“Again Jesus said to them “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me so I send you. Then Jesus breathed on them and said
“Receive the Holy Spirit”. Jhn: 20:21-22.
The
First Sunday after Easter is called by many Christians Thomas Sunday, for on
that Easter day when Jesus showed himself alive to his astonished Disciples,
St. Thomas was not present. This is not a condemnation of St. Thomas, rather is
symbolic showing us the great Commission which the Lord Jesus has placed upon
all Christians in every and in all ages.
After that glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus and
the showing of himself alive to his Disciples on that first Easter evening.
After our Lord, through the showing of his hands, feet and wounded side,
demonstrated unquestionably to be that very same Jesus who they had known for
so long, who taught them and showed them the glories of the Kingdom of God,
after he was witnessed by the Disciples to be his very self and declared peace
upon and to them, he came again this time to reveal the very mission of their,
and all followers of our Lord, lives individually and collectively.
St. John records the words of our Lord at his first
post-Resurrection manifestation on that First Easter to the assembled Disciples
there in that Upper Room.
“and Jesus came
and stood among them and said “Peace be to you”Jhn:20:19c
Our Lord then makes an important and highly symbolic
gesture toward those amazed Disciples, and accompanies it with his intent and
reassurance to them, and all his followers, the Church, throughout the ages, and reveals his purpose
for coming and giving them the conformation of his Resurrection, which confirms
his words, and verifies Jesus’ divine identity.
So
I Send You
In St. John’s narrative he tells us of this moment, a
moment which in truth transcends itself and speaks to us all and in every age
in which we live. This moment is for us all who come to see, to believe in
Jesus, that is, he has revealed himself to us, as having come again from the
grip of death and now lives in glory. That, very Jesus has stood before us and
declared his peace to us and showed us his wounds of the Crucifixion and death.
We have come to believe and to have experienced the
reality of his risen life, we have seen that Jesus who was dead is alive now
for evermore.
After our Lord conclusively proved that it was he,
Jesus then again spoke his peace to them and reveals his purpose for them and
his sure affirmation of his divine assistance and presence in the fulfilling of
their heavenly appoint commission.
“Again Jesus said
to them “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you. Then Jesus
breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”. (21-22)
Jesus gives the Disciples his purpose in the revealing
of himself alive from the grip of death.
“as the Father
has sent me so I send you”(21b)
Jesus has
revealed himself so that they, and Disciples throughout the ages, the Church,
might have the godly confidence that Jesus is alive, as they, and we, enter
into his divine undertaking.
“Peace
be with you” (21a)
And by way of
the agency of the Holy Spirit Jesus is with them, and we, and will empower his
Disciples to accomplish his work entrusted to them, in the very same manner as
he was in his time upon the Earth, and that they might deeply know that words,
the Gospel message about Jesus, which they proclaim to the yet unbelieving,
world is true.
“receive you the
Holy Spirit” (22b)
Jesus’ peace abides with they, and we all when we face
opposition, and that the Disciples of the Lord can know that the ultimate
outcome will be for their good, and that the yet unbelieving world can
experience the salvation wrought by Jesus for us all, and that our Lord and God
will be glorified.
We, like they, who have touched the wounds in his hands
feet and side and have seen Jesus alive from the dead so-to-speak, are to go
forth without fear and witness the truth that we have seen Jesus alive from the
dead even as those Disciples did so long ago.
St.
Thomas Not There
Now, it had been, when our Lord Jesus came and stood
among them there even as they hid in fear behind closed doors on that first Easter
evening, one of their company, St. Thomas, was not present and did not witness
that glorious revealing of our Lord Jesus’ Holy self to his beloved followers.
‘But
Thomas (called the twin) one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came” (24)
When St. Thomas rejoins the group in the Upper Room,
the other Disciples were unable to contain their joy at now knowing that their
Lord and friend Jesus was now come again from the cold darkness of the grave
and death and that he has come among them.
“the
other Disciples told Thomas, “we have seen the Lord” (25a)
Unless
I See the Wounds
When the joyful Disciples relay to St. Thomas the
message that they have “seen the Lord”,
that is, they have first had witnessed the truth of his glorious Resurrection,
that Jesus is risen from the dead, that Jesus lives.
When St. Thomas first hears this glorious report of
Jesus’ Resurrection, he is, at first, hesitant to believe it on face value of
the Disciples word alone. St. Thomas has not yet experienced Jesus’ Resurrected
life for himself, St. Thomas wants his own experience with the living Jesus.
“But
Thomas said to them “Unless I see the wounds left by the nails in his hands,
and put my finger into the wounds of the nails , and put my hand into the wound
of his side, I will not believe”(25)
Jesus
Among Them
The week now passes until once again as they gather
together in that Upper Room, and all are now present, including St. Thomas and
is still set on his hesitation to embrace the truth that his fellow Disciples
have experienced.
Then upon first day of the week, one week after that
first Easter, in the midst of the gathering of the Disciples, our Lord manifest
himself to them even as they were behind a closed door and stands among them.
Again joyfully startled by the sudden appearance of
Jesus, he then declares again his peace upon his Disciples to calm their fears
and uncertainties.
“a
week later his Disciples were again in
the house and Thomas was with them. And although the doors were locked, Jesus
came and stood among them and said to them “Peace be with you” (26)
Put
Your Finger Here
Jesus then gently and graciously deals with his
hesitant friend and Disciple St. Thomas who stand among them seeing now the
divine truth of the Resurrected Jesus. Jesus does this by giving St. Thomas
what he himself stated that he would require to believe the others Disciples
report about Jesus.
