Unbelieving Thomas

Easter 2 – St Giles Cheddington

Gospel John 20.19-32

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
All Alleluia.

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors 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 side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

You may wonder
2 great readings – Holy Spirit – preachers tend to go on about Thomas. Or ask curate to preach. Why? We want to save Holy Spirit for Pentecost on 12 June. That explains why you hear sermons on Thomas on Easter 2. I don’t want to get stuck on him, but I do want to use the opportunity to ask what it means to believe.

Thomas is stuck with moniker ‘Doubting.’ For centuries. Who can blame him for doubting – he wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to other disciples. They told him about it afterwards ‘We have seen the Lord!” Would you have believed? Or would you want more proof?

Unbelieving Thomas
More correct translation of apistos - unbelieving. Favourite word in John’s gospel. Verb not noun. Says something about what it is to believe.

When we say “We believe...” e.g. Creed – we then list number of doctrinal statements. In one God. Jesus the Son. Holy Spirit. Maker of heaven and earth. Death and resurrection of Jesus. etc

Likewise – Thomas asked to believe in resurrection of Jesus without any evidence of his own eyes. No wonder he was apistos. But there came, through Grace, a second chance. Like Lost Sheep Thomas was not abandoned. Jesus, Good Shepherd, sought him out. Then Thomas entered into relationship with risen Christ for himself. Not because of what he was told to believe. But his relationship directly with the risen Christ himself.

Instead of second chance let’s say there were two stages to Thomas’s belief. First, what he was taught to believe. We have seen the Lord. That resulted in his unbelief. Then second, he entered into a relationship and saw with his own eyes. Then he believed.

What then happened is Thomas’s testimony. Not You are the Lord. Or You are God incarnate. Instead “My Lord and my God.” Thomas’s response is personal.

Two stage belief
Thomas was not the only one to doubt. When Jesus first appeared to Mary in the garden, she tells the disciples “I have seen the Lord.” Did they immediately accept her word? Did they at once respond with That’s wonderful – now we believe Christ has risen too? No – like Thomas, they wanted more proof. Seeing is believing – then they were persuaded. Again, a two stage process.

Then there was the Samaritan woman at the well. She left her water jar, and went to tell the other villagers she had found the Messiah. It was only later, after they entered into their own relationship with him, that they truly believed.

"It is no longer what you said, but we have heard for ourselves." That was the second stage.

I am the Door
Back in chapter 10, Jesus described himself as Good Shepherd. Thomas had his second chance. So do we – and a third, fourth, fifth and so on to infinity. God’s grace knows no bounds, no limits, no last chance. But Jesus also said he was the Door, or Gate to the sheepfold.

In chapter 20, disciples behind locked doors. Same word in Greek. Thura. Jesus was the door to the sheep. And Jesus miraculously appeared in the Upper Room even though the doors were secured. He became the door to the sheep, his disciples, us.

Thomas may have thought about his previous appearance in chapter 14, when he said “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a similar answer. This time, not the Gate or the Door but “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Here again we have the second stage of belief. To really know the Father through his incarnate Son.

Challenge
On this first Sunday after Easter, the real deal is all about belief and not doubt. The belief that comes from the Holy Spirit, poured out into our hearts. Through that Spirit we can pass from the first, academic, doctrinal stage of belief to the second, personal, relational.

You can believe in the resurrection all you want – and belief in the empty tomb is an essential if you are to be a true Christian. But that’s not the point.

Like any doctrine, the resurrection is just the resurrection. It’s incredible – which is another way of saying unbelievable. It could end there, except for the second stage. This is to be in that personal relationship which accepts Jesus as the Resurrection, the Door, the Gate, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus says to us the same as he said to Thomas. Stop doubting and believe. Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

That means us. Amen