Last week we spent a lot of time talking about the resurrection of Jesus and making the claim that we are a people of the resurrection! This week we are going to spend a little time figuring out just what that means, and we’re going to find that we are not alone in our doubts and fears – nor are we alone in our deep faith in the active presence of God.
Having said, “doubts,” you might assume that I am talking about Thomas, the darling disciple of everyone who ever wanted some hard evidence of the active presence of God. Well, this is certainly his time to shine. It does feel good to say that even the disciples had a tough time understanding what God was doing through Jesus – and they were there with him – but I think a closer examination will show that this story is not as much about Thomas as we might want it to be.
Ultimately, this story is about Jesus. Thomas gets a bad wrap because Jesus shames him for needing to see and blesses those who do not see and yet believe, but it’s important to remember that this entire gospel has been about belief. From the beginning, it has been about belief in Jesus as the revelation of the One who hung the stars and set creation into motion and also came to us to reset and restore creation to be as God intended in the first place.
That is an interesting notion during the weekend in which Earth Day is celebrated in many communities, including our own, and it should probably be noted that in the time of Jesus, and in the writing of John’s Gospel, the idea of the earth as a biosphere that we manage was not something that had really been considered. Stewardship of the earth was certainly woven into their way of life. The impact of overgrazing was something they would have understood. Roman viaducts and other ways to manage water were beginning to change their relationship with the earth but rain and crop yields were still understood as belonging to the providence of God.
As for you and me, we have never lived in a time in which the impact of the development of human society can simply be overturned and returned to nature without our involvement or some cataclysmic event that removes the human factor from the planet. Whole species have become extinct. Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, and of course, we know what is happening here to our disappearing wetlands.
What message, then, does Christ’s resurrection have for us today? Is it simply to be kind and recycle? Is it to pray for the second coming to restore all that is broken into a new heaven and new earth that is not dependent on fossil fuels and riddled with plastic? Does his resurrection appearance have anything to do with any of this? Perhaps, if we look into the text, we might see that the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus touches all things, but let us see about that together.
The story we have received follows the story of Peter and the Beloved Disciple running to the tomb to see that Jesus is not there (John 20:1-18). Mary, who told them about it in the first place, also went with them but stuck around and ran into a couple of angels and this guy that turns out to be Jesus. She goes back and tells them that they just missed Jesus and that Jesus told her to tell them that he is ascending to God the Father (20:17). The context of the word we translate as “ascending to” is really more about entering or going into, and in this way we can understand that Jesus is telling them that he is, in a sense, returning to God from whom he had previously departed.
This is what Jesus has been saying all along: John 10:30 “I and God the Father are one.”; John 14:9 “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”; John 17:21 Jesus prayed, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Whether they have believed this or not the disciples have heard this all before, so let’s be clear: the central element to John’s gospel, apart from Jesus as the revelation of the active presence of God, is belief in Jesus as the active presence of God – which is certainly what is happening in our passage.
John 20:19 kicks off with the disciples hiding for fear of the Jewish authorities, and for good reason. They just publicly executed the guy they followed into Jerusalem in the middle of a very public parade. Jesus comes and stands among them. It doesn’t really matter how he got in. He was just there. God has a funny way of being in places that we expect God to stay out of. Psalm 139:7 says, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”, so it should come as no surprise that Jesus is there.
Then Jesus does and says some remarkable things in vv 19-23. First, he says, “Peace be with you.” Remember that all of them fled, and at least one of them publicly denied even knowing him, so Jesus starts by offering forgiveness, and peace – not as the world gives, but as only Jesus can. Then he offers proof of his wounds and breathes on them with the Holy Spirit.
As weird as that sounds, it goes back to the idea of the newly created order in Christ. This is the first day of the week. On the first day of creation the ruah, or breath, of God hovered over the waters of chaos and began to create order. Jesus breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit, and he tells them that they have the authority to forgive sins or retain them – to create order amongst the chaos of sin.
