The Second Sunday of Easter, Year B




We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:1-2:2 NRSV)



When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked 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." 24 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, which are not written in this book. 31 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. (John 20:19-31 NRSV)





“THOMAS, WHO?”



Faith is important to life. Without some faith we don’t get out of bed in the morning, don’t go to work, get married, have children. Without possibility, we don’t plan or hope. Without faith, life can defeat us. Some degree of faith is required because there are things you can’t see, like the future. Like a reward for daily faithfulness. Like a better life you are making for yourself and your loved ones. You have to head in that direction and trust. Life can be difficult if you can’t see some possibility of good beyond where you are now or what you can see. What causes you to trust?

This morning we have heard some biblical viewpoints on faith. In The First Letter of John, John states that he declares what was from the beginning of the faith—the things they have heard and seen and touched. What was from the beginning of the faith is Jesus with us. John testifies to this life they have seen and heard and touched. It is for those who have not heard him, seen him, or touched him for themselves. If they hear this and believe, then they share faith. Then their joy will be complete. Those who wish to share that faith must walk in the light. If we have not walked in the light, God can forgive our sins through Jesus. God makes it possible for those who have walked in darkness to walk in the light.

What if you have not seen? What if you have not touched? How then do you find faith? That is the problem of one man in the Gospel reading, Thomas. He is often called “Doubting Thomas”. What started this all was that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he rose from the dead. He showed them his hands and side. They saw, believed, and rejoiced. But one of them was not there. Thomas was not there. The disciples tell him what had happened, but he didn’t believe it. He heard but had not seen. He said, in fact, that he would not believe unless he saw and touched the marks of the nails and his side. He wants proof. The next week he gets that chance as Jesus appeared to them again. Again he enters, even though the doors were shut. He knows what Thomas said earlier. And he offers to him the chance to get the proof he wanted. Thomas responds in complete faith. He is blessed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Thomas is an example of one who must hear second-hand. The first generation of Christians knew what they saw and heard. That is the foundation both of their faith and the faith that they handed on to others who came after Jesus no longer walked the earth. Time came when generation after generation heard the good news about Jesus. We are those people. But, here, in the Gospel, Jesus makes himself known to one disciple. Who Thomas is matters. He has doubts. He is resistant. Perhaps the disciples who believed called him stubborn. Perhaps Thomas called the disciples gullible. They did not share a faith at that point. But Jesus meets Thomas as he is, with his doubts. Jesus helps Thomas overcome the doubts he has.

Sometimes seeing and believing are portrayed as the same thing. After all, as the saying goes: “Seeing is believing.” But we are not always at every place in life. Things happen when we are not there. We cannot see everything. At some point we have to trust, even if it is only in what others say. And the things we experience, the things we see, can be misunderstood. The reality is that we need both. We need to experience God in our lives and we need that word that helps us understand what we experience. A few years ago, I was on a plane heading to week one of Interim Ministry training reading a book. It said that we understand life and work and churches in part because of our birth order. I am a second child. I love my older brother, but at times I have noticed there is a little tension between us. The book explained that the second child comes into the world, the family, and has to define his or her personality in it. So it is very likely that he or she will be deliberately what the first child is not. That is who he or she is—not the first one. And there will likely be tension until that personality is formed. After reading, I understood the idea better that I had actually felt and lived. The book helped me understand what I experienced. The word interprets experience. Experience makes ideas come alive. We need them both, seeing and believing.

Jesus helped Thomas find his faith. Then he could truly see who Jesus is. Then he could declare Jesus Lord and God. The foundation of our faith is what we have heard and seen and touched. Jesus is a touchable God.



Thomas was blessed when Jesus heard his doubts. He accepted him as he was and helped him become someone better, a man of faith. We need faith because we cannot see the future. We need faith to guide us through challenging times. Part of how we learn it is to know how God has guided us in the past. Mary Lou Carney recalled a grade school teacher who told them that faith was our country’s most powerful resource. She found that to be true in her life through education, military deployment, and illness in her family. She concludes: “In situation after situation, the knowledge that God was in control through faith enabled me to triumph.” Our faith is strengthened by how God has shown us faithfulness, that God’s word is true.



Our foundation is the word we hear, but it is also in experiencing Christ in our daily lives. Thomas wanted to see Jesus. The other disciples had seen Jesus, but he was alone in his doubts. He did not believe at first, but then he had a chance. Jesus came to him and changed his life. His faith was born. Lisa Isenhower tells the story of her son’s favorite book as a boy, about a rabbit who didn’t want to go to bed. It had a tiny mouse hidden on each page and he searched for it and sometimes in frustration he would cry out, “Where is he, Mommy?” She tells us this: “When Christ performed miracles, He often came to people unexpectedly, at unexpected times and places .... Over and over, Christ showed that He was present to believers in every facet of human experience, in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.” Like the mouse, Christ is present even though we can’t always see him. Christ also appeared in Thomas’ doubt. Sometimes having faith can be a struggle. Faith is the discovery that Christ has not only appeared to the disciples, not only appeared to Thomas, but we can see him, too. We can open our eyes for him, because he is with us.



Seeing and believing? Seeing or hearing? We come to faith through both. We need to hear what we cannot see. We need to see God’s power at work so that we can believe. We rejoice that Christ is risen. We rejoice, too, that he is among us, leading us to faith, all of us. Then our joy will be complete. Christ is risen; he lives among us!