John 20:19-31
April 16, 2023
The late humorist Erma Bombeck
has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. In one of her books she wrote
about her youngest son who, at that time, would believe any wild, fantastic,
implausible story his friends told him. But when it came to something that she,
Erma, would tell him, he always regarded her information with a certain amount of
suspicion.
One day he came to the kitchen where
she was working and asked her what day it was.
“It’s Tuesday,” she answered. He
looked at her skeptically. So, Erma continued.
“Tomorrow is Wednesday. The day
after that is Thursday. And the day after that is Friday.”
Her son continued to stare at her
doubtfully for another moment, then said,
“Are you sure?”
In the traditional interpretation of
this post-resurrection story from John’s gospel, Thomas, aka Doubting Thomas,
wasn’t sure. He probably should have believed what the other disciples told
him, but he wanted to see the truth of Jesus’ resurrection for himself.
“Unless I see the mark of the nails
in his hands, and put my fingers in the mark of the nails and my hand on his
side, I will not believe.”
For some unknown reason, Thomas was
absent when Jesus made his appearance to the rest of the disciples. They were
gathered together behind locked doors, out of fear, and suddenly Jesus was
there, standing among them.
The first words he spoke to them
were a greeting of peace.
“Peace be with you.”
Then Jesus showed the disciples his
hands and his side. And they rejoiced at seeing the Lord. Then Jesus again
greets them with his words of peace, and he proceeds to commission them for
ministry.
“As my father has sent me, so I send
you.”
As he says these words, he breathes
on them, covering them with the Holy Spirit, and giving them the authority to
forgive or retain sins. They are commissioned and empowered to share the good
news of the gospel.
Unfortunately, Thomas was not there
to witness this dramatic event – Thomas the Twin or Doubting Thomas. Doubting
Thomas – this name probably sums up the way most of us have heard this story
over the years. When I was a kid, the last thing I wanted to be told in any of
my Sunday School classes was that I was speaking or acting like a Doubting
Thomas. I didn’t really know the story of Thomas at that time, but I knew that
to be a doubter when it came to church was a bad thing. To be called Doubting
Thomas was not a compliment. That was not a nickname you wanted to be saddled
with.
Thomas doubted. He was skeptical and
he demanded tangible, physical proof that Jesus was really resurrected before
he would believe it.
But what about the others? Jesus
also appeared to them and showed them his hands and his side. Mary Magdalene
announced to them, without a trace of doubt in her voice, that she had seen the
Lord! Yet the disciples didn’t fully trust her word any more than Thomas
trusted theirs.
The disciples were hiding out in a
locked room and the sudden presence of Jesus among them surely must have
shocked and frightened them. Mary Magdalene’s report of seeing the Lord,
speaking with the Lord, and even trying to embrace him had not lessened the
disciples’ fear at his crucifixion. It had not lessened their doubt at
everything that had taken place in the last week.
It is only when Jesus appears to them
and shows his hands and his side that they believe and rejoice. They too needed
proof that Jesus was really and truly alive. Just. Like. Thomas.
But Thomas put into words what he
required for faith. As one commentator said, he set out the conditions for his
faith. He needed to see the marks of the nails on Jesus’ hands. He needed to
touch them and to touch the place where the sword pierced Jesus’ side.
So, a week later, Jesus comes again
to the disciples, to Thomas. He gives Thomas what he asked for. He gives Thomas
permission to go ahead, touch him, place his hands on the marks left by the
nails, touch his side. Go ahead, Thomas, see firsthand the proof of the
resurrection. In other words, Thomas says, “Show me.” And Jesus responds, “Here
I am.”
And it is at this moment where the
misconceptions about Thomas arise. Thomas is now seen as the cynical, skeptical
doubter who only believes when he has proof. But this text is not so much about
doubt as it is about faith.
The New Revised Standard Version of
the Bible, the version we read from, and other translations, translate Jesus as
saying, doubt. Do not doubt. But the Greek word for doubt is not used in
this story at all. The more literal translation for the verb apistos –
the word translated as doubt – is unbelieving.
Do not be unbelieving but believing.
