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The Thomas In Us |
John 20: 19-31
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION Thomas does not appear in the first three gospels, except as a name in a list of disciples. But in John he emerges significantly, a fact worth remembering for any of us who sometimes feel faceless, anonymous, overlooked, just a name in a list. APPEARANCE NO. 1 Thomas emerges with strength in John 11: 16, where he declares that he will go with Jesus to Jerusalem even though he does not agree with his Master's decision, and even though he thinks it will cost Jesus his life, not to mention putting at risk Thomas' own life! This is the decision of a man of courage and of loyalty. But this is also the choice of a man who thinks the worst first, a pessimist, a man who can, like you and me, be grumpy at times. I have a friend who is pastor of a First Baptist Church in a county seat town in the southeast who tells me that when he first heard about the film, Grumpy Old Men, he thought it surely must be a documentary about the men's Bible class at his church! Isn't it wonderful that Jesus can work with pessimistic, grumpy people, men or women? He can make great disciples out of us. He can even give us great texts and elicit great confessions from us. Look at what else we know about Thomas from the fourth gospel. APPEARANCE NO. 2 The second great sighting of Thomas comes in the Upper Room on the night on which Jesus was betrayed, the night when Jesus spoke those great words in John 14 which are read in virtually every funeral and memorial service. "Let not your heart be troubled...believe in God, believe also in me...in my Father's house are many mansions...and you know the way I am going." Our man Thomas does something shocking, outrageous and offensive. Right in the middle of these magnificent, comforting words, "Let not your hearts be troubled...in my Father's house are many mansions....I go to prepare a place for you...," right in the middle of that, Thomas interrupts Jesus with his question, "How can we know the way?" And Jesus does not reprimand him for breaking the flow of his serene words of comfort. He does not say, "Where have you been for the last three years? Get with the program, fellow!" He does say, "I am the way, the truth and the light," one of the most sublime and challenging texts in the Bible. To our grumpy apostle! In Thomas' defense let it be said that he was honest; he asked a key question. Thomas was a man who could not live with an unasked question. The answer to the question was in effect: "Thomas, I know that you do not understand what is happening. No one understands. But whatever happens, you have got me. I am the way, the truth, and the life."[1] Jesus not only accepts questions; he welcomes them. He may not always give the answer we want. He may not always answer our questions in the form we prefer. He may even answer with another question. But he does not reject our questions, even those as poorly timed as Thomas', or as indicative of our tendencies to overlook the obvious. Thomas drew from Jesus a powerful affirmation of his identity for his disciples. APPEARANCE NO. 3 The third appearance of Thomas is in today's lesson from the last half of John 20. Perhaps I should have said "non-appearance." He was absent on the first Easter Sunday evening service. Thomas missed a great deal on that first Easter Sunday. He missed at least five things, all beginning with the letter "P." Because there is a bit of Thomas in all of us, what Thomas missed is instructive for us all. 1. Peace "Peace," Jesus said to them. What a relief! His first word was "Shalom," "Peace." He could have spoken first of his disappointment, even anger at them for their denial, abandonment, misunderstanding and betrayal. But several times he spoke, "Shalom." And in doing so he echoed what he had said in that same room on the last night he had been with them. He said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."[2] And Thomas missed the peace. 2. Power Power was the gift in verse 22 when Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." In a similar moment in Acts 1: 8 Jesus said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." In Genesis 2: 7 God breathes with creative power to fashion Adam. Here in John 20, in the new creation, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit, the empowering breath of life, on his followers. And Thomas missed the power. 3. Pardon Jesus had already forgiven or pardoned the disciples when we greeted them with peace. But he spoke explicitly of pardon in the verse (23) on forgiving and retaining sins. To know the joy of sins forgiven and the seriousness or the consequences of sins retained - these come both out of the peace of Jesus and out of the power of the Holy Spirit. God cannot fill our cup with forgiveness if it is already filled to the brim with bitterness. God cannot embrace us with forgiveness if our arms are carrying the heavy load of resentment. God cannot take our hand in forgiveness, if our fists are clenched in anger. God cannot forgive the shadowy side of our spirits, if our minds are darkened with murky musings of revenge. And Thomas missed the pardon. 