The Second Sunday of Easter - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 John 20:19-31

In John Irving’s novel A Prayer for Owen Meany there is a dialogue between two friends, Owen Meany and John, the book's narrator. Owen has a strong faith in God. In the book, John has conversations with Owen about his faith and what it means to believe. To better explain his faith in God, Owen points to a nearby statue of Mary Magdalene. The sun is setting, and soon, it is so dark that the statue can’t be seen. Owen asks John if the statue is still there. John answers that the statue is still there.

The dialogue continues: “You have no doubt that she’s there?” Owen nagged at me. “Of course, I have no doubt!” I said. “But you can’t see her – you could be wrong,” he said. “No, I’m not wrong – she’s there, I know she’s there!” I yelled at him. “You absolutely know she’s there – even though you can’t see her?” he asked me. “Yes,” I screamed. “Well, now you know how I feel about God,” said Owen. “I can’t see God – but I absolutely know God is there!”[1]

Have you ever had this conversation with someone, or perhaps with yourself? I can’t see God – but I absolutely know God is there. Or maybe the question, “If I can’t see God, how do I know God is there?”

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. It’s been a lot for Jesus’ disciples to take in. It’s not like Jesus didn’t tell them exactly what was going to happen: his arrest, crucifixion, his rising from death. Every Sunday after Easter, we get this story about Thomas. “Doubting Thomas,” as we like to call him, and chuckle as we say it. “Doubting Thomas” because he didn’t believe what his friends told him, that Jesus had risen from the dead. Isn’t it interesting that of the remaining disciples, all the men and the women, Jesus’ core group who traveled with him for the past three years, everyone except for Thomas had seen with their eyes? They had evidence that Jesus was, in fact, alive. But none of them believed it until they saw it for themselves.

The four Gospels tell of meetings others had with Jesus or when they had personally seen the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene sees Jesus while she is alone at the tomb in John’s gospel. She mistook him for a gardener until he said her name. In Matthew’s gospel, the women meet Jesus along the road after they have left the empty tomb, where he tells them to go tell the others. In Luke, we hear how two men meet Jesus while walking along the road to Emmaus. Peter gets a private meeting with Jesus in Luke. In John’s gospel, today, all the disciples except for Thomas met with Jesus behind locked doors in Jerusalem. They even felt his breath on them.

In their excitement, all these disciples who have seen Jesus and met with him in various ways tell Thomas what they have witnessed, yet he wants proof. He wants proof before he can believe it. This remarkable story that he’s heard Jesus tell has come true; almost too true to believe. And for that, we call him “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas hadn’t touched, seen, or heard Jesus. Thomas had not seen the empty tomb. He had not felt Jesus’ breath on his face. Because he wanted to experience the presence of Jesus to believe, we call him, “Doubting Thomas.”

How many of us are Thomas? As humans, we are trained to verify the truth by trusting our senses and experiencing things firsthand. Being able to see, touch, and smell makes a strong impression on us. These things become evidence of what we are testing. As humans, we crave the truth. We want the answers. We want to know, “Did this really happen?” and “Where’s the proof?” Jesus invites this type of examination. He didn’t berate Thomas or chastise him for not believing. He walked in the door and went right to work on Thomas. Jesus met him and honored his curiosity. He told Thomas to touch and see. Put your finger where the nails have pierced my flesh. “Do not doubt but believe” (John 20:27).

We don’t know if Thomas touched the wounds at Jesus' invitation. John simply tells us that after Jesus spoke to him, Thomas called him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27).

Frederick Bruner writes, “The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the others.”[2] After Jesus has gone and the disciples and other witnesses of Jesus have long gone, is where our faith story begins – yours and mine. Along with billions of others before us and who knows how many after us, it’s in Thomas’ doubt that our faith is strengthened. In his doubt that Thomas also asked the hard questions that we, too, ask. Thomas was not a pushover who would believe just because people told him they had an encounter with Jesus. He was a skeptic who was eventually overwhelmed by the truth. The truth stood firm.

After Thomas says he believes, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:29). These are relevant words today. For those of us who trust the Good News, even without physical sight, we are blessed. We trust the Good News through the Holy Spirit, the scripture, and the witness of others. Jesus permits us to look around our world and to discover God. He gives us permission to reach out with our faith and to believe. Thomas strengthens our faith because his doubt tested the truth, and the truth stood firm. He shows us that even when we cannot see Jesus with our eyes, we can trust the witness of those who did. Jesus calls that kind of trust a blessing.

We read the final verse in John’s Gospel this morning. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30). These stories have been written down so that we may believe. Our faith isn’t built on wishful thinking but on the living testimony of those who saw, touched, and proclaimed the risen Christ.

These words and stories of Jesus should move us from questioning to believing and from doubt to faith. I began with Owen Meany pointing to the statue of Mary Magdalene — and asking, even in the darkness, “Do you believe she is still there?” Today, the Gospel asks us the same thing: Do you believe, even when you cannot see? Like Thomas, we may wrestle with doubt. Like Mary at the tomb, we may struggle to recognize Jesus at first. But in the Good News the witnesses have spoken, and the signs have been given, so that we may believe — and in believing, have life. Amen.

 

 

 

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[1] John K. Stendahl, “Second Sunday of Easter,” in Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 397.

[2] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 1187.