Every year, on the second Sunday of Easter, we beat up on poor Thomas, and every year I feel sorry for him. Poor "Doubting" Thomas – in my opinion Thomas has always gotten far more criticism than he deserved.
Who was Thomas? Ed Marqwardt calls him " Thomas the recovering skeptic." But Thomas, as we always remember on this Sunday, is a complex character, to say the least. In John 14, when Jesus was preparing his disciples for the crucifixion, Thomas is the one who asks, "Jesus, where are you going?" Thomas is the disciple who wouldn’t say he understood when he didn’t understand. In John 11, when Jesus was going back to Bethany to bring his friend Lazarus out of the grave, the disciples knew that Jesus was putting Himself into harm's way. But Thomas was the only disciple who said: "Let us go to die with him." Thomas was the disciple who went 100% when he DID understand. In poker terms, Thomas was an "all-in" kind of disciple.
And yet Thomas was the recovering skeptic when it came to the resurrection. But recovering skeptics are a lot more common than we might think. Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, You come to us offering peace and forgiveness, and we ask for proof. Give us the passion of Thomas, the questing heart of Thomas, but also give us the strength and faith to join Thomas in his confession, for You are indeed our Lord and our God. Amen.
"I'll believe it when I see it!" This is the catchphrase of the skeptic. "Too good to be true" is another. And my all-time favorite, which appears on the internet as TANSTAAFL "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Skeptics are the reasonable ones among us who won't buy in until they've been completely convinced of the truth of a proposition. But Thomas is a RECOVERING skeptic. He has seen Jesus and his response is simple: "MY LORD AND MY GOD!"
"I see it when I believe it" is now the cry of the recovering skeptic. This is revelation: Thomas has finally seen Jesus in the way He intends to be seen; not as just some teacher, one of many prophets, a spiritual guru, but "MY LORD AND MY GOD!"
In John's Gospel, the difference between light and darkness is not the difference between faith and doubt, as some have suggested. The difference between light and darkness is the difference between faith and fear. Doubting Thomas is not the problem in John 20: the fearful disciples huddled behind locked doors in the upper room are the problem.
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light", says the prophet. We do not see Jesus correctly until we see him through the eyes of faith. We do not hear the Word of God until we hear it as a Word that comes from the lips of Jesus Himself. When we believe, when we confess with one another that Jesus is our Lord and our God, that everything He says is true, then we see Him as He intends to be seen and we hear Him as He intends to be heard. Not only that, but if seeing and hearing Jesus is believing, then seeing the world through Jesus' eyes and hearing it through Jesus' ears is believing, too.
"Peace be with you," Jesus says. When Jesus talks about peace, he means a different kind of peace. "Peace I leave with you," Jesus says, "I do not give to you as the world gives…If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. Because I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you…I have said these things to you so that IN ME you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world."
When we see the world through the eyes of faith, we know it is not as it should be. The world has been stained and broken by sin and death. We see neighbor turning against neighbor. We see marriages falling apart because the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. We see children around the world starving while overweight people toss out food and hit the drive-thru at McDonald's. We see sin parading itself as if it were virtuous, and all the while devouring our willing hearts and minds. Worst of all, we see the fear in ourselves because we know that try as we might, we are captive to the same forces of sin and death that hold the world in bondage, and we can do nothing to free ourselves.
When we tell the world it is bound by sin and death, the world is offended – because it hates the truth that Jesus has revealed to those who believe in him. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you," Jesus says, and as we hear this word, we remember: the Father sent Jesus into the world to forgive sins, to suffer for the sake of the world – and we are sent to do the same. When we see the world through Jesus' eyes, we see that we are sent to give ourselves to the world as Jesus gave himself, fully and completely, with no reservation or fear. In John 14, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: love one another. We remember that commandment on Maundy Thursday, translated from the Latin mandatum: commandment. "By this everyone will know you are my disciples," Jesus says, "if you have love for one another."
When the world says, "But those people are sinners," our response must be, "Yes, and in loving them we hope to call them out of their sin into new life." When the world says, "But we aren't sinners," our response must be, "No, you are sinners, but because Christ has forgiven our sins and called us into new life, so we forgive your sin and call you into new life, too."
Jesus did signs among his disciples so they would believe, but I would argue that they didn't yet see Jesus through believing eyes, even in this passage from John. When did they see him through believing eyes? I believe that came in the time of Acts – when the church was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to live in the name of Jesus Christ. In our reading from the book of Acts today, we hear how the early church was given great power for testimony in the name of Jesus and great grace for their daily life. They shared all things because in the name of Christ all of life is a gift to be shared. Having the Holy Spirit within themselves, they saw and heard the world through the eyes and ears of Jesus, and they knew the great grace that comes with life in the name of Jesus. Because the apostles saw the world through the eyes of faith, they knew that the good news of Jesus Christ was too good to be a secret. So they spread the word and could not keep silent. As the years went by and as more and more people came to believe, they, too, found themselves swept up by the vision Jesus gave to their eyes and ears, and they began to believe that Jesus was indeed their Lord and their God. Finally, the day came when those who had seen and heard Jesus personally were all dead and gone – and yet the vision did not die, but increased, and more and more people came to see and hear and believe that Jesus is Lord and God of all.
"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe," Jesus says. This is not a condemnation of Thomas for his skepticism – this is a word for those who come after Thomas to see and hear, that we may remember that we are as blessed as Thomas the recovering skeptic. True, we have not seen Jesus with our physical eyes. But the apostle who wrote this gospel wrote it for us, that we may be blessed as Jesus said. Not only "come to believe," but "continue to believe." Anyone who has sincerely tried to be a follower of Jesus knows that it's not an easy thing to do. Instead of a gradual climb of holiness, where every step leads to a higher degree of sanctification, we find that following Jesus leads us down a narrow path that has bends and curves and hills and valleys. Like the old song goes, "Sometime the load is heavy, and sometimes the road is long, and sometimes, Lord, this heart of mine is not so very strong." But all along the road of faith, in all our moments of darkness and light, fear and faith, we have a good and loving Savior who submits Himself time and again to our need for reassurance and faith. Even in our darkest and most fear-filled anxieties, the One whom we confess is our Lord and our God is willing to come into the locked rooms of our hearts and give us His peace. Thus we see His wounds. Thus we hear His voice. Thus we come to believe.
Unfortunately, we will not always trust in Jesus. Our sin and our death and most of all our fear are fighting a losing battle, but they are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to all their lies and manipulations. But Jesus has words for us to see and hear in those hard times. Jesus says, "So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. On that day, you will ask nothing of Me."
When Thomas saw Jesus again, his skeptical heart rejoiced and he confessed the words we all long to say in our hearts: "My Lord and my God!" In this Resurrection season, may you remember that seeing and hearing Jesus is as close as the people around you, who have all been given life in Jesus' name and live to be the words and hands of Jesus in the world.
· You are no longer captive to your sins – you have been set free to love one another
· You are no longer captive to your fears – the peace of Christ is given to you for protection from all that threatens you
· You are no longer captive to your skepticism – do not doubt, but believe.
We have all we need when we see and hear Him through the eyes and ears of faith, and through seeing and hearing Him, we believe in Him and have life in his name. "My Lord and my God!" – give us faith to see and to hear You. Amen.
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