Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church
18313 Lappans Road Boonsboro, MD 21713
301-582-0417 stmarks@myactv.net
Sermon by Anjel Scarborough, Seminarian
Date: April 3, 2005
Liturgical Day: The Second Sunday of Easter, Year A
Propers: John 20:19-31
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you." 22 And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained." 24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!" 26 Eight days later the disciples were again together in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe." 28 Thomas replied to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Remember the last time you took shelter from a storm? It’s hard to believe that 9 months has past since that fateful microburst thunderstorm tore through our campus here and headed off towards Breathedsville. I know that those of you who live right around the church took shelter that day! Whether it was in a basement, in an interior room in the house, or even in a bathtub, our experience tells us when violent storms threaten us, we need to “hunker down” in a safe place. And, even though we do all the right things to be safe, those minutes or even hours spent waiting out a tornado or violent thunderstorm still bring pangs of anxiety and fear. As the winds howl and the rain beats down, we wonder, What will happen next?
Now it wasn’t a thunderstorm or tornado raging outside the room where the disciples were gathered the evening of that first Easter day, but they were “hunkered down” in anxiety and fear. The storm they feared was the wrath of the Jewish authorities who had orchestrated the execution of their beloved friend and teacher, Jesus. John, the masterful storyteller that he is, brings you into the story as if you are there. Suddenly, Jesus stands among them and says “Peace be with you.” He shows the disciples his wounds and the mood in the room changes instantly. Everyone is elated! He’s alive! It’s really Jesus! It’s all true! Jesus then says, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” After that, he was gone.
But, Thomas (called Didymus), one of the disciples, was not with them when Jesus came. We don’t really know exactly why Thomas was not there. The circumstances of why aren’t really important so much as the fact that he wasn’t there – he was absent. When Thomas returned to his friends, I’m sure the scene confounded him. He was probably expecting his friends to still be in mourning over the loss of Jesus. Instead, he finds them joyous and excited. That alone would have caught Thomas off guard. But then came the real shocker – the other disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord!” Imagine standing in Thomas’ shoes for a moment. Thomas is still mourning; he doesn’t know what has happened. All he knows is what his life’s experiences tell him – nobody who has died has ever come back to life. That just doesn’t happen in the real world. I also imagine that Thomas may have felt cheated – why did Jesus show up when he wasn’t there? We can’t know for sure what Thomas was thinking, but we do know his response, “Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!”
Whoa! Never believe it? Yes, that’s what John wrote. Now, at this point in the story, you may have found yourself making some judgments about poor Thomas. “Tom! What’s wrong with you? Do you think your friends are liars?” “Come on Tom! You heard what Jesus said and saw what he did, get with the program!” or even, “If I had been Thomas, I would have believed.” If that strikes a familiar chord with you, you are not alone. Ever since John crafted his account 1900 years ago, listeners have been judging Thomas. In a sense, he is the “fall guy” in this story. Remember dear friends who have “ears to hear,” you know about the first appearance. John pulled you into the scene so you have witnessed the first sighting too. You know what Jesus said and did when he first appeared. At this point, you know more than Thomas did when it happened in real time. If you felt yourself admonishing Thomas, that’s because you have been moved to believe and you want to bring Thomas along just like his friends did.
Let’s suspend our judgments of Thomas for a moment and dig a little deeper into the story. Remember how our scene opened with the disciples anxiously “hunkered down” in a shelter behind locked doors? This locked shelter was designed protect the disciples from danger. It was designed to keep certain people out. Conversely, those same doors also kept the disciples confined inside and away from the world. How long do you think they would have stayed there? Think about our storm here for a moment. How long did you stay in your safe place? Did you stay there after the storm had passed, after the “all clear” had sounded? You couldn’t stay there forever could you? There came a time you had to leave the shelter and resume your life. But, what if you didn’t leave the shelter? Would it still be a shelter, or would it become a prison?
