Subject says it all; I would also like to nap. I can haz nap?
John 20:19-31; Revelation 1:4-8; Psalm 150; Acts 5:27-32
It’s the Second Sunday in the season of Easter, and usually one of the more poorly attended, as Sundays go. Chronologically, though, the events of this week’s gospel take place the evening of Easter Sunday. The women, specifically Mary Magdalene, had gone to the tomb, saw that the tomb was empty, and ran to tell Peter and John about it. John and Peter then each ran to the tomb, and saw the burial linens folded up, but no Jesus, and they started to understand that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then Mary, staying behind, had an encounter with a man who she at first thought was the gardener, only to quickly realize it was the risen Jesus. She then went and told the other disciples what she saw.
Even then most of the disciples still didn’t quite understand that Jesus had risen from the dead, or at least were still trying to figure it out. Basically they were hiding out in a room somewhere trying to stay out of the way of the Jewish leaders, who, if you might remember in Matthew’s gospel, already assumed that Jesus’ disciples would steal Jesus’ body, so you can understand a bit why they’d be hiding – the disciples would be first on the “wanted” list.
So as part of the hiding, they locked to doors of wherever it was they were. As far as I’m concerned, this is a very good idea. But all of a sudden Jesus showed up, said, “peace be with you,” and showed them his hands and side. By this time the disciples had figured out that he really had been risen from the dead.
Well, almost all of them had: Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus showed up, so just like the rest of them, he didn’t believe it at first. That’s important for us to remember. Thomas may not have believed right away, but no one else did either. Remember from last week? They all thought the women were crazy. It took Thomas seeing Jesus to believe that he had risen from the dead, leading to Jesus saying, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
It’s important to point out that, as of yet, only the people who have seen have actually believed. Thomas didn’t, the other disciples didn’t, about the only ones who believed before they actually saw Jesus were the women, but they had a lot of other hints that Jesus was alive.
Then we read John’s own purpose for writing his gospel: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John’s gospel is written for those people who hadn’t seen the risen Jesus – in fact, many of the eyewitnesses to Jesus death and resurrection were getting well on in years by time his gospel was written (late in the 1st Century) and many had already “fallen asleep”, to use Paul’s favorite euphemism.
So how is it that “doubting” Thomas gets such a bad reputation? Why is it so bad to question something that, by all human reasoning, makes absolutely no sense? I’ll argue quite simply that it’s not, based in large part on Jesus’ reaction to Thomas. When Jesus appears again to the disciples a week later, he immediately confronts Thomas and says, “Here you go; look at my hands and my side. I’m alive.” He doesn’t chastise Thomas for doubting; he doesn’t tell him he doesn’t have enough faith and he just needs to try harder. No, Jesus acknowledges Thomas’ doubt and answers it exactly as Thomas asked to be answered.
We all have times when we doubt God, or when we have questions that we feel can’t be answered. And you know what? It’s perfectly alright. Look at the people who God has used: most of the “heroes of faith” that get listed off in Hebrews – people like, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, Gideon, Barak, and others – struggled with doubt that God would do what He he would do.
That’s why Jesus says to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” God knows it’s hard to believe and trust in things that we can’t see clearly, and he’s prepared for that. So don’t be afraid to doubt or ask questions, it’s just part of the Christian life.