Now maybe making a distinction
between doubt and unbelieving may seem like tomato versus tomahto,
but this distinction between doubt and unbelieving takes us in
very different directions.
Do not be unbelieving but believing.
Go from being without faith to having faith. Not having faith isn’t the same
thing as being skeptical about faith, is it? It’s not quite the same thing as
doubt. It seems to me that in order to have doubt, you also have to have, at
least a modicum, of faith to begin with.
Jesus offered to Thomas exactly what
he asked for. He told him to touch the marks of the nails on his hands and to
put his hand on Jesus’ side. Jesus offered himself as motivation, as a sign for
Thomas to believe, to have faith, to go from unbelieving to believing.
The text does not say overtly that
Thomas took Jesus up on his offer, but we do know that when Jesus offers
himself as proof and motivation for faith, Thomas utters one of the most
profound confessions of faith in all the gospels.
“My Lord and my God.”
Thomas is not exclaiming here. He is
confessing. He is confessing his faith. My Lord and my God.
Jesus responds,
“Have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe.”
Is Jesus trying to shame or scold
Thomas? That’s how this has been interpreted. Or was Jesus confirming what had
just happened? And in his confirmation, he opened the door to faith for
generations of believers yet to come. This is one of those moments in
scriptural witness when we are able to see ourselves firmly in the story. It’s
as if Jesus isn’t just speaking to the disciples gathered before him, he is
speaking to us.
I don’t believe that Jesus was
scolding Thomas for wanting to see Jesus with his own two eyes. Instead Jesus
offered hope to Thomas, to others, to us, through him. What this passages
promises all of us is that our faith is not disadvantaged because we were not
firsthand witnesses to Jesus and his ministry, his life, his death, and his
resurrection. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to
believe.” And the peace that Jesus gives to his disciples is given to us as
well.
I think it’s interesting that Thomas
doesn’t just want to see the risen Christ. He wants to see his wounds. He does
not request a glowing, ethereal being to appear before him. Instead, he wants
to see the mark of the nails and touch the wounds left behind. Jesus encourages
him to do just that. He willingly shows Thomas where he is wounded so that
Thomas will go from unbelieving to believing. What would happen if we did the
same? What would happen if we showed each other our vulnerabilities, our pain,
the places where we’ve been hurt, the scars that we bear? How would that change
how we see each other and what we believe about the other?
What would happen if we shared the
broken places in our lives? I’m not advocating that church be a place of self-obsessed
group therapy or maudlin self-revelation. I just realize that more often than
not it is in my wounded places, my broken places where I recognize Jesus’
presence in my life, not as a magic fixer of all things broken but as the One
who refuses to leave me no matter how broken and wounded I am.
Doubt and faith are not opposites,
they are two sides of the same coin. I walk the line between them every single
day. I doubt, I believe. I doubt, I believe. And it is when someone sees me in
my brokenness, my woundedness and loves me anyway, that I am reminded that
Jesus did and does the same. In those moments my faith is strengthened, and my
doubt is lessened.
What would happen if we understood that
being Easter people, people who live everyday with the resurrection firmly in
our minds and hearts, means that we are people who acknowledge that we are
wounded and we see the woundedness in others? Maybe that sounds depressing to
some, but I think it just might be liberating. Maybe it would make us kinder. Maybe
it would make us more compassionate. Maybe it would help us to remember that no
one gets through this life without
struggles, without scars. Maybe seeing one another in our woundedness would
make us better humans. And we know that in this world where broken wounded
people break and wound others, we need to be better humans. We need to strive
for the humanity that Jesus embodied.
I found a quote that said, “The
church is not a museum fore good people, but a hospital for the broken.”
Thomas’ faith grew when Jesus
willingly offered to show him his wounds. We are wounded people, and Jesus, who
was also wounded, loves us. Maybe the people beyond these doors need to hear
this message as well. Maybe that is the good news that we share, and the true
sign of the resurrection. Those who are wounded will be healed. Do not be
unbelieving but believing. Jesus is in our midst, saying, “Peace be with you.”
Let all of God’s children say,
“Alleluia.”
Amen.
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