2nd Sunday of Easter/April 7, 2024
Today’s sermon by Chip Camden
Readings: Psalm 133, Acts 4:32-35, 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31
Our gospel lesson from John tells us the story of two post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, occurring one week apart on successive Sundays. The first of these Sundays was the evening after the resurrection -- the same day that Mary Magdalene had reported to the disciples that she had seen the risen Christ that morning at the tomb. That evening, although the disciples have gathered behind locked doors, Jesus appears in their midst, greets them, and shows them his wounds. Then the disciples rejoice to see him. The order in which this is told seems to imply that they didn't really see him for who he was until they saw his wounds. In the parallel account in Luke, the disciples initially think that they are seeing a ghost. When Jesus shows them his hands and his feet in that account, he makes a point of demonstrating that they are made of flesh and bone. While the disciples are still having trouble believing it, he goes on to eat something, proving that his risen body is truly physical. They needed to be convinced.
Is it any wonder, then, that in John's account when the disciples report this appearance to Thomas (who was not present), he has trouble believing them? They tell him that they have seen Jesus’ wounds, but who knows, maybe they were having a mass hallucination? Thomas wants to see this for himself. Not only that, he doesn't want to trust his eyes alone. He wants to feel the wounds with his hands -- and really feel them. Our English translation has Thomas say that he wants to "put" his finger in the mark of the nails and his hand in Jesus' side. But the Greek word used here is βαλλω (ballo) - literally, to "throw" or "thrust". Thomas wants to go deep in order to be sure.
The following Sunday, the disciples are gathered as before, but this time Thomas is with them. Jesus appears, as before, and immediately addresses Thomas. "Bring your finger over here... bring your hand and thrust it into my side" (using the same verb, ballo, that Thomas had used) "and don't become faithless, but rather faithful."
We aren't told whether Thomas followed through on those actions. The narrative seems to indicate that he didn't need to. For him, seeing Jesus was enough after all. He immediately exclaims, "my Lord and my God!" This reminds me of Job's encounter with God. After about forty chapters of demanding that God would respond to his complaint, when God finally shows up Job needs no further response: "but now my eyes see you" says Job, and that settles everything.
Jesus says to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
So many interpreters have taken this as a criticism of Thomas' faith. "You made it across the line, Thomas, but you could have done better. Real faith is believing without any evidence whatsoever. Try harder next time." Interpretations like that have done a great deal of harm, by casting faith as a kind of spiritual performance that can be measured and graded. I don't think that is what is meant here at all.
First of all, to whom is Jesus referring when he talks about "those who have not seen and have believed". Certainly not the other disciples! They've seen the risen Christ at least twice as many times as Thomas has, and they took more convincing when they did. Is anyone else in this story believing without seeing?
The past tense of the verbs here could be taken to indicate the prophets and all those who believed that a Christ would come, but never saw that happen in their lifetime. The great chapter on faith in the epistle to the Hebrews refers to "these all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn't receive the promise" of the coming Messiah. But I think in our present narrative the reference is really to all of us who would come to faith in Christ after the apostles -- the same group referred to in I Peter 1:8, "[Jesus Christ,] whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory."
To underscore this idea, John tells us in the next two verses that "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." Even we aren't asked to believe without any evidence -- John's gospel seeks to be at least some of the evidence that we need by providing a vicarious experience of the living Christ.
Jesus did not withhold the evidence from Thomas that he needed, and God does not require blind faith from us either. God only requires the faith that we're capable of. For thirty years, after becoming fed up with hypocrisy and harmful doctrines in my experience of Christianity, I became an agnostic in theory and an atheist in practice. I never rose to the hubris of declaring that there is no God, but I tried to live as if that were the case. During those years, I often thought that if there were a God, surely God must honor honest doubts. Surely God would not be gratified by a pretense of belief. There is a kind of doubt that is also a pretense -- a doubt that seeks to end the conversation because it doesn't want to know the truth. But there is also a kind of doubt that says, "I don't know if I can believe that to be the truth, but I want to know what is the truth." That kind of doubt has more in common with true faith than the so-called faith without question in what you're supposed to believe.
After thirty years, God gave me the answer I needed -- possibly the only answer that would work for me. God wonderfully revealed to me just how mistaken I could be about things, and that opened a new realm of possibility that I began to explore. Thus my faith grew out of questioning my assumptions, rather than relying on them. God meets each of us where we are.
Honesty equals humility. If we honestly admit our doubts instead of posing as spiritual giants who have none, then we open ourselves in humility to the real working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. May we have the courage of Thomas, Job, and countless others who have faced their doubts head on. God will arrive, bringing a better faith.
According to tradition, Thomas later traveled to India as its first missionary and was martyred there. There is still a Christian denomination in that region of India that claims direct succession from Thomas. One of its members emigrated as a child with her family to the United States. She eventually joined the Episcopal Church, and we became friends when I lived in Palo Alto. She has become one of the most beloved Christian authors of our time. Her name is Debie Thomas, and she has a new book out entitled, "A Faith of Many Rooms: Inhabiting a More Spacious Christianity." It even contains a chapter on the Apostle Thomas. I highly recommend it.