EASTER

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: EASTER
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 2, 2001


TEXT: John 20:19-31 – “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

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

ISSUE: The passage is in two related parts. There is the commissioning of the Apostles to assume the authority of Jesus and to establish the church. There is also the reluctance of Thomas to believe. Yet in spite of his skepticism he is give the grace of Christ Jesus to believe. As a late comer, like ourselves, Thomas is incorporated into the commissioning. Again, there is a kind of follow up to the Story of the Loving Father (Prodigal Son), as the frightened and wayward disciples are called to apostleship and given full authority.

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The Gospel of John wastes no time in getting right down to the commissioning of the disciples of Jesus to begin to be the church in the world. In the modern church we think of the commissioning of the disciples as that event called Pentecost, which occurs later in the year, 50 days after Easter and/or Passover. John’s commissioning story will be read again on Pentecost, but unlike Luke’s story of the fire and wind, Jesus appears almost immediately after the resurrection to several of his disciples gathered in locked room in fear themselves of the authorities.
To this point in John’s Gospel, there is no experience of the Risen Lord, except for his appearance to Mary Magdalene. She had found the tomb empty, and told Peter and John, the beloved disciple. They find the tomb empty but have no immediate experience of the resurrection. Mary herself encounters Jesus in the garden, thinking he is the gardener. She then tells the disciples what has happened, but women were not considered to be credible witnesses in these days. Thus, Jesus makes the appearance to a tired and frightened band of disciples who have locked themselves into a room. In spite of the lock doors, Jesus appears to them, showing his hands and feet, his crucifixion wounds, and bringing them peace.
This appearance is curios. Jesus appears to them in spite of the locked doors, which would indicate some kind of a mystical experience. However, he is also intent upon their examining his body and its wounds. This was the early church’s way of saying that the Jesus crucified is one and the same with the Risen Lord. He is for real, and the body of Christ lives. It is not a mere ghost story.
The appearance is coupled with the commissioning of the disciples. Jesus appears and breathes on them saying, “As the father has sent me, so I send you.” Note the urgency here. The whole image of this encounter is Jesus coming to his disciples who are their selves locked-in, that is to say they are entombed their selves in fear. For all they know the great hope that Jesus had brought, his movement, his hope for the world is dead. What you have here is a renewing, reawakening, renewal of hope. Women are the first to encounter the resurrected Lord. Women are the life givers and the child bearers of new life. The locked room, perhaps a symbol of the womb, and certainly a tomb, is broken open by Jesus who gives to his disciples new life, hope, and a charge. He breathes on them the Holy Spirit, which is of course what happened in Genesis to bring Adam and Eve to life. A whole new resurrection and new beginning has begun. Christ has risen, and his disciples are risen and commissioned to carry on the work of raising and resurrecting the sinful broken, destitute and despairing folk of the world. They are given authority to forgive sin, to wipe it away, to restore the world, and if they don’t, Who will? Carry on brothers!
Now while this takes place, Thomas is not present, but appears on the scene later. Thomas frequently known as the doubter was in fact one of the really strong disciples of our Lord, according to John’s Gospel account. When Jesus is going to Jerusalem at the death of Lazarus, Thomas declares, “Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him.” As a disciple, Thomas is no slouch. However, the disciples tell him of the resurrection, but Thomas is skeptical. “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.” Remember that the Gospel of John was written last of all the gospels. By the time John is telling his account of the resurrection, some 90 years or so after the events, all of the disciples and apostles were themselves no deceased. John was also dealing with a very skeptical culture of people. People lied considerably to protect their honor. Thomas is a representative of that culture. In spite of the fact of his skepticism, The Risen Lord appears and shows him the wounds, the reality, and John declares a new beatitude for a world that has no immediate apostolic witnesses to the resurrection: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” Another way of saying this is “Those who have not seen and yet believe, trust, place their loyalty in Jesus Christ as their living Lord shall be held in great honor and high esteem.”
What is happening in this story of the commissioning of the disciples, and the calling of Thomas to believe and trust, is again so much like the Loving Father with the Prodigal Sons. On the one hand you have those who have run away, and even betrayed the Lord, and have locked their selves up in fear. Christ comes like a loving Father and calls them out and restores their authority to be his own. He gives the authority, like the signet ring, new clothes, and shoes on their feet. Get going in your renewed ministry with me. Then there is Thomas, who just can’t get it, can’t believe. It’s too good to be true that a father could extend such grace. Yet the grace is given, the undeserved calling and the high esteem to join him, and enter into the joy of being raised with Christ and in his service is fully extended, and the invitation to enter his new Kingdom is made wholly available.
We also live in an age of skepticism. Our skepticism is not based so much on honor in American culture as it is on science. People today like scientific proof for things. It’s hard to believe that a person who was crucified on a cross ever gets up and walks around again, especially when you know the full biological implications of a crucifixion. Sophisticated people are not comfortable with ghost stories, which is what some people think of in terms of the resurrection.
What is the meaning of this resurrection event? It intends to stress the reality of life with all its difficult moments, but at the same time with the hope or rebirth, renewal, and hope. Just as the darkness cannot put out the light, the light prevails. The love of and the undeserved grace of God will not be extinguished. You can count on it. Is there suffering, evil, and pain in the world? You bet there is. There is a great deal of hardship, sickness unto death, incivility, the infliction of pain and suffering on human beings by other human beings. Who knew that any more than Jesus himself? Yet we saw and see in him what a real human being who is a child of God looks like. He is totally absorbed in that world, but faithfully served. He in his love is raised up, and held in the hand of God that all may see his love and forgiveness and his plan for a Kingdom, or Domain that is God’s way, God’s truth, God’s way of life. He was compassionately absorbed in his mission, and raised on high for all to see. He lives to breathe the Holy Spirit of God upon us. Battered by life’s disappointments is it hard to get it, to grasp the miracle, the hope? Sure it is. Is it hard to hold on to? Sure it is. Yet out of the darkness, the cold, the despair the springing to life comes again and again.
Blessed are they who having not seen, nor have seen witnesses to the resurrection, who have known their share of pain and suffering, who can still trust and be loyal to God and God’s benevolent grace. The resurrection of Jesus is neither about science nor blind believing. It is about trust, loyalty, to a way of life that comes from God, where That which is fallen is raised up, renewed, and forgiven, and where That which is old is made new, and where no one escapes the possibility of being in the Hands of a compassionate and loving God.