That You Might Believe—Lectionary Reflection for Easter 2C (John 20:18-31)
John 20:19-31 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
4 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 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.
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According
to the Revised Common Lectionary, John 20:19-31 is the designated Gospel
reading every year on the Second Sunday of Easter. While the Apostle Thomas
figures prominently in the reading, he is not alone in his questions about the
possibility that Jesus was alive. Everyone among Jesus’ followers needed proof,
and the testimony of others wasn’t sufficient. When Mary Magdalene returned from
her encounter with the risen Jesus, the disciples who knew of the empty tomb
(Peter and the other disciple had seen the empty tomb). This other disciple,
the one Jesus loved, did believe when he entered the tomb, remembering Jesus’
words about his future resurrection (John 20:1-18), but that didn’t mean they
remained skeptical.
In John’s
telling of the story, on the evening of that first Easter Sunday, the followers
of Jesus were holed up in a house, the doors locked because they were afraid.
John suggests they were afraid of the Jews, but remember, they were also Jews.
So, we’re talking about some other entity, most likely the Jewish leadership
that collaborated with the Romans. In their mind, they saw themselves being the
protectors of the people. That required keeping the people pacified. Troublemakers
like Jesus and his followers needed to be silenced. Though Jesus had apparently
been silenced by the Romans, his followers were concerned that they would be silenced
as well. So, staying behind locked doors seemed like a good idea.
While
the locked doors might keep the authorities out (they could get in if they
wanted to, but hiding out seemed to be a good idea), apparently, doors didn’t
keep out the risen Jesus. As they hid out in this house somewhere in Jerusalem,
Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst. He spoke to the gathering with words of
comfort: “Peace be with you.” Then he showed them his hands and side. In other
words, he showed them his wounds. In this version of the story, Jesus’
resurrection body still carried his wounds. The people rejoiced at seeing him. Their
fear gave way to joy. As they rejoiced,
Jesus once again said to them: “Peace be with you.”
Having
offered them this word of peace, of shalom (Hebrew), Jesus proceeded to
commission this group to be his witnesses. In what many call John’s Pentecost
story, Jesus first tells the people, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
In giving this commission, Jesus wanted his followers to know that from that
moment they would be carrying on his mission. God sent Jesus, and now Jesus was
doing the same. But they needed empowerment if they were going to fulfill this
calling. So, Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
With this Spirit-empowered commission came
an important responsibility. That responsibility involved providing forgiveness
(or retaining forgiveness) to those they encountered. This is a reflection on
what we find in Matthew 16, when Jesus gives to Peter the keys to the kingdom,
so that whatever he found on earth would be bound in heaven (Matt. 16:19). As
Marianne Meye Thompson suggests, in extending forgiveness, these Spirit-empowered
disciples were extending to others new life. She writes: “They can do so
because Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)
and, by so doing, gives life. Because of his life-giving work through his
death, and his gift of the life-giving Spirit, the disciples may serve as
agents of Jesus’ forgiveness.” [Connections, (kindle p. 212)].
This all took place on the evening of the first day of the week, the day Jesus rose from the dead. The narrative now moves forward a week. The community has once again gathered in this home. One of their members who had been absent the previous week, a man named Thomas, was with them. He had been told that Jesus was alive, but he was skeptical. He needed proof. He wanted not only to see Jesus, but he wanted to touch his wounds, just to make sure. For this, he has been called Doubting Thomas to this day. He had doubts, but perhaps history has been overly unkind to him. He speaks for many who have their questions. After all, people don’t rise from the dead very often. He had his reasons, and Jesus obliged him. Just as he had appeared among the group the previous Sunday, Jesus once again appeared in their midst. Jesus invited Thomas to touch his wounds to satisfy his concerns. He said to Thomas, “Do not doubt but believe.” At that moment, Thomas fell on his knees and confessed his faith in Jesus, declaring: “My Lord and My God.” As N.T. Wright notes, Thomas is the first person in this book to look at Jesus of Nazareth and address the word ‘God’ directly to him.” Wright continues, connecting this declaration with John’s prologue.
Yet this is what John has been working round to from the beginning. ‘In the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God.’ ‘Nobody has ever seen God. The only-begotten God, who is intimately close to the father—he has brought him to light.’ What does that mean? What does it look like when it’s actually happening? Well, says John, it looks like this... and off we go, through Galilee and Jerusalem, back and forth, moments of glory and doom woven together until they meet on the cross. Now, a week after Easter, it looks like this: a muddled, dogged disciple, determined not to be taken in, standing on his rights not to believe anything until he’s got solid evidence, confronted by a smiling Jesus who has just walked, as he did the previous week, through a locked door. This is what it looks like. [New Testament for Everyone Complete Eighteen-Volume Set: 20th Anniversary Edition with Study Guide (The New Testament for Everyone) (Kindle, p. 1595).]
Thomas had his doubts, but now he is ready to confess his
faith in Jesus. John doesn’t record Thomas touching Jesus, though he had the
opportunity. He simply confessed his faith. Jesus responded to this confession
with a question for Thomas and us: “Have you believed because you have seen me?”
After all, doesn’t the saying go: “Seeing is believing?” Or as Ronald Reagan
put it many decades ago in talks with the Soviets about nuclear arms: “Trust
but verify.” Isn’t that what Thomas wanted to do? But Jesus recognized that
verifying isn’t always possible. So, he says to us: “Blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Blessed are those who believe,
though they cannot verify this testimony. I believe, and by believe, I mean I trust
the testimony of the Gospel writers and those who have passed down that message
through the centuries, even though I don’t have tangible evidence to prove that
Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus says to us who receive this testimony by
faith: You are blessed.
The chapter closes with a summary
statement that may have originally concluded the Gospel of John. Chapter 21 seems like a later addition to the gospel because verses 30 and 31 look to be a
concluding statement. In these final sentences, John tells us that Jesus did
other signs (John’s gospel has signs rather than miracles) in the presence of
the disciples, but they weren’t included. In other words, there is more to the
story, but these stories are sufficient for John’s purpose. What is that
purpose? John tells us that what we read here in the Gospel of John, starting with
the prologue, was written so that we might “believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:30-31).
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