“Believing Thomas"
Noel K. Anderson
First Presbyterian Church of Upland
John 20:19-29 New Revised Standard Version
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.” 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.”†
Seven Stanzas at Easter
As we carry Easter forward, I want to share with a poem by multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike:
Seven Stanzas at Easter
Make no mistake:
if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers,
each soft spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh; ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart that--pierced--died,
withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable,
a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages;
let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back, not papier-maché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.
And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.
Crushed by Remonstrance
That’s a great concluding phrase, “crushed by remonstrance.” In case you’re not sure what remonstrance is, it is the demonstration of proof. It is the living, resurrected, body and being of Christ standing before you when you were certain he was dead and in the grave. Remonstrance is the full shame of Good Friday and Holy Saturday upon those who disbelieved—who just waited to see what might happen if anything. Remonstrance is the Second Coming when humankind will see him whom they pierced in glory and the full power of God. Remonstrance is Judgment Day—the moment each one of us may encounter the living Christ, as Mary Magdalene did at the tomb and as Thomas does today.
Jesus is Multidimensional
In the resurrection, Jesus has put on immortality. He appears and disappears, but not as a ghost. Jesus’ resurrected body is a physical body like yours and mine, and it is much more. Jesus is multi-dimensional. While he appears locally and bodily in these resurrection accounts, he is not confined to space and time as during his incarnation. This Jesus is present in all time, all of space, and all worlds—even all at once.
He appears within a locked room—certainly scaring the Disciples witless—and says to them, “Shalom!” Shalom literally means “peace be with you” but it is exactly like saying, “Hi!” It is an enormous understatement (bathos) not without humor. He breathes on the Disciples—imparting the Holy Spirit—and commissions them for his work. We can only imagine how that must have felt. It no doubt changed them all forever.
Jesus appears to some
Some—not all—of the Disciples see him. Thomas is not there; where is he? Has he gone off to be on his own after the crucifixion? Was he out running an errand? We don’t know. We just know he wasn’t there. One take-home from this is to acknowledge that Jesus does not reveal himself in the same way to everyone.
Some, like Paul, saw him with their own eyes and are knocked down by the experience. That may be true for some of you here (and I’d sure love to hear your stories!).
Other Disciples and followers saw him in the flesh with their human eyes. That must have been nice. I think we sometimes envy those who were first-hand eyewitnesses because, in many ways, we are like Thomas and have a tough time believing things we don’t see ourselves. Much like Thomas, most of us have to rely on the testimony of others.
Trusting the Testimony of Others
Thomas knew these guys. When they say, “We have seen him!” we have to believe that they did so with utterly believable conviction. Thomas knew when these guys were lying and when they were telling the truth. He knew them, and here they are, faces beaming with the truth, pleading with Thomas eager-heartedly to believe the good news, and Thomas tells them he’s having none of it. No way.
Did he know they were not kidding? Did he at some level not want to believe? Perhaps he felt a little resentment that Jesus appeared to them instead of him? “I was morose—nearly suicidal—so why didn’t Jesus come to me?”
A lot of people have asked this question in the same way whenever they hear about the resurrection. “If Jesus is alive, then why doesn’t he simply show himself to me?” “It’s fine for you that he’s revealed himself to you, but am I supposed to believe just because you believe? No way.”
How frustrating for the other disciples. “Thomas, come on! What’s the matter with you?” And, as well-meaning friends can do, they keep hounding him until they push him to the breaking point.
Thomas’ Big, Bad Dare
Fed up, or just no longer wanting to be hounded by the other disciples, Thomas throws down the gauntlet. Verse 25:
“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.”
To say, “I just want to see for myself” is sufficient, but Thomas lays down a big, bad dare. “Unless I can put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Consider just how gruesome—how gross—this is. It seems to me he is really trying to shut the other guys up. I imagine it worked. What could they say to that but, “Oh, Thomas, really?”
Thomas: crushed by Remonstrance
So a week later, they’re all gathered together—Thomas with them—and Jesus appears. “Shalom,” he says. He walks up to Thomas, holds forth his hands, and says, “Okay, Thomas—you go right ahead—put your fingers in my wrists. And here, [Jesus lifts the edge of his tunic] give me your hand.” I don’t think Jesus just left it at that; I suspect he actually made Thomas follow through with his big, bad dare. I imagine Jesus grabbing Thomas’ hand, and while Thomas’s wide-open eyes and sagging jaw are taking in the scene, Jesus pulls his hand and places it in his side. Thomas tries to yank his hand back, but Jesus takes hold of his index finger and places it into the hole in his wrist. This is gruesome, but Thomas certainly asked for it. Thomas is crushed by remonstrance, and rightly says to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
What else might he want to have said? “I’m sorry—I didn’t know!” That’s what we all say to remonstrance.
We know remonstrance and live with it in our daily lives. The crush of remonstrance makes us say to ourselves, “I should have known better” or “I’m so ashamed; I didn’t know!” We didn’t know that guy who we think is weird and who we make fun of with others is one bravely struggling to overcome autism, or that very strange young lady who seems so angry and brittle was sexually abused throughout her childhood. No one knew that the socially-awkward co-worker was taking care of his invalid mother and sacrificing sleep and social life for her benefit. And when we find out, we all say, “If only I had known, I would have treated him or her differently.” That is the crush of remonstrance.
We should have known better. Should have simply treated that person with respect, understanding, and love. Even if we don’t understand—especially when we don’t—still, we should be treating her with respect and love.
We should have known that Jesus was who he said he was. We must believe the testimony or suffer a crushing remonstrance that can last forever.
the Blessing
Jesus’ final word is a blessing. Verse 29:
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
That is for us. We come to believe by hearing the Word rather than by seeing. We are enabled to see Christ through the testimony of others, just as the first Christians who were not eyewitnesses.
It is up to us to tell the world that Christ is risen, that he lives, and that he is our Lord and God. We should have the same believable conviction on our faces that the Disciples had when they told Thomas. We don’t have to hound them into reactionary mode, but we must tell them the truth about Jesus and otherwise trust Jesus to reveal himself to them as he has done to us.†
- What is the significance of the details John writes about Jesus’ actions and the circumstances?
- What does Jesus mean when he tells the disciples he is sending them out just as the Father sent him?
- How would you react if Jesus appeared to you following his resurrection?
- Why is the resurrection of Jesus so important to his believers now?
- The theme of the New Creation has repeated again in vs. 22-23. In what practical ways do his followers forgive and retain sins-extending Jesus’ forgiveness to others while warning the world of sin?
- Considering the character of Thomas, why is vs.28 so significant?
- How do Jesus’ words in vs.29 apply to us as believers in this time?
- How are we like the disciples in our faith? How can this help us as we live a life of discipleship