St. Thomas
wanted to see that the one who the Disciples spoke about as alive was the very
same one who had been crucified the evidence would be the wounds inflicted by
the cruel and bitter death by which St. Thomas knew Jesus had experienced, as
St. Thomas had said “Unless I see the
wounds left by the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds of the
nails, and put my hand into the wound of his side, I will not believe”.
Jesus accommodates his hesitant Disciple, not, to in
any way, to shame, berate or humiliate St. Thomas or to dismiss him in anyway,
but rather, Jesus is motivated only by the divine Holy love of God which he
demonstrated, there upon the cross of Calvary for all humanity.
Jesus himself provides the evidence of which turns St.
Thomas’ hesitation into glorious certainty and worship and confession of the
Holy truth that Jesus is Resurrected and now lives glorified.
Jesus approaches St. Thomas and extends his wounded
hands and offers his wounded side to show his Disciple that the ones who lives
is the very some who died there upon the bloody Cross that Good Friday.
“Then
Jesus said to Thomas “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out and put
it in my side. Believe and do not doubt.” (27)
When presented with the truth shown to him by Jesus
himself, St. Thomas filled with the secure knowledge that his Lord and friend
lives and is now found among them, he responds with his confession which echoes
in all of time and eternity.
“And
Thomas answered Jesus “My Lord and my God” (28)
We
Have Seen the Lord
Recall at the very onset of St. John’s account the
risen Lord Jesus comes and stands among them and tells the assembled Disciples
that he is come to them showing himself to be Resurrected and that he is
placing upon them a Holy calling sending his empowered Disciples forth and in
so doing he is them into participation into the calling which his Holy Father
placed upon his divine Son, “as the
Father has sent me so I send you”.
What is the very heart of message that we, like the Disciples,
are sent forth to proclaim to all around us for which our Lord has given to us?
The answer is found in the report given to St. Thomas by the other Disciples.
What was the focus of the report to the then absent St. Thomas when he rejoined
the assembled Disciples at a later time?
“We
have seen the Lord”.
This is the very heart of the message, the good news,
the Gospel which they shared with St. Thomas. This has been the message
throughout the ages, which the Disciples of Jesus are to give to the hesitant
world around us, that “we have seen the
Lord”, maybe not with eyes of our sight but surely with the eyes of the
Spirit and our hearts. This is the very same message which was given to St. Thomas
and for which we are sent into the broader community of the world.
Our risen Lord
has “breathed on” us as he did the
Disciples gathered in that Upper Room, giving us the Holy Spirit and Jesus then
sends us forth into the ends of the Earth to tell others that Jesus is risen
from the dead, “that we have seen the
Lord” even if they, like St. Thomas initially is hesitant to believe it.
We, his Disciples, the followers of the Lord are, each
time we gather together or in our private times of worship and prayer, handling
the risen Lord, touching his wounds. St. John was recalling the moments when
our Lord had shown himself alive to his followers, when the aged Apostle wrote
his fist General Epistle to Christians around 85AD.
“What
was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life” 1Jhn:1:4
St. John then proceeds to tell us why and the other Apostles
shared their experiences with the Resurrected Jesus through the Gospel message
which they proclaimed over Erath and down through the centuries.
“and
the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the
eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-what we have
seen, and heard we also proclaim to you also, so that you too may have
fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son
Jesus Christ” (2-3)
What St. John is
telling all believers is, that he and the other Disciples “have seen the Lord” and they are telling us about it so that we
might share in the experiences, that is, we will have fellowship, that is we
like they, can look upon and handle the wounds and know that Jesus lives and is
come from the dead. That one who eternally stands before us is the one who laid
within the tomb. That Jesus has “tasted death for all”, as Hebrews tells
us.
My
Lord and My God
We, the Disciples of the Lord, the Church, are to
continually come together where, our Lord is even now manifesting himself to us
in the midst of the assembled Church. Jesus does this to give us ongoing
confirmation that he is among us and that he lives. This is so that when we
assemble we find our Lord always there among us declaring “Peace be with you”. We can
be at peace because he lives, Jesus shows us his wounds which are the eternal evidence
that Jesus is, as St. Paul would write.
“Is
our Peace”.Eph:2:14
And Jesus’ wounds which he holds forth for our inspection
are that eternal evidences of this divine truth and reveal to us all for time
and eternity that one very one who stands before us alive is the very same one
who died and entered into death for us all.
It was his wounds offered to St. Thomas which proved to
the hesitant Disciple that it was Jesus himself. St. Thomas wanted to believe,
but he wanted his own experience with Jesus which our Lord graciously gave to
him. This is an important lesson for all Disciples of the Lord, especially to
those who are ordained to proclaim the Gospel to consider, that we, like the Disciples
who encountered Jesus among them and told absent St. Thomas about the encounter
could not make St. Thomas believe the report, it would require Jesus himself to
graciously show the hesitant in the world around us that he lives. We can only
speak about as St. John wrote: “what we
have seen, and heard we also proclaim to you”, to the St.Thomases in the
world around us but only the Lord Jesus can through the Holy Spirit show them
his wounds and they believe and worship Jesus.
We are called and given the certainty that our Lord
Jesus has risen from the dead and sent forth into the world to proclaim to all
the Holy truth that “we have seen the
Lord” so that all might join in fellowship
of the risen Lord and share is the confession of St. Thomas “My Lord and My God”.
This is a lesson of the Season of Easter that we are sent forth by our Lord to declear that he lives.
Benediction: May
we each and all ever look upon the wounds of our Lord Jesus who shows himself
alive risen from the dead, that we might forever declare that “we have seen the Lord” so that all
around us might join in the confession of St. Thomas “My Lord and My God”, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
The Fountain of life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion 2101 Old National Pike. Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301
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