Jesus Appears to the Disciples!

Last week we celebrated the Feast of Easter the oldest and most important feast of the church year.  But Easter is not over, in fact it lasts for fifty days.  Eastertide is a season of celebration and joy as we reflect on God's divine act of forgiveness and liberation; the new life that is offered to us in Jesus' death and resurrection.  All four gospels tell post-resurrection stories, they begin with Mary Magdalene who meets Jesus near the tomb where he was buried.  This week we hear the story of his first appearance to the disciples.  We take time to reflect on the wonder, the disbelief, the questions, the grace of Christ who appears to his followers with peace, with forgiveness, with an invitation to Follow Him.

This week our text is from John 20:19-29, in our Sunday School curriculum the text is titled: "Doubting Thomas"- this might be how you know the text as well.  However, when we tell the story with the two words, "Doubting Thomas" it is very easy to hear it in a negative light or to miss the grace and mercy in this story of Christ's appearing.  So perhaps when we might simply call it Seeing and Believing?  I will leave that with you to decide.

Our text today records that the disciples are on lock down. They have heard Mary's report - she has seen the risen Lord, she has heard his voice, wrapped her arms around him.  They gather together disoriented and weighed down; unsure of how to proceed.  They are desperately afraid of the religious authorities who have just crucified Jesus, they are ashamed of how this has all unfolded, how they deserted and denied Jesus.  They might even be afraid to see him, after all what might he say to them?  The doors are locked.  And yet despite this fact, Jesus comes into their midst and he says "Peace be with you." The words echo back from the Last Supper, "My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid." But this time the words carry a different weight, Jesus is offering peace as the resurrected one, the one who has suffered and prevailed.  He is in their midst and his first words to them do not express disappointment, his words to do not shame them or make them feel guilty. Instead Jesus offers peace and forgiveness unburdening the disciples; relief and joy washing over them.

The disciples are loved and chosen by God and in the room, with their hands in his, they know who he is - their Saviour.  Maybe the words of Isaiah were running through their minds "He was wounded by our transgressions and by his wounds we are healed." Perhaps they were thinking back to all  the people Jesus healed with his hands, with his breath, with words.  And now Jesus breathes on them, the life giving breath of God, the Holy Spirit.  And Jesus gives them a task: to forgive others as they have been forgiven.  They know the power of forgiveness, they had been locked in a room, afraid and ashamed and now they are sent out into the world - free, to love and forgive as Christ has.  The transformational life of the Spirit is at work in them and in us!  The work of forgiveness is all of ours as followers of Jesus; we pray how Jesus taught us when we say, "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."  Forgiveness is the hard work and the gift that transforms relationships and frees us from fear and sin.

Thomas is the only one not present in the room with them; for some reason, he is absent.  And when the disciples tell him what has happened he cannot simply believe upon their report.  Maybe he too just wants to see Jesus and touch him one more time, to see his resurrection body with his own eyes.  We don't know what his disbelief is all about.  But we can often identify in ourselves a refusal to believe, can't we?  Sometimes it is the refusal to believe that we can be forgiven or loved by God - we can even keep serving God, still not believing.  Sometimes disbelief or misconceptions about who God is makes it hard for us to recognize Jesus.  Sometimes we have hard questions that we need to wrestle with  and we need a place where there is room for faith and for our hardest questions.  Maybe Thomas isn't that different than Mary or the disciples or us.  In our story today, Jesus comes to Thomas, again the disciples are gathered behind closed doors and he offers his peace; he shows Thomas his hands and his sides.  It is an act of mercy, of love.  Thomas recognizes this and exclaims: "My Lord and My God."  The last two verses of this chapter read, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life in His name." (John 20:30,31)  Belief that brings us into life - this is the good news of Eastertide!

The students might also be curious about the body of the resurrected Christ.  We read that he could pass through doors in this chapter which is very curious.  And yet he was not ghostlike, he could be touched and was recognizable; he ate with the disciples on the beach.  So his body was like ours and yet not like ours.

Here is an image by Caravaggio, you might want to share with students this Sunday.

A blog I like had some great ideas that pick up on the idea of recognizing Jesus, just as Thomas and Mary and the disciples recognized Jesus.  Check out them out over here:
Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

And a poem for you, by Luci Shaw:

Open
John 20:19, 26

Doubt padlocked one door and
Memory put her back to the other.
Still the damp draught seeped in, though
Fear chinked all the cracks and
Blindness boarded up the window,
In the darkness that was left
Defeat crouched in his cold corner.

Then Jesus came
(all doors being shut)
and stood among them.