Second Sunday of Easter - Sermon text and Video
Video of Divine Service, St. Luke, Rensselaer
Acts 5:12-32
Revelation 1:4-18
John 20:19-31
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
The Apostle Thomas is a bit of a surprise. He does not distinguish himself from his peers. He is not like Simon Peter who often speaks before he thinks. Nor is he like James and John who squabble about who is the greatest. He is not part of the inner three that accompany Jesus up the mountain to witness the Transfiguration and who went further into the Garden of Gethsemane to be closer to Jesus as he prayed before his betrayal. He is not identified as unique or favored in any way by Jesus or his peers. While he is called “the twin” we do not know who his twin sister or brother is.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the names of Jesus’ Apostles. When we read through that list of names, we cannot help but notice that Thomas is listed in the middle.
Several of the Apostles have distinguishing “call” stories recorded in the gospels. For example, Jesus says to Simon Peter, James and John, “come follow me.” They left immediately and followed Jesus. The same is true for Levi, also known to us as Matthew. He was a tax collector, working at his booth, when Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Matthew immediately left his business and followed Jesus. But for Thomas, no dramatic call story comes down to us.
The closest we have is in Luke 6:12-16. Jesus had a bunch of men who were gathering around him. After a night of prayer, he felt the need to distinguish between the disciples and a smaller group that he identified as Apostles. Thomas was culled from the crowd, so to speak, and clearly identified as an Apostle.
Thomas’ words are not recorded in the first three gospels, but the Gospel of John records three words from Thomas. In the first two words, we learn something of Thomas’ character. In John 11, Jesus learns of his dear friend Lazarus’ death in the village of Bethany which is not far from Jerusalem. This is right before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The intensity of anger and resentment toward Jesus by the Pharisees, Scribes, and Elders is at its highest. It is dangerous for Jesus to go to Bethany and hence closer to Jerusalem. When Jesus decides to go to Bethany and awaken Lazarus, verse 16 says, “So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’”
Thomas is a man of courage. He does not know what is going to happen, but he is committed to Jesus. He intends to die with Jesus if necessary.
The next statement comes after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. John 13 records that after supper, Jesus washes the Apostles feet and announces that one of them will betray Jesus and that Peter will deny Jesus. In John 14, Jesus further explains that “in my Father’s house are many rooms…and I go to prepare a place for you…. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas asks the question out loud that is probably on everyone else’s mind. Verse 5 records, “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’” This was the perfect assist and lead in to one of Jesus’ defining “I AM” declarations. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Thomas is committed. He is honest. It takes courage to be willing to die with your Master. It takes courage to ask a question and risk ridicule by someone you admire and love. Commitment and honesty indicate that Thomas is a good guy, a man with a good character. But, these are hardly standout qualities.
What makes Thomas stand out is what happens after the resurrection. First, his refusal to believe his spiritual brothers. Second, his confession of faith. As a consequence of both his refusal and his confession, this incident in John 20, is read and reflected upon every second Sunday of Easter. No matter what lectionary one draws from: the historical one-year lectionary or our three-year lectionary, the Church insists that we confront this moment after the resurrection on this particular Sunday.
In the opinion of the Church, when Thomas refuses to believe his brothers in Christ that Jesus rose from the dead, does he sin? Even worse, does he commit apostasy? If Thomas had died between the Sunday evening when Jesus appeared to the ten in the room and eight days later when Jesus appeared to the eleven and Thomas saw Jesus face to face and saw his wounds, would Thomas have received an unrepentant sinner’s reward?
The answer to the theoretical question “if Thomas had died” cannot be ascertained. But, the Church has made a judgment about Thomas’ initial refusal to believe. The judgment begins with Jesus’ response. Jesus does not scold or express the slightest bit of disappointment in Thomas. When Jesus appears in the locked room, he says to Thomas and everyone else equally, “Peace be with you.” Then, he immediately invites Thomas to touch his wounds. He says, “do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Jesus’ invitation to first touch his wounds so that Thomas may authenticate what he sees and hears has led the early church to understand that Thomas’ reaction is how others might react. Thomas’ refusal to believe is met with compassion and grace rather than scorn or condemnation. A lot of people see themselves in Thomas. Jesus knows this. This is why Jesus meets Thomas with compassion.
Gregory the Great of the sixth century says, “It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the other disciples. For the touch by which he is brought to believe confirms our minds in belief, beyond all question.” (Forty Gospel Homilies 26)
Peter Chrysologus of the 5th century says: Why does the hand of a faithful disciple in this fashion retrace those wounds that an unholy hand inflicted? Why does the hand of a dutiful follower strive to reopen the side that the lance of an unholy soldier pierced? Why does the harsh curiosity of a servant repeat the tortures imposed by the rage of persecutors? Why is a disciple so inquisitive about proving from his torments that he is the Lord, for his pains that he is God, and from his wound that he is the heavenly Physician?... Why Thomas do you alone, a little too clever a sleuth for your own good, insist that only the wounds be brought forward in testimony to faith? What if these wounds had been made to disappear with the other things? What a peril to your faith would that curiosity have produced? Do you think that no signs of his devotion and no evidence of the Lord’s resurrection could be found unless you probed with your hands his inner organs that had been laid bare with such cruelty? Brothers, his devotion sought these things, his dedication demanded them so that in the future not even godlessness itself would doubt that the Lord has risen. But Thomas was curing not only the uncertainty of his own heart but also that of all human beings. And since he was going to preach this message to the Gentiles, this conscientious investigator was examining carefully how he might provide a foundation for the faith needed for such a mystery…For the only reason that the Lord had kept his wounds was to provide evidence of his resurrection.” (Sermon 84.8)
Jesus’ compassion and his invitation to Thomas allowed him to boldly make one of the best confessions in the Bible. Thomas speaks for so many people when, looking at Jesus, Thomas confesses that Jesus is “My Lord and my God!”
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
All praise, O Lord, for Thomas, whose short-lived doubtings prove, your perfect twofold nature, the fullness of your love. To all who live with questions, a steadfast faith afford; and grant us grace to know you, true man, yet God and Lord. Amen. (LSB 517 By All Your Saints in Warfare, v 6)
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The quotes from Gregory the Great and Peter Chrysologus are from pages 367-8 of Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament. IVb (2007)
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