Easter 2

Preparation

    Please begin by reading John 20:19-31 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided that text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--My Lord and My God
  
   Today’s stories from John are part of a brief interlude that separates two central events that conclude the gospel story; Jesus’ resurrection and the ascension back into heaven. Between these two events, John looks at several examples of what it means to be confronted with the resurrection.

    In episodes that precede today’s passage, the disciple “whom Jesus loved” needs only to see the empty tomb and the discarded grave clothes to believe. Mary Magdalene comes to realization about what has happened when she is comforted by the risen Jesus. She then runs to tell the other disciples (probably more of the local faith community than the core group of 11). Jesus then appears to them also to confirm her good news, to commission them for the work that they are to do, and to grant them the gift of the Holy Spirit and a powerful inner peace they will need as they spread the word of God’s inclusive love to a hostile world.

    Then there is Thomas. He is unable to believe the witnesses of the empty tomb and the testimony of other believers who have seen Jesus. He needs concrete evidence. He must actually see and touch Jesus himself. He soon gets his wish. Jesus gives Thomas what he needs. Thomas reacts with full recognition: “My Lord and my God!”

    In her excellent commentary on John in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Gail R. O’Day points out that the traditional narrow focus on “doubting Thomas” may miss the mark. Apart from the disciple with whom Jesus had a special relationship, Thomas may not have been alone in his need for proof. It is not clear that the other disciples believed Mary’s story until Jesus appeared to them. O’Day suggests that the more appropriate focus is on Jesus’ gracious willingness to provide us with whatever it may take to bring us to faith.

    I believe that she is right. While we may sometimes pretend otherwise, our human nature and our human weakness are no big surprise to God. The divine prospective looks to the future, not to the past. God does not so much condemn us for where we are or how we have come up short (God understands the why and how of that) as God challenges us to grow past where we are and what we may have done.

    The Holy Spirit never demands belief, but brings whatever we may need to bring us to a point of decision. Sometimes it is just opening our eyes to the traces of where God has been in the world, like the empty tomb. Sometimes it is the stories told by others, like the testimony of Mary Magdalene. Sometimes, if that is what we need, it is a powerful experience of the presence of the living Christ.

    At some time in our lives God will give us enough to be able to step from disbelief to the life-changing acknowledgement “My Lord and My God.”  What we do with that gracious gift is us to us. 

revclay

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John 20:19-31

    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." 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 the Father 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]