Reassurance
John 20:19-31
Of course, you might think we’d find Jesus’ disciples celebrating the resurrection by the evening of that 1st Easter Sunday. But, then, we’d be wrong! We actually find the disciples huddled together behind locked doors. John says that the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders... the people who had turned Jesus over to the Romans for execution. They we’re most likely afraid for their own lives, afraid of their uncertain futures now that Jesus had been crucified.
I came across an idea a while back... that suggested that it’s possible that the disciples could have also been afraid of a particular Jew... Jesus. And it makes sense to a certain degree... I mean... Jesus was their Lord - the disciples had followed him as the Messiah... and they failed him miserably. Peter had actually denied Jesus three times, Judas committed suicide after betraying Jesus... and the rest had deserted him (except for “the disciple whom Jesus loved”). I guess one out of 12's not too bad? It reminds me of when Jesus healed the 10 men who suffered from leprosy (Luke 17:11-19) and only one returned to Jesus to give thanks - and Jesus was almost indignant! “Only one came back to offer thanks! Only one returned in gratitude of his redemption? Where were the other nine?”
One out of 10... surely the disciples remembered that, and how upset Jesus was. Maybe the last person the disciples wanted to encounter that 1st Easter evening was Jesus, risen from the dead, frightened that their Lord may confront them with their failures.
I think we can certainly relate to both of these reasons for fear, right? It’s easy to fear the world... and authority. Especially when we see abuse of power; when we see injustice and evil seemingly gaining the upper hand in this life - quite often spurred on by people in power, by those in authority. We certainly live in a time when “good is called evil and evil is called good.” And it scares us! We tend to become tribally reclusive - finding safety and comfort among people who look like us... and talk & think like us! We back into our corners, shut the door and pray no one knocks.
But then, if we’re honest... we’d have to admit that there are times when we try to hide from Jesus, too. Times when we shut Christ out! Maybe we’re ashamed. Maybe we’ve sinned... we’ve messed up... the shining light of Christ’s righteousness is more than we can bear. So we cover ourselves... and hide in our shame and regret.
Listen to me: Jesus will have none of it. He will not be stopped by locked doors - whether they’re bolted shut out of fear or shame! He who is the “door” - the Way to life everlasting - comes right through... and appears in the presence of our fears and doubts.
He came... not to confront his disciples with their failures... but to grant them peace. His words of greeting, “Peace be with you,” carry the sense of the Hebrew greeting “shalom,” a blessing that implies more than tranquility, or the absence of strife: but rather a deep and holistic sense of well-being - the kind of peace the world cannot give. A peace that passes understanding. (Luke 14 & Phil 4).
Of course, then Jesus shows his disciples his hands and his side... proving He’s flesh and blood - the crucified & resurrected Christ - not a ghost or apparition. The disciples rejoice in seeing the Lord... And again, Jesus blesses the disciples with peace... before telling them, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
The disciples were called to continue Jesus’ mission of revealing the Kingdom of God to the world. Not on their own, or in their own strength. The Advocate... the Holy Spirit (whom Jesus had promised his disciples back in chapter 14) would empower and teach and remind the disciples of everything Jesus said and did, while guiding them in their calling.
Of course, for some reason (we are not told why), Thomas was not there with the others on that 1st Sunday - so he missed the encounter with the risen Jesus. Although he has gotten a bad rap as “doubting Thomas,” he asked for nothing more than what the others had already received: to see Jesus, wounds and all.
The wonder of this story is that Jesus actually shows up again one week later to provide exactly what Thomas needed. And Thomas reacted with what may very well be the highest affirmation of Christ’s Lordship in the Gospels! Thomas confessed before Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus’ response to Thomas wasn’t a rebuke of his doubt... Jesus wasn’t scolding Thomas... it was a blessing! A blessing for anyone who’d come to believe without the benefit of having a flesh-and-blood encounter with Christ. In fact, we’re actually told that this is the very purpose of this book, speaking to all of us who have not seen: these words were “written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
The Easter season... with it’s joy, and hope, and promise... can sometimes seem to leave very little room for our doubts and fears. We tend to forget that for the first disciples, there was fear, doubt, pain, and confusion before there was any understanding and joy and acceptance of what had taken place on that day. And a week later, when Jesus appeared to his disciples, they were STILL hiding behind locked doors... a pretty good indicator that Thomas was not the only one still needing reassurance that Jesus had in fact conquered death.
They all needed reassurance... and we still need that reassurance today.
It’s completely natural and normal... when we’re feeling anxious or threatened... to hunker down and lock the doors, to become focused on our own safety rather than the mission to which we are called.
But, the promise and comfort of Christ... is that He cannot be stopped by our locked doors. Jesus comes to us as He came to the first disciples, right in the midst of our fear, pain, doubt, and confusion. He comes speaking peace, breathing into our lives the breath of the Holy Spirit.
And the really Good News is... he just keeps showing up! As he came back for Thomas, Jesus keeps coming back week after week among his gathered disciples — in the word, the water, the bread, and the wine — not wanting any of us to miss out on the life and peace he gives.
And he keeps sending us out of our safe, locked rooms, into a world that, like us, desperately needs his gifts of life and peace. Amen.