“Choosing Peace”
John 20.19-31
April 19, 2020
{Grammatical Caveat: Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation (i.e., are written for the ear), the written accounts occasionally deviate from proper and generally accepted principles of grammar and punctuation. Most often, these deviations are not mistakes per se but are indicative of an attempt to aid the listener in the delivery of the sermon.}
In 2013 I had the fortunate experience to travel to Kerala, India, to study spirituality and social justice as part of my Master of Arts in Spirituality program through Bellarmine University. For sixteen days, we traveled up, down, and all-around Kerala, learning from spiritual masters of the great world religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Jainism, to name a few. At the intersection of all these world religions, I saw a harmony I haven't experienced anywhere else. The faith of the human family is beautiful, especially in the various ways we express it.
The connection of India to today’s worship is the Apostle Thomas. According to tradition, it was Thomas who took the Good News of Jesus Christ east to India. The picture on today's bulletin cover is a shrine to Thomas at the harbor where Thomas first landed sometime around 52 C.E. The Apostle Thomas went throughout India proclaiming the good news, starting seven churches, four of which I visited while I was there. For a person known for their ‘doubts,’ Thomas had a remarkable faith that took him to the ends of the earth proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thomas is one of my favorite apostles. Not only because I have stood where he stood preaching and baptizing the first Christians in India, but also because his faith story seems the most relatable. Did you notice how it took time for Thomas to believe the news of Christ's resurrection? We give Thomas the title 'doubting,' but let's not forget he was the one who said, "Let us go with Jesus, and die with him," as Jesus made his way to Jerusalem. Labeling people is not always helpful, so let us not do it to Thomas. More importantly, if we focus too much on 'doubting' Thomas, we might miss the gift the Risen Christ gives to the disciples by way of a body that refuses to hide its suffering, its sorrow, its brokenness.
Hours have passed since the first Apostle, Mary, proclaimed the good news to them that she met the Risen Christ in the garden. The disciples are afraid, scared of what might happen to them now that the body of Jesus is missing. Amid the confusion, the chaos, and the stomachs churning with uncertainty and fear, Christ appears to them and says, "Peace be with you," and then shows them his wounds. As they rejoice, Christ speaks peace to them once more, only to add more to his greeting. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you," the Wounded Healer says and breathes the Holy Spirit into them.
Amidst this peaceful exchange, images of God breathing creation into life come to mind. In Genesis 2:7, God breathed into human nostrils God’s breath, the breath of life and humankind came alive, alive with God's new life. God breathes a valley of dry bones back to life in Ezekiel 37. Now, in the new creation, the restoring life of God is breathed out through Jesus (v. 22), making new people of the disciples, and, through them, offering this new life to the world. Jesus promised to give the disciples his peace at the last supper, and now by the Holy Spirit, they receive it.
Herein lies perhaps the most critical component of this story. In the giving of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, the Risen Christ makes them one. The instructions for the disciples after their equipping of the Spirit is to forgive the sins of any. In this teaching, the Risen Christ once again brings back an extraordinary memory—the washing of the disciples' feet. Jesus tells the disciples that they should wash one another's feet as he has washed theirs. He is an example, and they should do it to one another as he has done to them. His washing of feet symbolizes the forgiveness of daily post-baptismal sins. So, if the disciples do as he has done, they will forgive one another as he forgives them. The great commandment to love is the core teaching of this new creation—and in this context, to forgive one another is to love one another. By forgiving each other's sins and not retaining them, the disciples prevent the most significant obstacle to their life together—the undoing of Christ's peace.
At all costs, the disciples are to love extravagantly so that the world will know God's love. The Risen One gives the Holy Spirit to the disciples so that they will be one, and the world will know they are God's own. The mission is made possible by the power of the Spirit, who simultaneously represents the continuing presence of the Risen Christ with the disciples and the creative power of God always at work to enliven creation itself. The explicit purpose of this Spirit-breathed mission is to offer a new life promised by the Risen Christ.
Of course, all of this happens without one of the disciples being there, Thomas. The story goes that after Christ greets, equips, and instructs the disciples, they tell Thomas who doesn’t believe them. Thomas, the dour, dogged disciple who suggested they might as well go with Jesus if only to die with him (11:16), who complained that Jesus hadn't made things anything like clear enough (14:5), just happened to be the one who was somewhere else on Easter day. He sees the others excited, elated, unable to contain their joy. Thomas will require hard, physical evidence to believe. Which is, if you think about it, what happened to other disciples. After all, Mary told them about Jesus, but they didn't believe it until Christ showed them his wounds. If anything, Thomas is only requesting the same assurance Christ offered the other disciples a week earlier. It isn't that Thomas doubts, but that he needs to know that the one in their midst now is the one who called them together when it all started.
Hard evidence is what Thomas gets. Again behind locked doors a week later, Christ appears to them; and once more, offers them peace. The Risen Christ turns to Thomas and says, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." While we do not know if Thomas touches the wounds, we do know this, Thomas is the first to declare Christ as God. Thomas had seen Jesus, and now he experiences the Risen Christ—and believes what he sees. The journey for Thomas took time. He didn't believe right away. What the disciples told him didn't make sense. He needed to experience it himself. He needed to hear the Risen Christ assure him of his faith.
Thomas, like you and me, wrestled with the mystery of the resurrection, and was unafraid to name is skepticism. The Risen Christ responded to it not by shaming or scolding Thomas. Instead, the Risen Christ meets Thomas right where he is, freely offering the disciple the testimony of his wounds, his pain. Love is patient and kind, slow to anger, and healing.
On Thomas Sunday, we receive the assurance that sometimes, we have to go a different route to arrive at faith. We receive comfort, knowing that our faith might be wounded, tested, and even, at times, full of uncertainty. We remember that faith looks and feels different for everyone and that it is okay. The truth, friends, is that we can be a resurrection people, while also being a hurting people. No matter where we are in our journey of faith in this particular season, this year especially, the scarred body of the Risen Christ speaks with great power, tenderness, mercy, and truth. Allow them to speak to you.
The story of Thomas is a remarkable one when we free him from the title of doubting. It is a story of faith, yes, but it is also one of what it means to be human in the midst of considerable uncertainty. It is a story about the gifting of the Spirit to us and how we have the power to bring peace to the lives of our family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and even our enemies. Moreover, it is a story about the Risen Christ coming to us at all costs to bring us peace, no matter how strong or weak we may feel.
Above all, it is a story about despite our brokenness, our weakness, our uncertainties, we know Christ's glory because the Spirit is guiding us there during these hard times, dubious days, and season of separation. Mary Magdalene, Thomas, and the disciples knew these feelings, too. Even in their despair, but only after Christ offered it to them, did they choose peace. By choosing peace, they came to embrace the resurrection. The same Christ who stood before them, stands before us, offering his wounds so that we might know peace, too. Choose it, friends. And let love breathe new life into you, allow your faith to blossom, and let resurrection happen all over again!
May it be so. Amen.
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