Asking for What We Need the Reverend Pen Peery John 20:19

Asking for What We Need The Reverend Pen Peery

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the ﬁrst day of the week, and the doors of the house were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’

Aﬅer 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 hand, 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,

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“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 be unbelieving 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

wriꢀen in this book. But these are wriꢀen 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.
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As you know, this is the second Sunday in over a year that we have allowed people to register to worship in-person in the sanctuary. Once again, we “sold-out” the

number of seats we allow within 24 hours. I think that teaches us a few things: (1)

people have really been missing the opportunity, (2) there conꢁnues to be a deep hunger to connect in-person in the community of faith, (3) we need more seats!

If it were a normal year – though – I have to tell you that the Sunday aﬅer Easter is usually not one to “sell out.” In fact, back before “socially distant seaꢁng” was a thing – it was a thing in the sanctuary the Sunday aﬅer Easter.

In clergy circles, the Sunday aﬅer Easter has another…more comical…name. We oﬅen call it “Naꢁonal Associate Pastor Sunday.” Lots of ꢁmes, for churches with mulꢁple pastors on staﬀ, this would be a Sunday that the Senior Pastor would “give their associate’s a preaching opportunity” on a day when the energy and the aꢀendance was low.

I am sure that Robert or Anna would do a wonderful job preaching today, but

because I am going to miss being in the pulpit next Sunday (as it is Youth Sunday), and the Sunday aﬅer that (because we have a guest preacher – our former Associate Pastor, Ernie Thompson, preaching as a part of our bicentennial year celebraꢁon), I decided I would give it a go this morning.

I’m kind of kidding. But the real reason that I wanted to preach today is because

of the Scripture lesson that is assigned from John’s gospel – the story of

“doubꢁng” Thomas. I believe – quite strongly, in fact – that doubt is one of the most maligned and underappreciated aspects of what it means to have faith. Fredrick Buechner was the one who said that “doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”

As we prepare ourselves to encounter God’s word in Scripture, let us ﬁrst go to God in prayer and then be liﬅed up by the choir. Let us pray: Gracious God, speak to us through your word – that, in it, we might discover good news and abundant life. We ask it in the name of the resurrected one. Amen.

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In John’s gospel, as the part of the story we will hear in a moment, the only one who had seen the risen Christ was Mary Magdalene. Peter and the Beloved

Disciple had seen the stone rolled away. But for the rest of the disciples, they had

only heard tesꢁmony. That is about to change…for everyone but Thomas. I am reading from the 20^thchapter of John, beginning at verse 19. Listen with me for the word of God.

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Preꢀy much every ꢁme I teach a class, or lead a Bible study, or interact with youth

or children in something like conﬁrmaꢁon or catechism class – I encounter a pervasive myth: It is the myth that in order to have faith – or to really be a good Chrisꢁan – you have to have your beliefs all ﬁgured out.

In my experience – when people can let their guard down enough to admit that (a) they really aren’t all that certain about what they believe, or conﬁdent in what

they think they are supposed to believe, or (b) they are unfamiliar with an aspect

of faith or a parꢁcular story of Scripture, the next thing people feel is a sense of shame that is quickly followed by guilt.

It is as if church is one big test – that you had beꢀer pass if you hope to beneﬁt from the rewards of those who are worthy.

Someꢁmes – when people feel the shame that I just described – from those who are somewhat familiar with Scripture – they will say, “I don’t know…I guess I’m just a doubꢁng Thomas.”

To which I reply: “What a wonderful role model!!!”
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Because of the myth that faith is equated with certainty – Thomas has been maligned for far too many generaꢁons. He’s been misunderstood in two, signiﬁcant ways.

First, historically, the church has been so recriminaꢁng against Thomas that we’ve even mistranslated the famous exchange he has with Jesus. Maybe you caught

that what I read a moment ago is slightly diﬀerent than the version of the Scripture that you have before you in your bulleꢁn or in your own Bibles. The word that gets translated as “doubt” is – more accurately – “unbelieving.”

Jesus says, “do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Nowhere does Jesus rebuke Thomas for having doubts.

What Thomas does is ask for what he needs.

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hand, and put my ﬁnger in the mark

of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
We’ve been condiꢁoned, I think, to roll our eyes at Thomas’ statement.
To scold him for not being able to simply take the tesꢁmony of the other disciples at face value.
To wonder why Thomas had to be so diﬃcult, instead of going along and geꢂng along.

