is the reason some of our priests in the diocese offer “Ashes to go” at train stations and other public spaces. This is why some Episcopal Churches offer lunch and worship in a public park.  The missionary people empowered by this peace and Holy Spirit are sent to bear the forgiving and transforming love of God into every sphere of human experience.

I believe this is the Gospel of John’s version of Pentecost. The gift of the Holy Spirit given to the Church is the power needed for ordinary humans to proclaim by word and deed the Easter faith. Today is not the Sunday after Easter: it is the second Sunday of Easter. For 50 days the church lives into the reality of resurrection, of what it means to be a community shaped by the dying and rising of Christ.

Prayer:  “Thank you Lord, for Thomas – not there, not sure, left out when the others saw the risen Lord. Risen Lord, be with us, we pray, when we fail to see you; when we want to believe but can only see legend and myth, and are tempted to put you away with other childish things; when we long to be loved and accepted but feel forever outsiders, excluded from your embrace; when we envy those who take for granted your close presence in their lives while we feel nothing…when in bereavement we crave the certainty of eternal life but are afraid it is simply wishful thinking. Risen Lord, as you came to Thomas in his doubts, offering him your cross torn body, come to us, we pray. Reveal yourself afresh, that we too may say with Thomas, ‘My Lord and my God.’” (Meriel Chippendale in Let Justice Roll Down)