Over the centuries, this idea has become more about forgiving and condemning, but according to Craig R. Koester of Luther Seminary, that really isn’t what Jesus was talking about. In the Working Preacher podcast, he states that the word we translate as “retain” might be better thought of as held to account. “There’s an interplay,” he says “between the idea of release and holding that is more about an accountability that allows us to move toward relationships that restore community where there is brokenness.”
We also see it in Luke 11:4 when the disciples ask him how to pray and he says, “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” in Mathew 6:15 Jesus says, “but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” As far as John’s Gospel goes, this is actually the only verse that even mentions forgiveness because again, the importance here is on belief in Jesus as the author of life and the one who offers life in abundance.
Ok, now we fast forward a week and we finally get to Thomas. The thing about Thomas is that he has actually already had a substantial role. In John 11, when the disciples were telling Jesus not to go to see about Lazerus (if he’s asleep he will wake on his own – nope, he’s dead), Thomas was the one in v16 who said, “Let us also go [with Jesus to Jerusalem], that we may die with him.” After they get there he is of course present for the raising of Lazarus, so the idea of a physical resurrection is not something that he has not experienced yet this story of Jesus coming and going seemed too unreal to him. It may not have been that he doubted so much as the idea of Jesus appearing and disappearing just did not connect with his expectations.
For that matter, we have no idea why he was not hiding in fear with the others when Jesus first arrived. Perhaps it is because he was not hiding, but seeking to live into the faith that he had already received. All we know from the text is that Jesus came back for him, but also to make a point for us. V29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” was not written to condemn Thomas so much as it was to invite the new community of believers to understand that the resurrection of Jesus – and the return of Jesus to the fullness of God – has made a way for all of us to receive the Holy Spirit of God!
Here’s where the resurrection of Jesus comes back to the restoration of creation – and not just the politics of environmentalism, but the restoration of our relationship between God and one another and all the earth – Jesus returned to the wounded and made a point to show them his wounds, whether they asked for it or not. He did it so that he could begin with forgiveness and then charge them with the same task so that we might know what it means to live into the resurrection.
Resurrected living, apart from the hope in eternal life where all is reconciled, means living into the woundedness all around us. It means that we are affected by the good news of the resurrection. It means that we have something to hope for in this life, even as we have something to hope for in the life to come. The question of the gospel is not only one of belief, but one of responsible living now that we do believe.
Unfortunately, the disciples actually take a little more prodding than just seeing Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit, and we see this in chapter 21. Chapter 20 ends by telling us that so many more signs and wonders were performed that whole books could be written, but all we need to know is that Jesus rose so that we may believe in him as the active presence of God and that we may be transformed by it and invite others into that same transformative life of faith.
Some of us may hear that and ask ourselves, “After such a time as we have had as a congregation, what do we do now?” Maybe you even feel a bit like the disciples, who experienced tragedy and loss and had their worldview shaken. Some may even think that this story sounds like Jesus pulling parlor tricks and John sugar coating it for those that weren’t there so that we might be fooled and believe in some fairy tale.
In fact, the real challenge of this story is what to do with it if you have heard it before and still find yourself doubting the resurrection of Jesus. All I know to say to that is that followers of the way of Jesus who believe in him as the revelation of the active presence of God have demonstrated for centuries that God is active and present and working to bring about restoration and reconciliation through communities of faith like this one. There is certainly some truth and hard evidence about God in that. That’s not to say that the church has not also been responsible for horrible abuses over the years. It is to say that we have been given a legacy of divine and human activity that is constantly seeking to transform the world into a more perfect reflection of grace and mercy and truth.
Come to think of it, in this congregation, we’ve been shouting Easter joy throughout storms that devour and a pandemic that divides and through crisis after crisis. We’ve never stopped delivering meals to homebound community members, and we’re about to send ambassadors of the church of Jesus Christ to Cuba! We are pretty imperfect as individuals and even as a collective group. We are, as we say in the Reformed tradition, forgiven sinners seeking wholeness together.
Come what may, there is one thing we can hold onto for hope and meaning: through the resurrection of Jesus, we are offered a life of abundance. This means a life of forgiveness and restoration that does not neglect accountability but moves us toward the reconciliation of all creation.
