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A Sermon Delivered at First Christian
Church Stockton When
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.”
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the
disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again,
“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.” But
Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with
them when Jesus came. So 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.” A 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.” Then 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe a that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Standing here today is new ground for me. I have never been in the pulpit the Sunday following Easter. I am usually trying to recover from Holy Week by taking a weeks vacation. So today I stand before you like a beat down dog, like a wet cat, like a coalminer who has been down in the mountain a bit too long. I’m sure our musicians from last Sunday feel the same way; they played at both the Sunrise and regular service, and they did a marvelous job, and today they get to rest their fingers and lips. For the early Disciples, Easter was not as spectacular as ours. No flutes, trumpets, guitars, oboes, organs, no special music. But it was a long day, and so today, in our reading from John, we go back to Easter, and we meet the Disciples back in someone’s home, the doors all locked, and it is evening. The faithful community of followers had re-gathered after Mary Magdalene had told them that she had seen the resurrected Jesus. Jesus appears to them, but we do not know how he entered through the locked doors. Aware that his presence might scare them, Jesus shows them that he is not a ghost by presenting them the evidence of the holes in his hands and side. His first words to them were “Peace be with you”. Personally, I think that Jesus should have used this moment to scare the living daylights out of his followers. Had they not deserted him in the garden? Didn’t Peter deny knowing Jesus three times? And here they are, huddled together as cowards, fearful that their lives might be next. It seems as if this would be the perfect time for a hellfire and damnation sermon followed by an alter call. Instead, Jesus meekly says “Peace be with you”. At that moment, John tells us that the followers of Jesus rejoiced. Is that not what we do here in church every Sunday? The disciples are gathered, Jesus is present, the peace of Christ is exchanged, and the people are filled with the Holy Spirit and we rejoice. For John, the church begins on Easter evening, not waiting 50 days until Pentecost. The church begins when the believers gathered, are met by the risen Christ, sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit is given, and the disciples are sent into the world to proclaim the good news! The disciples are commissioned by Christ and empowered by the Spirit to continue the work of Jesus on earth. This is what it is to be the church. The church has a healing message to tell to the world, and the message is that Jesus lives. And because he lives he can breathe new life into dry bones, broken lives, open wounds, diseased bodies. His peace has the power to heal. And like today, not every one of the followers of Jesus was present on that first Sunday gathering. Apparently Thomas had other things to do. His camel may have broken down, he may have overslept, or maybe he was out fishing with his buddies. Maybe relatives were in town for Passover, or maybe he was still feeling down and depressed, but John doesn’t tell us about why Thomas was the lone follower missing. He may have just been out buying groceries for his cowardly friends. When Thomas returned, the followers who had witnessed Jesus’ appearing were unable to convince Thomas that they had seen the risen Christ. “Seeing is believing”, said Thomas. So a week later, our good friend, our closest counterpart of the disciples we affectionately call Doubting Thomas, has the opportunity to be confronted by the Crucified and Risen One. The disciples are still huddled together, but this time it does not appear that the disciples have locked the doors, but only shut them. It took seven days for the property committee to determine that the doors of the church should still be shut, but at least they had removed the locks. Things have always moved slowly in the church! Thomas is like all the other followers who did not believe Mary Magdalene’s account that she had seen the risen Lord. Unfortunately for Thomas, he is the only one who got stuck with the tag “Doubting Thomas”. But it does not take long for Thomas to recognize that God is fully revealed in Jesus. Thomas proclaims “My Lord and My God.” The writer of the gospel of John echoes back to the beginning of the book where he states “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” Why does Thomas make such a bold statement of faith? Because Christ has fully offered himself to Thomas. But one does not need to be a first generation disciple and witness of the resurrection to believe in Jesus. An experience as powerful as Thomas touching the wounds of Jesus is available to us every time we hear the gospel narrative told. God is alive in Jesus. God is made known in the man called Jesus. He cares for each and every one of his sheep, even the ones who doubt. The breath of God still moves among us, resting on our hearts, bringing us inner peace, and healing us of our brokenness. We can believe what our eyes have not seen, and in believing we can experience life to its fullest. While I am impressed that Jesus has the ability to walk through closed doors, I am more impressed by his ability to open up locked minds and hearts. And while I am always overjoyed when I hear that one whom we have prayed for has been healed of a disease, I am much more delighted to hear that those who were once far from God have experienced divine closeness. I know many stories of how God’s healing peace has wiorked in the lives of individuals. A few years ago I performed a funeral for a nine year old boy named Jesse who was born with cerebral palsy. His life was one of great difficulty, never being able to speak or walk or even feed himself. His family had once been close to God and the church, but over the years had drifted away as many of us do. Jesse’s death was a tremendous blow to his parents and his little sister. The couple grew apart as the husband drowned his sorrows in alcohol and the mother filled up her hours with work and going back to college. Eventually the couple divorced. In time the father entered counseling, began following a 12 step program, and has since turned his life around. The mother became active in church, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, serving as head of a committee, and leading worship on Sunday mornings. Many times I would see Carol crying in church as her wounds were opened and God’s healing presence moved in her life. Through the death of her son Carol has found new life. There is still a pain in her heart as she misses her son, but she also knows that Jesse rests securely in the arms of a loving and gentle God. Next month I will have the pleasure of presiding over her wedding to a man she met in church, a man who was more of a skeptic than any Doubting Thomas, a man whose life has been touched by Carol and by God. God has breathed her healing peace in their lives, making them whole. May the peace of Christ bring healing in your life.
Michael Malone
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