4. Purpose These pardoned and empowered disciples received the fourth gospel's version of Matthew's Great Commission. "As the Father has sent me, even so send I you..." - the verse on the front of today's bulletin.[3] Jesus had said earlier, "I and the Father are one."(John 10: 30) He was one with the Father as he was sent on mission by the Father. Now he wants the same unity with the disciples as they are sent. If you want to be with Jesus, to be one with him, just go where he sends, and he will be with you always. That is the comfort of both the commission in John 20: 21 and the word, "Lo, I am with you always..." in Matthew 28: 19-20. And Thomas missed it. 5. Presence Quite simply stated, Thomas missed being present and thereby missed the Presence of God in Jesus Christ. No less a theologian than Woody Allen, a rather seriously discredited theologian I might add, has said that 95% of life is just showing up. Thomas missed out on "just showing up." To experience the Presence, one has to be present, alert, sensitive, seeking, open, in a word, anything but absent. And Thomas missed the Presence. WHAT THOMAS EXPERIENCED Thomas missed a lot - peace, power, pardon, purpose, and presence. But Thomas also experienced a lot, and it in this area, the area of all that Thomas experienced, that we find positive points of contact for the Thomas that is in all of us. Brace yourselves for five more "p's!" 1. People The first part of the Thomas paradigm is people, people who could honestly say, "We have seen the Lord." Last Sunday in the Easter Service we sang, "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!" What better way to meet the risen Christ than through people in whom he lives, people with joy and peace, pardon and power, people who are really alive, people in whom Jesus lives. "Certainty is most likely to come to a man (sic) in the fellowship of believers."[4] Verse 26 says, "A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them." Thomas was with them - he showed up. By simply being present, he was putting himself in a position to be blessed. Thomas needed to be with people in whom Jesus lives. So do we. Thomas learned his lesson; when we next see Thomas in the following chapter, he is with the group. He stayed with the group and was present in John 21: 2 when Jesus met the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee and fixed them a breakfast of charcoaled fish. 2. Pain Next Thomas made sense of pain. Here we must admire our man of the hour. The business about "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe," (John 20: 25) is, in my judgment, not so much doubting but checking the reality of Jesus' pain. Thomas did not want to follow One who had not authentically suffered and triumphed in it and through it and over it. We want the same thing for our suffering, the Lordship of One who knows what we experience and still prevails. Few would follow one who had been lightly wounded and slipped away to survive virtually unscathed. Consider the homely illustration of the child with a band aid! Kids love to have a band aid on. It means that they have suffered, that they have some real life experience, that they have endured it, that they have a story to tell about it, and that they are healing. Thomas wanted some sense of reality in pain, a Lord with a story to tell of endurance and healing. So do we. 3. Praise Thomas found a praising, worshipping, welcoming community. We do not know where Thomas was when he missed the first Easter Sunday evening service. We do not know who got him to "come back to church." But sometime during the ensuing eight days, someone encountered him in Jerusalem (no Outreach Committee for Absentees has yet been formed!). Someone said something like, "We missed you; we hope you are all right. Will you be with us on the eighth day?" And when he came back, no one was foolish enough to say something insensitive like, "Well, where on earth have you been? Watch out - the walls of the church may fall down." Better to say, "Good to see you - I'm really glad you're here." Thomas returned to a praising, worshipping, welcoming community. He needed them; they needed him; the risen Lord needed all of them, and all of us. 4. Permanence Thomas found a Lord who dealt with him where he was, in his present circumstances but led him beyond the passing into the permanent. I think it is criminal to call him, "Doubting Thomas," for one brief moment of his life. We should remember him for the permanent affirmation Jesus evoked from him. I