The 2nd Sunday in Easter
15 April 2012
But what does it mean? What do you mean when you say, "The Lord is risen, indeed” or “In truth, He is risen?” What are we really confessing when we say this? If you haven't made sense of it all immediately, that’s okay...you're in good company...
On the first day of the week when Mary Magdelene went to the tomb and found that the stone had been removed, she didn't run to the other disciples and announce to them that the Lord had risen from the dead. A rolled away stone hardly meant that Jesus was risen from the grave...rather, it likely meant that maybe someone had come and took the body away. Mary was deeply saddened. She ran and told the disciples that someone had taken away the body of Jesus...she did not immediately believe that Jesus was risen from the grave.
When the disciples arrived at the tomb, it is reported that one believed, but then it tells us that they did not yet understand the Scriptures that teach that Jesus rose from the dead...they returned to their homes perplexed at all that had taken place...they did not immediately believe or understand that Jesus was risen from the grave...
When the other disciples went home, Mary stayed behind...weeping...sad...imagine how you'd feel if someone you loved dearly had been buried and only a few days later someone took their body? This is how Mary felt...she was already grieving because Jesus had died..but the thought that his body had been taken...oh how she must have felt...
Mary did not believe when she saw the stone rolled away; she did not believe when she encountered the two angels...and then Jesus appears...and she thinks he's the gardener...That's a lot to happen...but Mary still doesn't understand that Jesus has risen from the grave...
It was only when Jesus called Mary by her name that she recognized his voice...the voice of the Good Shepherd, whose sheep recognize his voice when he calls their name. Mary still didn't have all the pieces put together...but she knew her Lord was standing before her...she had encountered him who was dead only a few days ago...something happened to Jesus that had not happened to anyone else...this takes time to understand...
The same day, that evening...The disciples were all gathered together and Jesus came into the room and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." At this moment the Scripture does not tell us that the disciples all immediately believed that he was risen from the dead. It was only after the risen Lord showed the disciples the marks on his hands and his side that the text tells us, "The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord."
This is the trend in John's Gospel. No one immediately understands and believes that Jesus has risen from the dead...resurrections just did not happen...and they especially didn't happen to just one person in the middle of history. In the first century Jewish mind, the holy mystery of resurrection was the ultimate hope of most all Jewish believers; except the resurrection was something they believed would happen at the end of history and to all the people of God at the same time--not to one person in the middle of history.
Jesus’ resurrection upset the equilibrium. It wasn't something just anyone could figure out. There was no nice scientific formula that helped you understand what had happened and what it meant. God had done in Jesus what Israel thought he would do for all of Israel at the end of history and this was not immediately apparent to anyone!
Why, then, are we so hard on Thomas? We call him "doubting Thomas." And he gets this name simply because he wasn't with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them and showed them his hands and his side. It took them seeing the marks to believe and rejoice in Jesus standing before them. Why should we expect anything more from Thomas? St. Thomas is not the odd ball in John's Gospel or in any of the Gospels. St. Thomas is the typical disciple. It takes time to understand and comprehend the breadth of what happened after Jesus was crucified and buried. Resurrection is something that happened for the first time in Jesus.
So if any of us gathered here today are having a hard time understanding or trusting that Jesus rose from the grave, we are in good company...it’s okay. God doesn’t think less of us!
Yet, at the same time, God is not satisfied with resurrection remaining a complete mystery. It will always be mystery, but it was meant for us to comprehend well enough that we might joyfully participate in the new reality it has opened. And that’s the point to these post resurrection appearances in John’s Gospel. They do not exist to center upon the doubt of disciples such as Peter, James or Thomas. Instead, they have been handed on to us to reveal God’s heart. God desires that each and everyone would encounter the Son following his resurrection. Because it is the encounter with the Son of God that sparks faith...not stones rolled away, angels, bodies passing through locked doors, or anything else! Faith begins in the encounter with the risen one and that’s why the risen Lord appears to doubting disciples.
Just as God didn't leave Thomas to his own reason to figure it all out, so God does not abandon you in your confusion and doubt. The same God who encountered Mary, Peter, Thomas, and the rest of the disciples following his resurrection seeks to have an encounter with you so that you may believe that Jesus is risen from the dead...And belief begets life...Those who encounter the risen Lord and finally see him for who he is, the symbols of his power made plain to us as we gaze upon those scars that made possible our redemption, are compelled to continue in the mission of Jesus Christ: we confront the powers of the world with the loving, self-giving power of God...The books of Acts happens all over again and again as disciples who were once timid. fearful and even cowardly begin to give bold testimony to the resurrection of Jesus to all and any who will have ears to hear. And in that testimony, the risen Lord reveals himself again and again and the cycle of belief begetting life continues till he comes again.
The resurrection...it’s not the easiest pill to swallow. It is something that cannot be reasoned...resurrection is only understood by those who have encountered the risen one...who have gazed upon the wounds that we ourselves have inflicted...who are seized by the love that endured those scars....and who tap into the very power that those scars represent...the power of love which overcomes sin, death, and the grave.
Today if you don’t yet “get it.” Don’t worry...you are in good company...God has time for you. Take comfort in Peter’s words to the church, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith--your salvation!” Or better yet, Jesus’ words to Thomas. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
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