2nd Sunday After Easter - Gospel & Message

2nd Sunday of Easter - Doubting Thomas

Holy Gospel John 20:19-31

19When 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.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So 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.”

  26A 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.” 27Then 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.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

  30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But 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.

---

Message

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

The empty tomb had shocked and troubled the disciples. They had spent the day trying to determine what the events of that Sunday meant. They knew one thing. Their lives would be changed and they were scared.

When we look at our gospel lesson the writer of John’s Gospel notes in verse nineteen that the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Though they had heard Mary’s report that she had seen the Lord, they didn’t know what to do with that news. They still feared the Jewish authorities for fear they might be eliminated because they were followers of Jesus. They may have even been afraid to see Jesus. After all, they had abandoned him after his arrest, and Peter had denied him.

It is hard to admit that fear can control our lives, and determine the direction of our lives much more than opportunities do. I think that in the current times in which we live we can most certainly let fear control us……fear of getting sick during this pandemic or fear a loved one will get sick. We may be experiencing fear of what life is going to be like when we are allowed to leave our homes again.

The natural thing to do when we are feeling anxious or threatened is to hunker down, to become focused on our own security especially when that is exactly what we are being told to do. The promise of this text is that Jesus cannot be stopped by our locked doors. Jesus comes to us as he came to the first disciples, right in the midst of our fear, pain, doubt, and confusion. He comes speaking peace, breathing into our anxious lives the breath of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus appears in the midst of his disciples. Locked doors are not a barrier to him. One would think that to overcome fear, Jesus would give the disciples courage. He does not. Instead, he gives them peace—shalom. The peace that Jesus gives is more than simply the absence of conflict. The peace comes in the person of the Holy Spirit. The peace that Jesus grants us is one caused by his presence. We are not alone, and Jesus has promised to be with us always until the end of the world.

We know what this peace is like:

Some of us have been facing a lot of uncertainty lately. But we can still experience a peace that passes all understanding because we know that God is with us. We are able to walk through these times because of God’s presence and the peace that it provides us.

Our peace is not connected to our personal strength. We certainly rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Neither is our peace dependent upon our intelligence, the depth of our faith, or the determination of our personality. Our peace is based on the love, grace, and presence of God. Many read this story of Jesus and his disciples and believe that the peace Jesus gives is for them alone. This simply is not true. God’s peace is for everyone. His peace and His presence is a gift to us all.

Once the disciples receive peace through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sends them out just as God the Father has sent them. This is a recurring pattern in John’s Gospel: the connection between heaven and earth. God the Father has sent Jesus to Earth to proclaim God’s message of love for humankind. Jesus now sends out his disciples to continue that ministry….We too are sent. We may not be sent far. And right now we may feel as though we aren’t being sent anywhere because of the stay at home order. But I have spoken to many people who are taking care of neighbors and friends by calling them, dropping off groceries or praying for them. It may not seem like much right now but it means more than you may ever know to someone. The important thing is that we understand that we are sent even if it is in a different way right now. We are on a mission wherever we are to share God’s love and grace and to bear witness to what God has done in our lives.

It’s okay to be fearful and it’s okay to doubt. We are invited, though, not to let that be the center of our attention and the controlling force in our lives. Jesus breaks down the doors that we hide behind, gives us the Holy Spirit and peace, and then sends us out to carry on his ministry just as he was sent out by God.

Amen.