recall a story my grandmother told of a man in west Kentucky around 1900. He never touched a drop of "Demon Rum" except for one memorable occasion. He got roaring drunk, stole a horse and buggy, and raced down the main street of Arlington, Kentucky, all the while singing at the top of his lungs the song, "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!" For the rest of his life he was known as "Hot Time." One night and a reputation for a lifetime! It wasn't fair to call him "Hot Time" all his life, nor is it fair to keep on saying, "Doubting Thomas" for one request on one night. Jesus was interested in more than his momentary doubting. Jesus was working with Thomas "where he was" in order to lead him beyond that point into something permanent. He wants to lead us forward. He always does. Did Thomas actually touch Jesus? Did he take him up on the offer? Be careful before you answer. Forget all the paintings, including Caravaggio's curious rendering of Thomas tucking a couple of fingers inside the spear wound or the words of our second hymn today: His reasoned certainties denied that one could live when one had died, until his fingers read like Braille the markings of the spear and nail.[5] In verse 27 Jesus says, "Put your finger here...put out your hand and place it in my side..." The next verse does not say, "And Thomas touched him." Verse 28 says, "Thomas answered him..." We do not know whether he actually touched him or not. And it does not matter - what matters is what happens next. He went beyond the request to touch, which is exactly what Jesus wanted. He made the greatest confession of faith in the fourth gospel, the climax of John's gospel. Thomas went with his doubts to Jesus and moved beyond them with Jesus. And we need to do that too. 5. Profession The final, most profound and penetrating part of Thomas' story is the last and most important part of his experience - the great profession, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20: 28) This is the strongest Christological affirmation in the book, the most powerful statement about Jesus we find. How dare we call him "doubting Thomas!" He is "professing Thomas," "confessing Thomas," "believing Thomas," "affirming Thomas!" He moved into a community of people who had seen the Lord, understood the reality of Jesus' pain. He entered a praising. welcoming, worshipping body, and allowed Jesus to lead him beyond his passing doubts to a permanent relationship in which he would articulate a great profession of faith. Thomas did all that, and we need to do that too. CONCLUSION We can identify with Thomas: - choosing to be faithful and brave - acting pessimistic and grumpy - missing Jesus on occasion - moving cautiously and asking questions - searching for reality and a healing story in the midst of suffering - longing to be welcomed and to experience authentic, challenging, enriching worship - letting Jesus work with us "just as we are" to lead us forward until by the grace of God we can cry out, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus' last word to Thomas was "Have you believed because you have seen me?" But Jesus had an additional word, something said not to Thomas, but to all the generations that have come since, something he says this morning to you and to me, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."[6] There isn't a believer anywhere who wouldn't have traded places with Thomas, given the chance, and seen that face and heard that voice and touched those hands. But Jesus said that there's an even greater blessing for those who can believe without seeing.[7] And this blessing is what you can receive today by believing in the risen and present Lord. Our invitation hymn is one I think that Thomas would like. Each verse is a statement of things we do not know, do not understand, but the chorus is a ringing affirmation not of what we know but of the person we know, Jesus.[8] It's the same point Jesus made in John 14: "Thomas, I know that you do not understand what is happening. No one understands. But whatever happens, you have got me. I am the way, the truth, and the life."[9] [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] Notes: [1] Barclay, The Gospel According to John, Vol. II, revised edition [Philadelphia: Westminster Press] p. 49 [2] John 14: 27 and John 20: 20, 21, 27 [3] John 20: 21 [4] Barclay, op. cit., p. 50 [5] A New Hymnal for Colleges and Schools, edited by Jeffrey Rowthorn and Russell Schulz-Widmar [New Haven: Yale University Press] 1992, No. 487, "These Things Did Thomas Count As Real," by Thomas H. Troeger [6] John 20: 29 [7] Frederick Buechner, "Thomas," Peculiar Treasures [San Franciso: Harper & Row] 1979, p. 166 [8] Wesley L. Forbis, editor, Baptist Hymnal [Nashville: Convention Press] 1991, No. 337, "I Know Whom I Have Believed" by Daniel W. Whittle [9] Barclay, op. cit., p. 49 |