A Week Later

The resurrection stories in John’s gospel quickly move from that first “first day of the week” where Jesus shows up in the midst of the disciples in a locked room to “a week later” where similar things happen on “the first day of the week,” but this time Thomas is present.

John has already told us that Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared to the group of disciples. No reason is given for his absence – but I can imagine that his brain would have been on overload trying to sort out all the confusing signals of the past few days. Chief among them might have been to think about how he could have been so wrong about Jesus. With no theological concept of Messiah facing death, or even being the Son of God, how had he managed to throw away three-plus years of his life? Perhaps he was a “processor” and simply needed to be alone to process all that he had witnessed.

But during the week, apparently there was contact with the other disciples and they told him, “We have seen the Lord.” (John 20:25) Even less likely than thinking of Messiah as dying, the idea of resurrection of a dead Messiah must have been overwhelmingly unbelievable. Thomas replies, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (20:25) Is he being difficult, or just reasonable? Is he being a cynic, or simply careful?

The next “first day of the week” they are together again – Thomas is with them. Again, Jesus just shows up among them. Like was true on the previous first day of the week, Jesus declares, “Peace be with you.” In the best of Jewish thinking, peace spoke to self, others, God, and creation. Perhaps Jesus is doing more than simply saying “calm down, don’t be nervous” and in fact is declaring that since what I did on the cross (“It is finished” – John 19:30) and have now been raised to never die again, peace is now your gift. In the context of Jesus’ way of thinking, perhaps He is saying, ‘You can be at peace with yourself, with others, with God, and with creation.”

The old prophet Simeon, in Luke’s birth narrative, understood that. When he took baby Jesus out of Mary’s arms, he declared, “Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32) There’s certainly more to “peace” than “calm down, don’t be nervous!”

Jesus is aware of the struggles Thomas has had, and quickly invites him to come, touch, and believe. The text doesn’t say if Thomas actually needed to touch or not – but he quickly makes what is among the more remarkable confession statements in Scripture: “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28) Raised in a world of rigid monotheism, Thomas confesses that this man he had followed around for so long, this man he knew had died on a “cursed tree” and been buried, was alive – and because of that “Lord and God.” All Jewish sensitivities about those words and their sacred nature have now been redeemed by the living presence of Jesus Himself. 

Data released by the Barna group in March, 2014 suggests that there are still some Thomas-like people around us. According to that report, 49% of Americans say that church engagement is “important” or “somewhat important.” 51% say otherwise. Among the 30 and under portion of our population, only 20% say church engagement is important, with 35% identifying themselves as “anti-church.” Those numbers were even worse when “church” was described as “evangelical.”

Back to Jesus and Thomas, it should interest us that Jesus doesn’t write Thomas off as a bad investment. Neither do we see Jesus offering up a debate on who He is. He doesn’t treat him as though he is being difficult of cynical. Jesus simply says, “come, touch, believe.” I’m not sure how else to read this conversation other than to suggest that Jesus believes His presence is powerful enough to change doubt into belief.

In one sense, I can’t say to an anti-church twenty-something “come, touch, and believe.” But in another sense, I can. Paul doesn’t describe the church as “the body of Christ” as a neat little metaphor that can spiritualize weekly gatherings. He seems to think that the church truly is the body of Christ, called to be ministers of reconciliation in ways that change doubt to belief. (2 Corinthians 5:16ff) So there is a sense in which I can say, “come, experience, and believe.” 

That may be the reason Jesus says earlier in John 20, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (20:21)

But as long as overwhelming portions of our culture view us so negatively, we have limited opportunities to say “Come, experience, and believe.” We have some work to do!