“Life in His Name”

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Meditation on John 20:19-31

April 7, 2013

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      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)

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   We all encounter them in our lives. People who always see the glass of water as half empty, rather than half full.  People who look up into the sky and see only the clouds and not the sun shining brightly.

       Some people are like Eeyore, the gloomy, old, grey donkey of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. They are convinced that the worst is about to happen—or already has and nothing can be done about it. Eeyore hears Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Christopher Robin trying to solve little problems in the Hundred Acres’ Wood, and the old grey donkey says in his sad monotone, “It’ll never work!” or “Could be worse.  Not sure how, but it could be worse.” 

       When the loveable donkey loses his tail, his friends kindly try to come up with something to attach to his hind end to serve as a substitute.  A donkey can’t go without its tail, right? They try an umbrella, dartboard, and an accordion, among other things.  When these prove unsatisfactory, Eeyore just shakes his head and says, “It’s okayyyyyy… I’ll learnnnnn to live withoutttttt it.”

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       Thomas, in our gospel reading today, is kind of an Eeyore.  He isn’t a bad guy.  He is one of Christ’s beloved disciples.  For three years, Thomas, who used to be a fisherman, has walked with Christ to learn how to be a “fisher of men.” But Thomas struggles with anxiety and fear. He sees evil lurking around every corner and predicts failure while others expect miracles like those Christ has already done.

      When Jesus and his disciples hear of their friend Lazarus’ death near Jerusalem, the center of Christ’s opposition, Thomas is convinced that it is a suicide mission to go there.  The idea that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead doesn’t occur to him. He comments darkly, “Yes, let’s go there that we might die with him.” 

      With Jesus’ death on the cross, Thomas loses all hope. If Christ were the Messiah, God’s anointed one, how could God have allowed him to die—and such a horrible death? Why didn’t God intervene to save Him? Had God abandoned Jesus and his disciples? Or had they all gotten it wrong?  Was Jesus merely an exemplary man of faith and not the Messiah?

     Thomas doesn’t feel like eating or talking with the other disciples when they gather for their evening meal Sunday night. He doesn’t join them.  Maybe he is just too afraid that those who killed Jesus would be coming for him next.

      The other disciples are also afraid.  They lock the door—as if that would keep them safe from their enemies.

      So Thomas isn’t there when the risen Jesus suddenly comes and stands among them, saying “Shalom! (Peace be with you.)”   He isn’t there when Jesus shows them the nail marks on his hands and the hole in his side.  He doesn’t see the others rejoice because the one who had been crucified is now alive! 

        Before leaving them, Jesus charges his disciples to carry out the joyful message of His Resurrection and salvation through Him.  “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus says, “so I send you.”

         Then He gives them the power to do what He commands them to do.  He knows they are weak human beings, after all, so afraid that they are hiding in a locked room.  These men had professed love and loyalty, but then had all run away when Christ endured his darkest hours. Jesus breathes on them now, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

         His final instructions are about sin and forgiveness.  Does this surprise any of you? The Lord knew that not just fear but unbelief would be a problem for them as it had been for the disciples all along.

        Jesus had repeatedly reprimanded them about their unbelief when he was with them in the flesh.  When they wake him because they fear they will perish in a storm at sea, Jesus scolds, “Have you NO faith, yet??!!”

       And Jesus knows what will happen next—that his disciples will run to tell Thomas they have seen the risen Lord—and Thomas will not believe.  The Lord who knows the thoughts and intentions of the human heart knows that Thomas, with his gloomy, Eeyore-like disposition, has fallen into despair. 

     When Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” he is urging his beloved to have grace for one another—like He has shown his grace for them.  He doesn’t scold any of his disciples for fleeing while he was suffering his greatest pain and humiliation.  With his death on the cross, He has become God’s perfect sacrifice, taking the punishment on his own body for their sin and for the sin of all people—in every time and place.

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     True to His loving, merciful nature, our Lord forgives Thomas. He has plans to use Thomas and the others to build His kingdom. He comes to Thomas when he is gathered with the other disciples about a week later.   He greets them again with, “Shalom!  Peace be with you.” Then he tells Thomas, “Go ahead! Feel with your fingers the marks of the nails on my hands and reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt. But believe.”

        Thomas is deeply moved by Christ’s visit. “My Lord and my God!” he says. 

       Then Jesus speaks prophetically about future believers—people who have not seen and yet have come to believe.  People like us.

       At the end of this passage, in verses 30 and 31, John speaks directly to his audience of the future.  He says that he could tell us more about the signs Jesus did in the presence of his disciples. But what he has written is enough so that all of us who have not seen may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And that through believing, we may all have “life in his name”—a life lived for glorifying God and obeying Christ, being sent out like his first disciples, people such as Thomas, a gloomy but loveable Eeyore who struggled with unbelief and fell into despair.

       But after his personal encounter with the risen Lord, Thomas is a changed man.  He becomes a passionate worker for Christ. He carries the gospel to ancient Babylon, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, where Iraq is today.  He travels to Persia, to present day Iran, and brings more people to the faith.  And he sails south to Malabar on the west Coast of India. Many years later, in the 1600s, people from Portugal will land in India and find a group of Christians, the Mar Thoma Church, who trace their history back to Thomas’ first visit—around 52 A.D.!

     Friends, all of us are Eeyores at some time in our lives.  Every day we are tempted to embrace misery and hold onto fear instead of living in the joy and hope of the living Christ and the promise of our own resurrection with Him.    

     If you find yourself struggling with doubts and fear instead of walking confidently in faith, remember Thomas, whose personal encounter with the risen Lord stirred him to become one of Christ’s most faithful workers.  He lived to obey the Lord’s command, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

     Be inspired by the very human example of a common fisherman whom Christ chose to be his very human but faithful disciple.

    The Lord has called us to be His very human but faithful disciples!

    He has chosen us to have “life in his name.”

     Let us pray.

           

Living Lord, we thank you for your Word and Spirit that empowers, convicts, and guides us as it did for your earliest disciples. Forgive us for holding onto our doubts and fears, when we know it is not the way you want us to live.  Forgive us for when we have chosen gloominess and seen only clouds when the sun is shining so brightly! Come to us, each one of us personally, like you did for Thomas, and change our hearts.  Strengthen us with your joy so that we may obey your commands. Give us confidence and passion to be your faithful workers, showing and telling all the world what it means to have “life in your name!”  In Your name we pray.  Amen.