"THANK YOU, THOMAS"

“THANK YOU, THOMAS”

            The Risen Jesus makes many appearances in the four Gospel accounts, and in John 20, which was part of yesterday’s lectionary readings, he makes three appearances.   The first was to Mary Magdalene, who is the primary witness to the Resurrection.  The second comes to the disciples who are huddled in fear in a room that same night – the males have chosen not to believe Mary when she tells them: “I have seen the Lord!”  They are now stuck in Jerusalem, abandoned by their crucified teacher, afraid to make a move.  Will they be arrested next?  Will they be crucified next?

            Then Risen Jesus appears to them in the room, bringing a profound greeting in a fear-dominated, violence-dominated, money-dominated world:  “Peace be with you!”  It is great and freeing news – at the center of their world is not Rome, but the Risen Jesus.  John’s Gospel makes a point of telling us that Thomas was not present at this second appearance of the Risen Jesus.  When the other disciples tell him, as Mary had told them previously, “We have seen the Lord!”, Thomas responds with words that have marked him forever:  “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hand, unless I can put my finger in his side, I will not believe.”  Thomas has come to be known as “Doubting Thomas,” because he is so skeptical.  He knows that things like Resurrection and new life don’t happen in our kind of world.  At best, all that “Resurrection talk” is only about life after death, and at worst, it’s just Marx’s idea of the opiate of the people, to help us deal with all the deluge and debris of life – violence and greed and domination and injustice.   Thomas knows that death rules over Jesus – it’s over.  Jesus is dead, crucified by Rome.  Rome rules – Hail, Caesar!

            And, we probably should not be chastising Thomas for his doubts – we should be thanking him instead.  Because he speaks for us too.  We should be thankful that the Biblical narrative is not an heroic saga of women and men who are always strong, always on target:  the biblical view is that the first disciples were a lot like us.  We long to believe in a Risen Jesus, but our hearts and imaginations are captured by death.  Like Thomas, our inability to believe is not a matter of rebellion.  It’s a matter of the way we see the world – how we see ourselves, how we see others, how the power systems work, how we see reality.  Like Thomas, the power of death makes us unable to believe in a Risen Jesus, unable to believe in a new order.  We long to hear “Peace be with you,” but we believe “Peace won’t be with you, friends – it’s dominate or be dominated.”  Thomas lives where we live, and so we should be saying “Thank You, Thomas,” instead of “Doubting Thomas.”

            But, the story tells us that the Risen Jesus is coming for Thomas.  John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus appears for a third time a week later, and this time Thomas is in the room where it happens.  The Risen Jesus knows the struggles of Thomas, and he knows our struggles.  The Risen Jesus invites Thomas into this new world of the Resurrection, just as he invites us too.  He appears to Thomas not to chastise him or to ridicule him.  He appears to Thomas so that Thomas can believe, so that Thomas can enter into this new worldview of the Resurrection.  Risen Jesus is not asking Thomas to skip over the Crucifixion, nor is he asking Thomas to leave the pain of the world behind.  Rather he is asking him to have a new vision in a world of deep pain and injustice.   The Risen Jesus invites Thomas into a new way of seeing himself, a new way of seeing the world.  “Come on Thomas, touch the marks of the nails here – peace be with you, my brother.”  And, Thomas does – he too comes to believe in the power of the Resurrection.

            And, of course, we want some of that stuff too, especially in these days.  We want some of that Risen Jesus – we want to recognize him standing right in front of us, too.  We long to live in a vision of life dominated by grace and love and justice, but we carry Thomas in us too.  Death is so powerful, the pain is so deep, and the world is so disappointing.  Like Thomas, we find ourselves saying:  “Unless we can touch the mark of the nails….”

            This Biblical story reminds us that Jesus knows our stories and knows our struggles – we are so much like Thomas.  We’re Doubting Thomas, Unrecognizing Mary and Denying Peter  - we long to believe in life, but we are captured by death.  The Easter story reminds us each year that the Risen Jesus is coming for us, coming to us from the margins to invite us into a new way of seeing ourselves, a new way of seeing others, a new way of seeing the world.   I’ll visit some of those places next week, but for now, let’s thank Thomas and be on the lookout for the Risen Jesus standing right in front of us.