2nd Sunday of Easter
By Bishop Frank Sergeant, Sunday 19th April, 2009
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. St John 20:29.
Have you ever felt excluded? Of course you have. I have a painful memory of not being chosen in a children’s game when young. The captain choosing a team did not choose me. I waited expectantly and excitingly and it didn’t happen. How often have we had to console children because the expectation of being chosen for something was not met? We all know, then, in one way or another the feeling of Thomas in today’s Gospel reading of being excluded. In his case it was because he missed the action when the risen Jesus appeared to the other disciples.
Personal needs 1
This feeling of being left out made Thomas more resistant to the news that Jesus was alive and recognisable.It was because of his attitude that he becomes a major character in the resurrection accounts for St John, who liked characters .He had introduced Thomas to his readers on occasions earlier in his Gospel. In one Thomas makes a brave pronouncement in chapter 11. vv16 ff, when he says to his disciple colleagues, “Let us go (with Jesus) that we might die with him.” However, in another episode in chapter 14: v5 ff, he shows his divided personality – (he wasn’t called ’the twin’ for nothing) – and his ignorance when he makes a stupid response to Jesus who says that where he was going his disciples could follow. Thomas replies petulantly “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” You see, he had a literal frame of mind as well. It was this literal frame of mind which made him stubborn and demanding to see and touch the marks of Jesus’ crucifixion before he would believe. His opportunity came a week later when Jesus appeared again; went through locked doors, saluted the disciples with the usual everyday greeting, and then allowed Thomas to satisfy himself with the evidence that the crucified Jesus was alive.
Now it is Jesus who issues the challenge “Do not be unbelieving but believe” and Thomas’s mood changes from one of incredulity to one of a powerful profession of Christian faith, “My Lord and my God.”
So what are we to make of this incident? Well, as we share Thomas’ feeling of exclusion we may also share his inconsistency. Does our courage for the Christian faith lack inner conviction and outward expression,or is it all talk? Perhaps we plead ignorance. If only we knew a bit more about the Christian faith, we would be able to witness to it.Sometimes we have to admit that we are a mixture of courage, ignorance and incredulity. I once served under Bishop Geoffrey Paul in the Bradford Diocese who used to say that the Church is made up of saints and fatheads and sometimes it was difficult to tell the difference one from the other! The important thing to notice from this episode is that Jesus met Thomas’s personal need. He allowed Thomas to touch him because he needed to do so.Thomas had the benefit of the senses of hearing, seeing and touch.
Personal needs 2
That brings me to another character in the Resurrection drama, Mary Magdalene. I refer to her just simply because she could have said what we hear so often in our families and we might well say ourselves – “It’s not fair.” “It’s not fair”, she could have said, that Thomas was allowed to touch Jesus and she was not. She had the benefit of seeing and hearing but not of touch. She needed to hear Jesus speak her name and to be recognised by Jesus and then to recognise him in return, but she was not allowed to touch him because he said that he had not yet ascended to the Father. What’s so different about Thomas?
One commentator offers the suggestion that Mary must not cling to Jesus because the new relationship between Our Lord and the worshipper will not be one of physical contact but it will be a real, spiritual and personal relationship. As Bishop Bill Ind has written in an Easter Reflexion, the message is “Don’t simply hold on to what is past or cling on fondly to what is known or familiar, because by raising Jesus from the dead God has created something brand new.” In this way God promises a future.
Conclusion
It is a promise to us of life which extends beyond this one, and blessed are those who believe that . Blessed are those who have not had the benefit of seeing or hearing or touching the risen Jesus literally but acknowledge him by faith as their Lord and God who delivers this new life. Jesus did not die on the cross for the fun of it. His purpose was to win a new life for us. His resurrection was not a kind of lap of honour but for our benefit. Although we are a mixture of saints and fatheads, like Thomas we are called by name, like Mary called by the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and knows our individual needs. He it is who leads us from here to eternity where, like our risen Lord, we shall be recognised by our God-developed identities with the powers to think love and communicate and to know the peace of God. What is good in us – what is of God – will survive. Meanwhile, we must accept that we live in a redeemed world for which we must take responsiblity, because it is the world through which God makes himself known by his ever creating Holy Spirit.
Now there’s a few things to think about and here’s a prayer to sum them up:-
Lord God,
Source and origin of our salvation,
Make our lives here on earth so proclaim your glory,
That we may praise you without ceasing in heaven.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
