As the Christian community continues to read the Easter stories from John’s gospel on this Sunday, the focus shifts from Mary Magdalene to the whole company of Jesus’ disciples and the one among them who doubts, Thomas. Early in the morning Mary Magdalene is the first to find the empty tomb, then the first to see Jesus, the first to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd as he calls her name.
Mary Magdalene returns to the company of Jesus’ friends to announce, “I have seen the Lord.” The gospel does not tell us their reaction, only that in the evening of the same day, the risen Jesus appears to the community of his disciples who gather in fear behind locked doors.
Peter must be in the group. He saw Jesus’ tomb empty with the burial wrappings carefully folded but left the tomb without believing. A seed of hope from Jesus’ teachings may be awakening in him, mixing with feelings of shame and regret at denying his friend during Jesus’ passion.
Fear that what happened to Jesus will happen to them has caused the community to lock the doors. How do they get their minds around their grief, the terror, and Mary Magdalene’s witness that she has seen the Lord? In locking out threats, they have locked themselves in together.
- What does your community of faith lock out and lock in?
The risen Jesus enters their midst with two gifts — peace and new life. The sight of Jesus and his greeting of peace bring the community joy. These first disciples find the risen Jesus with them as Christians do to this day when they gather in his name.
Jesus breathes the new life of the Spirit upon his disciples, just as in the beginning God breathed the spirit of life into the first creatures in Genesis 2.7. The new life Jesus’ Spirit inspires is forgiveness.
The peace and forgiveness the risen Jesus and his Spirit bring the community become their commission. Jesus sends the community to make the lives of others whole as he has made their lives new and whole. The grain of wheat has germinated and Jesus’ spirit will multiply a hundredfold as the men and women of this small company continue his mission.
- When have you experienced Jesus’ peace and presence?
- When have you found new life in forgiving or being forgiven?
The final part of the gospel focuses on Thomas, an intriguing character because he doubts as contemporary people do. The gospel tells us that he is not with the rest when Jesus appears but doesn’t explain why. The testimony of those who saw Jesus leaves Thomas unimpressed. He will not easily be persuaded. “Unless I can stick my fingers in the nail holes and poke my hand into the spear wound, I won’t believe it’s really Jesus.”
When Jesus appears again, his response to Thomas is remarkably, unexpectedly gentle. “Go ahead,” he says. “Poke away. If this is what it takes for you to believe, I’m at your disposal.” Like a child, Thomas wants to touch and feel. And Jesus is not the least embarrassed at such childlike needs. The one who gave his life for the world will not withhold himself from the curious.
Thomas is overwhelmed and responds with a confession that soars above any made in the New Testament: “My Lord and my God.” Thomas understands finally Jesus’ response to his earlier request to see the Father. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9).
- When have you questioned as Thomas does?
- Where did your questioning lead?
The gospel cannot end with Thomas’s confession. He and the other disciples believe because they can see and touch Jesus. How do we later generations come to faith, we who are unable to touch the nail holes in Jesus’ hands or the wound in his side?
God is available in the Word. The Word has become flesh not only in the person of Jesus but in the story about him and in words spoken in his name. Sunday’s gospel concludes by expressing the reason for the writing of the gospel stories. “These have been recorded to help you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, so that through this faith you may have life in his name” (John 20.31).
The gospels do much more than preserve precious information about Jesus. The evangelists write to hand on to future generations the testimony of the earliest believers. John wants to persuade us that the God who breathed life into the first human is the God who raised up Jesus from the dead.
The God who creates is the God who comes among us in Jesus to save, heal, forgive, and make whole. Jesus continues to live among us in the gospel story, which calls us to hear and believe what we can no longer see and believe.
The Church testifies that the words of John’s gospel can be trusted: these very words awaken and sustain faith for us no less than for Thomas and Mary Magdalene and the rest of Jesus’ followers. That is why we listen to them spoken to us again and again — and why we must speak them to others. Words do things. They give the gift of life.
- What gospel story or saying makes Jesus present and available to you?
- What words of testimony persuade you to believe in Jesus?
- What words make a difference in our world?