And if we’ve ever wondered that – the answer is because if he hadn’t stated what he needed, if he hadn’t grappled with what the disciples told him, if he had just felt those pangs of doubt/unease/wonderment and stuﬀed them away so as to not upset the apple-cart or risk people thinking he wasn’t fully commiꢀed to the cause…then Thomas may have missed the chance to voice the kind of passionate aﬃrmaꢁon of faith that he did once he put his hands in Jesus side.

You see – in the gospel of John there is one person who encounters Jesus and actually gets it. One person who sees Jesus for who he really is. One person who recognizes Jesus as God.
It’s Thomas. Who – aﬅer receiving what he said he needed – uꢀers the most complete profession of faith in the gospel: “My Lord and my God!!”

Instead of reading this as a negaꢁve story about how not to act, I suggest we look

at it another way: as an example of faithfulness.
As a roadmap for how to deepen what we believe.

The end of today’s passage makes clear what John’s aim is in wriꢁng his gospel. John tells us this story to inspire future generaꢁons to believe what they have not seen. The disciple named Thomas helps mark the path.

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The second way I think we have misunderstood Thomas is by assuming that Thomas’ quesꢁon is about seeking proof…something tangible that will assure him that Jesus is real.

But as a friend of mine notes, we should be mindful of what, exactly, Thomas asks

about. He doesn’t ask about the eternal life. He doesn’t ask how Jesus got out of

the tomb. He doesn’t ask where Jesus went aﬅer appearing to his disciples. No, what Thomas asks is to see Jesus’ wounds.
Thomas needs to know if Jesus’ wounds are real.

And if I understand the Scripture, it is not so much that Thomas is looking for proof as he is looking for meaning. I think that’s what is really going on. He needs to understand what Jesus’ resurrecꢁon means for him – and what kind of life he will lead in light of the resurrecꢁon.

Have you ever stopped to think why the resurrected body of Jesus had wounds at all? I mean, God had the power to raise a man who had died – to roll away the stone – to restore life! Why leave evidence of the cruciﬁxion when God has the

ability to overcome the power of death? One of the great privileges of what a pastor gets to do is hold the hands of those who are wounded…to be with people in the wake of grief…to stand with people when the relaꢁonships around them strain and someꢁmes break. And one of the things you learn as you engage in that kind of pastoral work is the diﬀerence

between being with someone in their pain versus claiming to understand

someone’s pain. What you want to say in those moments is, “I know how you feel.” But, in truth, you don’t know what someone else feels. Because even if you have experienced something similar, a person’s experience of pain, or loss, or woundedness is intensely personal.

At the same ꢁme, when you are wounded one of the things you most dearly crave is the knowledge that someone else has been there before…that you are not alone.

It is a conundrum. I think the fact that the resurrected Jesus had wounds in his hands and wounds in his side is perhaps the clearest demonstraꢁon of God’s desire to idenꢁfy with and care for the needs of the wounded people he came to save.

It was William Temple who said that “the wounds of Christ are his credenꢁals to the suﬀering race of humanity.”

We don’t know what Thomas suﬀered. The scripture does not tell us of Thomas’ wounds. We can infer that Thomas was grieving the loss of his teacher and Lord.

Perhaps he felt betrayed. Maybe afraid.

Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, Thomas said, and put my ﬁnger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.

When Jesus appeared again to the disciples – and to Thomas – it is as if he holds out his hands, poinꢁng to his wounds, and says,

I know, Thomas. I know.

And to his side, and says,

I know, Thomas. I know.
My Lord and my God!

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When it comes to building a robust faith, someꢁmes it takes asking the quesꢁon that is on our hearts.

Someꢁmes those quesꢁons we ask are informed by old hurts, anxieꢁes,

places around which we are insecure.
The grappling, the wrestling, the ﬁguring out what we need in order to strengthen our faith…it takes ꢁme…and it ebbs and it ﬂows.

What I think is important is that the church – and our church – be a place that welcomes and encourages and gives room for this kind of faith exploraꢁon. I want

us to conꢁnue to be a church that oﬀers space for quesꢁons, for doubts, for the

challenging quesꢁons, for the new angles, the visitaꢁon and examinaꢁon of old assumpꢁons.

If we can give that space – I think the faith we nurture here will be stronger for it. Fuller. More powerful and dynamic. Because it will be a faith that seeks to make meaning…not simply something to recite in order to pass the ﬁnal exam.

For 200 Easters, the faithful members of First Presbyterian Church of Charloꢀe have heard the good news about a God of resurrecꢁon and hope. As we walk forward into our future, amidst a culture that is spiritually hungry and in need of a space to seek meaning for their lives, we have an opportunity to have this place

be that space.

And I hope that we will. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…AMEN.