Yes, the locks on the doors of the disciples’ safe place provided shelter, but locks also imprisoned them. Jesus didn’t wait for them to let their guard down – he came and stood among them. He didn’t knock on the door. He didn’t pick the locks. He didn’t break down the door or come in through a window. He just appeared among them. It seems that physical barriers are not an impediment to the resurrected Jesus. He invaded their safe and secure hiding place to bring words of peace, empowerment and healing. “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” He commanded the disciples to get out from behind their locked doors and go into the world to share the good news.
But what about other kinds of barriers? Thomas was not holed up with the disciples. He was somewhere else, but he was hiding in a shelter too. It was an emotional and spiritual shelter. Thomas had been a passionate follower of Jesus. Earlier in John’s Gospel, Thomas is ready to follow Jesus to die with him. He really had invested his hopes and future on the belief that Jesus was the Christ of God – the long awaited Messiah. Thomas had probably seen false Messiahs in his lifetime – there were others who had made the claim before. But there was something different about Jesus. He was the real deal, or so Thomas and the other disciples thought. But like many of the false Messiahs before him, Jesus met a cruel and painful death by crucifixion. Thomas was in turmoil – he was heartbroken.
What happens when we are hurt like Thomas? What do you do when something or someone breaks your heart? Our immediate reaction is to take shelter from what hurts. It’s a natural reaction to want to protect yourself from pain. Thomas was hiding from his pain. He didn’t want his hopes destroyed again. He had believed but his belief carried a high price. But what happens after that initial reaction? Do we stay in that shelter indefinitely? It is tempting to try to find peace and heal ourselves by pulling back into emotional and spiritual shelters to protect ourselves. But staying there doesn’t bring peace and it doesn’t being real healing. Instead it turns our emotional and spiritual “safe havens” into prisons of isolation and loneliness.
Where have you hunkered down to hide from the hurts in your life? Have you been hurt in a relationship? Have family stresses caused you to pull away from others? Is it shame over something you’ve done or something someone did to you? What have your shelters become prisons that keep you isolated?
The good news is that God reaches out to us, even when we try to hide. Eight days later the disciples were again together in the house, and this time Thomas was with them. Thomas was not alone; he stayed in the company of believing friends. John tells us that although the doors were locked, it was no longer out of fear. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then Jesus says to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.” Jesus does not accuse Thomas of the dreaded “D-word” – “doubting.” I know that some translations have rendered the Greek to say “stop doubting,” but that isn’t what Jesus said. Jesus said, “Stop your unbelief” or “do not continue in your unbelief” – that’s different. Faithful people have doubts and questions – there’s nothing wrong with having doubts and questions. In fact, questioning is a sign of a healthy and lively faith. Thomas wasn’t doubting or questioning. He had lost his faith and was hiding in an emotional and spiritual shelter to guard against being hurt again. He was running the risk of his safe haven becoming a prison. But thanks be to God that even emotional and spiritual barriers are no match for Jesus. Jesus comes to Thomas, in his pain and unbelief, and offers Thomas his wounds. Jesus doesn’t just offer his resurrected self, he bypasses the barriers and meets Thomas in the midst of Thomas’ suffering and offers his wounds as proof – proof that he is real. “My Lord and my God!” Thomas shouts. In an instant, Thomas’ belief is restored and he makes the most incredible proclamation, “My Lord and my God!” He leaps past the other disciples in this statement of faith and is the first to call Jesus “God” – not “Son of God”, but “God.”
Jesus does the same for us. In the midst of our pain, he offers his wounds to us as a sign. A sign that Jesus has suffered the pain of being hurt by the world too. A sign of his understanding of the agony of your emotional and spiritual pain. He offers us his wounds through sacrament of his Body and Blood as a sign of his real presence with us. He also offers his wounds to us through the Christian community – his mystical body on earth. It’s no coincidence that when Thomas was with his friends, Jesus came to him. Likewise, Jesus comes to us through our Christian friends who share their wounds with us and, in doing so, help us see the reality of the resurrection.
Taking shelter when we get hurt is a natural and normal reaction, but God does not want us to turn our safe havens into prisons because we’ll never find true peace or healing there. But God does not abandon us to this isolation. He sends Jesus Christ to us. Christ comes to us today as he did to Thomas. Not to condemn or rebuke, but to bring peace and healing to your life so that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Amen.