Courageous Conversations, Saturday

Transcript (edited for readability).

Reading from Holy Scripture, the twentieth chapter, beginning with the twenty-fourth verse.

"Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, 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 in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.'

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, 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; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, 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 believed.'"

Amen. O Lord, have mercy on us. Thanks be to God forever. Blessed is the one who fears the Lord and keeps his word. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

You see, Thomas was not there when Jesus came back, that first Easter Sunday afternoon, to visit the disciples. Where was he? This is the story that, by the way, gives rise to the nickname "doubting Thomas." But I think John takes pains to let us know that that was actually not the issue. Remember, a few chapters before, when Jesus told the disciples, "Hey, we need to go to Jerusalem to visit Lazarus — he's died, and I'm going to go and raise him" — they were all afraid. All the disciples said, "Look, the last time we were there, they tried to kill you. They're even angrier now. It's not safe for you to be in Jerusalem, you should steer clear of there." It was Thomas who said, "Let's go with him. If we die, we die."

That's what John wants us to know about Thomas — that Thomas is not doubting Thomas. He's Thomas the courageous. He's Thomas the unafraid to die. And I think we have a little hint at that also in this text. Remember, it says that the disciples were in the upper room for fear of the Jews. They were afraid that if the Jews did this to Jesus — if they strung up Jesus, if they crucified Jesus — they were going to do the same thing to them. The ten were there for fear of the Jews, but one was not there. And this is my thinking: Thomas was not there because he was not afraid of the Jews. That's why he was outside. That's why he wasn't behind the locked door. That's why he said, "Guys, the tomb is empty, and you say you saw Jesus — we've got to go find him. We can't just sit around here with the door locked. Jesus is out there, we've got to go find him. Let's go look for him." And they said, "You go." Fine. I don't imagine the other disciples were like, "All right, look, we need a secret knock so we know it's you when you get back, because we're not unlocking the door for anybody." Thomas, shaking his head at the fear of the disciples, disgusted with them that they're behind locked doors and not out looking for Jesus — Thomas goes looking for him.

Now imagine, when Thomas gets back, gives the secret knock, and they throw the door open, and they say, "Thomas, you're not going to believe it — Jesus was here!" "What? He came to you guys? How long ago?" "Like five minutes — he just left." "You didn't wait? You didn't wait for me to get back? Here I am out looking, here you guys are huddled, afraid — he appeared to you, and I don't — I don't believe it. Not going to believe it. Unless I see him, unless I put my hands in his side and in the scars on his hands." You have to imagine that this joy of the ten — "Jesus is alive, we've seen him, he breathed on us the Spirit" — this joy of knowing that he's there is really dampened by Thomas. Just the whole week — and it's because, remember, Jesus says, "Go together, go to Galilee," and they told the women that — and they don't go together. They're stuck a whole week in Jerusalem, they don't leave. And this is why, this is my guess, why they don't leave: the ten are, you know, singing their Easter hymns, really excited, and Thomas is in the corner. I don't know if you've been in a situation like that, where you're with people who are very, very excited, but there's someone who just can't share in your joy. "Thomas, we're telling you—" "I don't want to hear it." And they sit there in a state of animosity for a week.

Until, one week later, the door still locked, they're still fighting, and Jesus appears in their midst. And here's the amazing thing — he says to them, "Peace be with you," and then to Thomas, "Put your hands here, in my hands. Thrust your hand into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believe." Now, the amazing thing about what Jesus says is that he uses Thomas's same words. In other words, he's saying to Thomas, and to you, "Hey, look — I was here, listening to you the whole time. You just couldn't see me. I've been here." And Thomas marvelously falls to his knees: "My Lord, and my God." And trusts that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Now, I have no idea why Pastor Fleming picked this text for this morning. I was trying to think how it fits into the conference. If you'll let me, I'm going to hazard two guesses.

Number one: I think in his mind was this week of animosity, this eight days of distrust. The disciples — the ten — were trying to rejoice in the resurrection, while the one was struggling to believe. The ten felt like they were in the loop, and the one felt like he was on the outside. And there was this legitimate argument between them, but they stayed in the room together. I think that's got to be on Pastor Fleming's mind — that one of the things we have to do, as the world is becoming more and more divided, is we have to stay in the room. We have to endure the differences for the sake of love, so that we can continue to wait for the Holy Spirit to do the work, to create and sustain faith. I think that's the first reason.

And I think the second reason this text appealed to him is this: when Jesus wanted to show the disciples and Thomas their salvation — when he wanted to show them that heaven was open, when he wanted to show them eternal life, when he wanted to show them the love of God, when he wanted to show them what glory looked like — he showed them his body. His body, with the wounds in it, with the holes in the side and the hands. We are so tempted to this Gnostic rejection, fighting against the body, whatever — but look, the Lord Jesus takes the same body that was nailed to the cross, and he takes that body up out of the grave, and he takes that body into the upper room, and he puts that body on the right hand of the Father, sitting on the throne, and he takes that body, and he puts it on the altar, and he puts it in your mouth. And that's the body that he's going to call us to, on the last day, to stand before — so that your body will be standing before his body, all together in glory, because of the crucifixion.

And as we engage in courageous conversations in our culture, we do it — by the way — with our bodies, in front of other bodies, rejoicing that the Lord has a body and will raise the body on the last day. So we join together with Thomas, giving thanks to God for the resurrection of Jesus, my Lord and my God. And we join together with the faithful, rejoicing in this confession, that Christ has done it all already for us.

May God grant it, for Christ's sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Amen.