I pray that it may be so with me and with you and with all who may hear and see the gospel we proclaim with the days that we have been given – and to God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
Having said, “doubts,” you might assume that I am talking about Thomas, the darling disciple of everyone who ever wanted some hard evidence of the active presence of God. Well, this is certainly his time to shine. It does feel good to say that even the disciples had a tough time understanding what God was doing through Jesus – and they were there with him – but I think a closer examination will show that this story is not as much about Thomas as we might want it to be.
Ultimately, this story is about Jesus. Thomas gets a bad wrap because Jesus shames him for needing to see and blesses those who do not see and yet believe, but it’s important to remember that this entire gospel has been about belief. From the beginning, it has been about belief in Jesus as the revelation of the One who hung the stars and set creation into motion and also came to us to reset and restore creation to be as God intended in the first place.
That is an interesting notion during the weekend in which Earth Day is celebrated in many communities, including our own, and it should probably be noted that in the time of Jesus, and in the writing of John’s Gospel, the idea of the earth as a biosphere that we manage was not something that had really been considered. Stewardship of the earth was certainly woven into their way of life. The impact of overgrazing was something they would have understood. Roman viaducts and other ways to manage water were beginning to change their relationship with the earth but rain and crop yields were still understood as belonging to the providence of God.
As for you and me, we have never lived in a time in which the impact of the development of human society can simply be overturned and returned to nature without our involvement or some cataclysmic event that removes the human factor from the planet. Whole species have become extinct. Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, and of course, we know what is happening here to our disappearing wetlands.
What message, then, does Christ’s resurrection have for us today? Is it simply to be kind and recycle? Is it to pray for the second coming to restore all that is broken into a new heaven and new earth that is not dependent on fossil fuels and riddled with plastic? Does his resurrection appearance have anything to do with any of this? Perhaps, if we look into the text, we might see that the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus touches all things, but let us see about that together.
The story we have received follows the story of Peter and the Beloved Disciple running to the tomb to see that Jesus is not there (John 20:1-18). Mary, who told them about it in the first place, also went with them but stuck around and ran into a couple of angels and this guy that turns out to be Jesus. She goes back and tells them that they just missed Jesus and that Jesus told her to tell them that he is ascending to God the Father (20:17). The context of the word we translate as “ascending to” is really more about entering or going into, and in this way we can understand that Jesus is telling them that he is, in a sense, returning to God from whom he had previously departed.
This is what Jesus has been saying all along: John 10:30 “I and God the Father are one.”; John 14:9 “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”; John 17:21 Jesus prayed, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Whether they have believed this or not the disciples have heard this all before, so let’s be clear: the central element to John’s gospel, apart from Jesus as the revelation of the active presence of God, is belief in Jesus as the active presence of God – which is certainly what is happening in our passage.
John 20:19 kicks off with the disciples hiding for fear of the Jewish authorities, and for good reason. They just publicly executed the guy they followed into Jerusalem in the middle of a very public parade. Jesus comes and stands among them. It doesn’t really matter how he got in. He was just there. God has a funny way of being in places that we expect God to stay out of. Psalm 139:7 says, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”, so it should come as no surprise that Jesus is there.
Then Jesus does and says some remarkable things in vv 19-23. First, he says, “Peace be with you.” Remember that all of them fled, and at least one of them publicly denied even knowing him, so Jesus starts by offering forgiveness, and peace – not as the world gives, but as only Jesus can. Then he offers proof of his wounds and breathes on them with the Holy Spirit.
As weird as that sounds, it goes back to the idea of the newly created order in Christ. This is the first day of the week. On the first day of creation the ruah, or breath, of God hovered over the waters of chaos and began to create order. Jesus breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit, and he tells them that they have the authority to forgive sins or retain them – to create order amongst the chaos of sin.
Over the centuries, this idea has become more about forgiving and condemning, but according to Craig R. Koester of Luther Seminary, that really isn’t what Jesus was talking about. In the Working Preacher podcast, he states that the word we translate as “retain” might be better thought of as held to account. “There’s an interplay,” he says “between the idea of release and holding that is more about an accountability that allows us to move toward relationships that restore community where there is brokenness.”
