Practicing Resurrection
A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter
April 24, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
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." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 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."
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." 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 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."
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 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. John 20:19-31
Last Sunday we celebrated the Resurrection of Christ. We were gathered rather snugly in this room, and it was filled with joy. It’s been a week now, how’s your joy holding up? Have you been practicing Resurrection? There are some people missing from this room today, yet the light of the Resurrection lingers, even as the challenges and fears of daily life have resumed.
This morning we hear a continuation of the Resurrection account from John’s gospel. As John tells the Easter story, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene at the tomb and when she recognizes him she goes to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” It doesn’t appear that the disciples believed Mary Magdalene because that very evening we find the disciples locked in fear behind closed doors. Now the text says they were afraid of the Jews, but it was the religious authorities they feared, not all of the Jews, because they themselves were Jews.
But I suspect that it’s more likely they were afraid of the unknown. What would happen to them now that things had suddenly changed and Jesus was no longer with them? What were they going to do now? And were they next on the list to be captured and crucified? What did the Resurrection mean for them now?
And as they sat there with fear and anxiety churning in their stomachs, Jesus appeared. It didn’t matter that they had locked the door or that they hadn’t really believed Mary Magdalene when she told them she had seen the Lord. There he was, in the midst of their fear, saying “Peace be with you” as he showed them his hands and his side – showed them the wounds that had caused his death three days earlier.
In the presence of Jesus the risen Lord, the disciples moved from fear to joy, and they began to believe. But Jesus did not intend for them to remain locked inside the house keeping all that joy to themselves. His next words to them are, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus commissions the community to go out, to continue doing all that the Father had sent him to do, loving, serving, and forgiving others. And then Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
But there was a disciple missing that evening - Thomas. I think it’s worth noting that he was not locked in the house in fear. We have no way of knowing what Thomas was doing, but for all we know he was out looking for a way to believe. Before we go labeling Thomas as a doubter, recall that the other disciples were locked up tight in fear until Jesus appeared to them and showed them his wounds. Was Thomas doubting or was he questioning? Thomas asked for no more than what the others had already received.
It’s helpful to know that John uses the verb “to believe” 98 times, far more than the other three Gospels combined. John never uses the noun, because for John believing is not simply assenting to facts, or accepting something at face value. Belief is an activity, a progression over time into the life of Jesus. So in John’s Gospel, believing is a fundamental openness of heart. It is to trust that our experiences, no matter how frightening or costly they appear to be, are part of our coming to believe, even when we are afraid or unsure of the truth.
To believe in Jesus is to accept him, to follow him, and to grow in discipleship. The Resurrection is not, for us, a one-time event that we must believe in order to be saved, but rather an invitation into new and unending life in Christ. It is an invitation that calls us to practice Resurrection every day of our earthly life. This is why we tell the story over and over, to remind us. It’s why we celebrate the Resurrrection each week at the communion table.
A week later, Jesus again appears to the disciples, and this time Thomas is there, but notice that the disciples are still behind closed doors. So, we see how this whole believing thing is not instantaneous but takes some practice! Jesus again says, “Peace be with you” and then he gives all of his attention to Thomas. He does not rebuke him or praise him, but instead, Jesus invites him to move beyond his unbelief, he invites Thomas to touch the wounds in his hands and side. Jesus gives Thomas the sign he needs – what Thomas needs in order to believe, and Thomas can then go out in the world to practice Resurrection.
The good news is that Jesus meets us where we are…. because each of us comes to believe differently. We come to believe by hearing the story, or hearing a personal testimony, a sermon, or a prayer. We come to believe as we receive the holy food and drink from this table, hear a particular piece of music, see the Grand Canyon, gaze at fine art, or spend time in nature – all very different yet very valid ways to come to believe in the Resurrection power of new life.
I offer to you that many of us have come to believe as we have watched Mark and Linda practice Resurrection in their life over the past years. Those of us here for Mark’s service on Friday witnessed dozens and dozens of people practicing Resurrection as they helped create a beautiful celebration of Mark’s life in Christ.
Like the disciples, we have come together as a community of believers. Like those first disciples we experience fear and times when there is little or no joy, times when we might not believe one another or believe all that Jesus has promised.
When we were here last week celebrating Easter we were, for the most part, able to believe if only for a day, in the amazing power of the Resurrection. But the events of our lives often pull us back into our locked rooms of fear and unbelief.
What has you locked in fear this week? Maybe you doubt that a relationship will survive, or that your friend can overcome her addiction or his depression. Maybe it’s an existential angst over the conflict in Europe or politics in our own country. Perhaps it’s fear of the unknown.
For the disciples and for us, what empowers us to overcome fear and nudges us out of our locked rooms is the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathes on us, filling us with the Spirit. It’s this power of the Spirit that sends us out, helping us believe that we can accomplish all that God has given us to do. Jesus knows we need reminders. He had to speak peace three times in this passage alone to his disciples!
What better reminder that God is present with us than our very own breath? The breath of life at creation that God breathed into man and woman when God formed them from dust, the breath God breathed into the dry bones that they might live, and the breath of the Spirit that Jesus breathed into his disciples.
Whenever we are afraid or anxious, whenever we need help believing that God is in the midst of our current crisis, pain, or uncertainty, if we will remember to breathe, to be still in prayer with God and simply breathe, we will be reminded that in both our believing and in our unbelieving, God is with us.
We are not meant to stay locked up in this house. We are empowered by the Spirit to go out of the house and practice Resurrection.
Doubting Thomas, Nicolas Piliero
Title Image: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas,Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
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