This past Sunday, the Lectionary found us still in the Gospel of John but now at verses 19-31 in the 20th Chapter:
John 20:19-31New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 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.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Jesus and Thomas
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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.”
26 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.” 27 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.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 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.”
The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 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.
Jesus suddenly appears among the Disciples and does so without having entered by the doorway into the locked room. It would seem that Jesus' resurrected body is something quite different than a normal human body, but that's part of another sermon for another day, so let's keep moving forward. Jesus appears and offers up the standard greeting "Peace be with you". The scripture here says that they rejoiced when they saw him, I've always been amazed at this statement. Rejoiced say you... heck, I'm pretty sure that you'd be picking me up off the floor.
Now, yes Mary Magdalene has already seen Jesus after the crucifixion, but still I'm pretty sure I'd have been in good old Thomas' wheelhouse about all of this. I'd have thought that poor old Mary just really wanted to see Jesus and her mind was playing tricks on her. It's rather like when my sister in law thought she saw her father standing in the window of the house when she pulled up after his funeral. He obviously wasn't there, her mind was just so used to seeing him standing there at that spot that a shadow or any object really would be all that was needed for her mind to paint a picture of him there. One that would seem very real for the brief few seconds that she felt she saw him.
Though obviously Thomas didn't have the benefit of the knowledge of fairly recent studies on vision and the brain concerning human sight. Humans only see in real time (actually we see nothing in 'real' time, everything you're experiencing in your mind is already part of the past by the time you process it) thin slices of the landscape before them. Our brain remembers the rest of the scene and blends it flawlessly into one large panorama. For this reason your brain guesses at parts of what we're seeing, and to do this it uses it's incredible memory of things past along with pattern recognition. It fills in the blanks so to speak and every once in a while (more often than you realize actually) what it fills in isn't really there at all.
Now this all explains thinking you've seen Jesus, it's another thing entirely claiming that you carried on a two-way conversation, that's considerably harder to explain away. Now, I'm by nature a skeptic so, I'd be inclined to think Mary was just imagining or wishfully thinking she had seen and talked to Jesus. Now all of the rest of the Disciples claiming they'd also seen and talked to Jesus... that's your run of the mill 'mass hysteria' going on, (or at least that's what I'd be thinking right along with Thomas... that's about to change for Thomas) but for now, let's get back to the scripture.
In verses 21-23 we have John's version of the great commission as well as the giving of the 'Holy Spirit', here there is no waiting for Pentecost, Jesus gives the Spirit right now and though not as specifically as in the Gospel of Matthew, he is sending the Disciples forth to spread the word of the Gospels.
Finally, we come to Thomas himself witnessing Jesus resurrected. Now, the witness of the skeptic is a witness that we can take more faith in, he (or she) is not prone to taking things at first glance they demand proof and here Thomas is presented with the opportunity to see and touch Jesus' wounds.
In the sermon, I talk about one of the youngsters in my youth group last week asking "how do we know that God is real". There are several answers to this question, I'll briefly go through them but if you want to hear more listen to the sermon.
First, we have the witness of the scriptures. For whatever reason the Disciples went from being scared men who ran away in the garden to being the same men in the book of Acts who are proud to suffer for their witness of Christ and among who Stephen is the first of many martyrs.
Next, we have the historical witness. The Jesus movement was only one of many 'messianic' movements in the beginning of the first century, but it was a movement with a couple of distinct differences. (For those that watch the sermon this is the point that skipped my mind, makes me crazy because I was thinking of it and then poof... it was gone) The first difference was that it was a movement where when the founder/leader was captured and killed it didn't die off, it kept going and actually became much stronger. Next, it was different because when the leader was killed the group didn't decide that 'oh, we were wrong it wasn't Jesus that was the Messiah, it was really his brother James, or his cousin or such'. No, here they retained the belief that Jesus was the messiah and that he had been resurrected and ascended to the throne of God. In these regards, the Jesus movement proved to be considerably different than all the many other Messianic movements of Jesus' time.
Next, we have our personal experiences. Here as I state in the sermon I have known forgiveness and grace when I was unrepentant and unapologetic; I have been loved when I was the poster child of unloving; and I have received kindness when I was the epitome of unkindness. In all of these experiences I have (though I admit I failed to see it at the time, only through looking back in reflection did I recognize these instances) witnessed the very nature of God being conveyed to me (undeserving as I was) by my family, friends and fellow human beings.
And then there is science... the most unlikely of all in many peoples opinions (both atheists and believers). But, in my opinion science demands a greater being. First of all if you have any knowledge of quantum mechanics you must be aware of the fact that quantum mechanics requires an observer... but before the evolution of human beings there was no conscious observer to obligate this requirement... unless of course there is a universal consciousness out there. For simplicity let's just call this consciousness God. Next, scientist are quickly realizing that this universe of ours is really just a 'program', for there to be a program there has to be a programmer.... for simplicity sake let's just call that programmer God.
But, most of all I know there is a God because I see Him in the eyes of all of my fellow believers... I see Him in their actions... I see Him in their perseverance through hardships and disabilities. I see Him everyday, in the eyes of the elderly, the eyes of the dying, the eyes of the child and the new born baby. I see Him all around me in the rising and setting sun.
I know He is real for he lives within me and drives my very being.
May you find yourself richly and deeply blessed this day and every day after.
Be a blessing to someone today!
In His unfailing & undying Grace!
Roy
Max Planck
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