We also see it in Luke 11:4 when the disciples ask him how to pray and he says, “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” in Mathew 6:15 Jesus says, “but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” As far as John’s Gospel goes, this is actually the only verse that even mentions forgiveness because again, the importance here is on belief in Jesus as the author of life and the one who offers life in abundance.
Ok, now we fast forward a week and we finally get to Thomas. The thing about Thomas is that he has actually already had a substantial role. In John 11, when the disciples were telling Jesus not to go to see about Lazerus (if he’s asleep he will wake on his own – nope, he’s dead), Thomas was the one in v16 who said, “Let us also go [with Jesus to Jerusalem], that we may die with him.” After they get there he is of course present for the raising of Lazarus, so the idea of a physical resurrection is not something that he has not experienced yet this story of Jesus coming and going seemed too unreal to him. It may not have been that he doubted so much as the idea of Jesus appearing and disappearing just did not connect with his expectations.
For that matter, we have no idea why he was not hiding in fear with the others when Jesus first arrived. Perhaps it is because he was not hiding, but seeking to live into the faith that he had already received. All we know from the text is that Jesus came back for him, but also to make a point for us. V29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” was not written to condemn Thomas so much as it was to invite the new community of believers to understand that the resurrection of Jesus – and the return of Jesus to the fullness of God – has made a way for all of us to receive the Holy Spirit of God!
Here’s where the resurrection of Jesus comes back to the restoration of creation – and not just the politics of environmentalism, but the restoration of our relationship between God and one another and all the earth – Jesus returned to the wounded and made a point to show them his wounds, whether they asked for it or not. He did it so that he could begin with forgiveness and then charge them with the same task so that we might know what it means to live into the resurrection.
Resurrected living, apart from the hope in eternal life where all is reconciled, means living into the woundedness all around us. It means that we are affected by the good news of the resurrection. It means that we have something to hope for in this life, even as we have something to hope for in the life to come. The question of the gospel is not only one of belief, but one of responsible living now that we do believe.
Unfortunately, the disciples actually take a little more prodding than just seeing Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit, and we see this in chapter 21. Chapter 20 ends by telling us that so many more signs and wonders were performed that whole books could be written, but all we need to know is that Jesus rose so that we may believe in him as the active presence of God and that we may be transformed by it and invite others into that same transformative life of faith.
Some of us may hear that and ask ourselves, “After such a time as we have had as a congregation, what do we do now?” Maybe you even feel a bit like the disciples, who experienced tragedy and loss and had their worldview shaken. Some may even think that this story sounds like Jesus pulling parlor tricks and John sugar coating it for those that weren’t there so that we might be fooled and believe in some fairy tale.
In fact, the real challenge of this story is what to do with it if you have heard it before and still find yourself doubting the resurrection of Jesus. All I know to say to that is that followers of the way of Jesus who believe in him as the revelation of the active presence of God have demonstrated for centuries that God is active and present and working to bring about restoration and reconciliation through communities of faith like this one. There is certainly some truth and hard evidence about God in that. That’s not to say that the church has not also been responsible for horrible abuses over the years. It is to say that we have been given a legacy of divine and human activity that is constantly seeking to transform the world into a more perfect reflection of grace and mercy and truth.
Come to think of it, in this congregation, we’ve been shouting Easter joy throughout storms that devour and a pandemic that divides and through crisis after crisis. We’ve never stopped delivering meals to homebound community members, and we’re about to send ambassadors of the church of Jesus Christ to Cuba! We are pretty imperfect as individuals and even as a collective group. We are, as we say in the Reformed tradition, forgiven sinners seeking wholeness together.
Come what may, there is one thing we can hold onto for hope and meaning: through the resurrection of Jesus, we are offered a life of abundance. This means a life of forgiveness and restoration that does not neglect accountability but moves us toward the reconciliation of all creation.
I pray that it may be so with me and with you and with all who may hear and see the gospel we proclaim with the days that we have been given – and to God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
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