Reflection -- Fear, Doubt, Recognition, Spirit, Mission

Mary Magdalene had seen and spoken to Jesus just outside of his tomb on Easter morning.  She had told the disciples the good news, but still they were afraid.  They were, after all, the followers of a executed prisoner and had good reason to be afraid.  But then Jesus appeared to them inside the locked room where they are hiding. 

Jesus did several things.  First, he replaced their fear with peace.  Then he showed them his wounds so that they would know without a doubt that he was who he appeared to be.  He informed them that they were to carry on the mission that he had begun and breathed on them the Holy Spirit.  They were to go out, holding the power of the good news of forgiveness in their hands.

Later Jesus appeared to Thomas, who was away at the first visit and was unable to believe the reports of his friends.  Jesus bestowed peace on him as well.  Thomas’ reaction was profound recognition, “My Lord and my God!”

Events like these should not seem strange.  Particularly in our modern world, many of us live in fear at one level or another.  Locked doors are hardly foreign to us.  Most of us live behind them most of the time and take that state of affairs as the norm.  We live, as Ann Morrow Lindbergh observed in Gifts from the Sea, as islands in a common sea.  Often, our fear and isolation are accompanied by doubt.  We may have heard the Christian story and we may know its facts, but like Thomas we are unable to incorporate it into our being.

But sooner or later, in one form or another, Jesus intrudes into our isolated world in a way that lets us know with certainty that it is indeed the crucified and resurrected One who is present.  When we recognize Jesus as real and we welcome him in, one of the first things that we begin to gain is peace.  It is a peace that “passes all understanding;” a peace that isn’t “sensible” really, because life’s dangers are all still there.  But with that peace comes the ability to see, and to live, beyond our fears. 

There is more.  After our encounter with Christ, as we return to our lives and begin to grow, we recognize that we are no longer alone.  From time to time we are aware of the presence of the gift of the Spirit; perhaps infrequently at first and then more and more often. 

But this encounter, this new peace, this supporting presence of the Spirit are not just for us to hold on to and savor.  They are ours as preparation for mission.  We too are sent, as Jesus sent the first disciples, to deliver the message of forgiveness in both word and deed.  We are sent not so that people can see us, but that they might see Jesus and say to him:  “My Lord and my God!”

revclay

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John 20:19-31

When it was evening on [Easter] 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."  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. 

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.  As God has sent me, so I send you."  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  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." 

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."  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." 

Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 

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."

Now 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.

 [NRSV]