Doubting Thomas

In the Easter story according to the Gospel of John, Jesus' resurrection, meeting of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, his ascension, his first appearance to the disciples, and Pentecost all happened on the same day and Thomas missed it all.  For reasons untold he wasn't with the other disciples hiding from the Roman authorities and grieving the death of their beloved teacher, so he was missing when Jesus appeared suddenly saying “Peace be with you,” knowing that the disciples would be afraid and need reassurance, and to see and understand that it was indeed Jesus in the room with them. Is it no wonder, then, that when Thomas returned and tried to explain how they had seen the Lord he said

“unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands and put my fingers in his side, I will not believe.” 

It was one week later that Jesus appeared to the group for the second time in that same house in the same room with the locked door, and this time Thomas was there too. Jesus greeted the disciples with the same greeting, “Peace be with you,” and then he spoke directly to Thomas. Jesus had known exactly what kind of reassurance the disciples had needed when he'd appeared to them the week before, and he knew exactly what Thomas needed in this moment. The annotation for this passage in the New Oxford Study Bible says that Jesus gives in to Thomas completely. Jesus, who only days ago had been executed, died, resurrected, ascended, appeared to the disciples and breathed the Holy Spirit into them, loved Thomas completely and gave in to him completely as if Thomas was the only person in the world. Jesus would do anything for his beloved.

Wouldn't it be amazing to be inside the story and see the look between Jesus and Thomas in that moment, because, whatever happened then, it must have been profound. According to the narrator, Thomas didn't walk over to Jesus and touch his hands and side or even get up from where he was sitting. Jesus looked at Thomas and spoke to him and Thomas was so moved in spirit as to answer “My Lord and my God!” The annotation says Thomas surrenders and honors Jesus as Lord and God. In doing so he becomes the first disciple to declare that Jesus is one with the God Mystery, concluding the gospel of John with an echoing the opening verse “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was With God, and the Word Was God.”

Jesus ends the conversation with Thomas by saying “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It has always sounded strange to me that Jesus would seemingly scold Thomas and call him out in front of the disciples in this way after showing him such love; it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. However while considering the gospel reading again over this past week I imagined that Jesus was not specifically addressing Thomas or the other disciples in the room but was perhaps for a moment thinking out loud — thinking of the future. David Lose, a theologian from Luther Seminary, takes that idea further saying that Jesus wasn't rebuking Thomas, in fact he wasn't talking to Thomas at all, Jesus was talking to us... and giving us a blessing. He says that “here, near the end, Jesus, through John's gospel, blesses us, and so establishes us in the faith.”

What would that mean for us? For each and every one of us to dare to believe that we are loved by God with that same love that Jesus had for Thomas and the other disciples... a love that knows exactly what we need before we even ask, and desires to give to us completely and to know and transform us? For each of us to be blessed by Jesus as disciples who have not seen yet have come to believe?

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Thank you, Lord, for showing us that love has ho boundaries or end
but listens, has patience, compassion, grace
and gives without counting cost.
Thank you for granting us a heart for those you love
and a willingness to step out in faith and service.
Thank you, Lord, for showing us true love can be ours to know and give. 

— John Birch, faithandworshop.com

Happy Easter!  Andrea