Sunday , 11^th April 2010. John 20:19

I love the Gospel reading we have just heard. Not only is it reassuring, but I think it actually shows it is right to question what we don’t understand, what we feel is beyond our comprehension.

Imagine how you might have felt if you had been a disciple on that first Easter day, you probably feared for your life - were the Jews looking for you?. For you had heard that Jesus’ body had gone, some people said they had seen him, what on earth would the authorities do, they certainly wouldn’t be happy, would they want revenge?

The disciples must surely be wondering what they had let themselves in for; it was good when they had Jesus at their side guiding them, supporting them – but now! Was it ever meant to be like this? He’d talked about leaving them but was this what he had meant?

Let us go back to thinking how the disciples might be feeling – for I think this reading shows us just what everyday kind of people the disciples were. Just like us they felt fear and they responded just like I would have done. Perhaps you are braver than me but I would have locked the doors particularly while it was dark.

I might have been braver during the day, but night time no. Jesus hadn’t chosen people with outstanding gifts he had chosen people like you and I.

Like us they could be scared, could want to hide, just like us they could forget all that Jesus had taught them. When put to the test they doubted all that they had learned.

Perhaps it wasn’t just fear that afflicted the disciples. May be they were feeling pretty stupid did they feel they have been fooled by this man, did they want to hide their shame and disappointment. For they were not to know what was about to happen – they didn’t know the joy of the resurrection.

The Easter story is the culmination of Good News, in the midst of the disciples’ fear, anxiety, and shame, Jesus comes and stands among them. He restores them with the gifts of his peace and the Holy Spirit and charges them to carry on his ministry, his mission of reconciliation.

When Jesus stands among the disciples in a room with a locked door and announces, “Peace be with you,” he is saying not only are “You are forgiven,” but also “You are free.” At the centre of the gospel is the truth that Jesus Christ comes looking for us, just as he came looking for the disciples.

So the midst of all this turmoil Jesus suddenly appears, the disciples were doubtful but when Christ showed his wounds they were convinced - that is all except Thomas who was not with them. When the disciples told him what had happened, that they had seen Jesus it was too much for him to understand – he had to see for himself, had to be able to touch those wounds to know that it was true.

Rather than be shocked at Thomas’ lack of faith I think we should admire him for speaking the truth. It is much easier to pretend you agree with friends than to say you cannot believe what they saw or say. It takes far more honesty to admit doubt. Even when faced with Jesus Thomas obviously had his doubts, but Jesus didn’t condemn him for that – he told him to touch the wounds and then to stop doubting and believe.

Jesus didn’t push Thomas to one side he understood his doubts and he was willing to let Thomas touch the wounds so he could be convinced.

And surely there is nothing wrong with doubt, surely it is better to question as Thomas did than to pretend to understand and just end up confused. Isn’t doubting a sign of faith, isn’t it a willingness to work through issues and learn from prayer and discussion. If we can’t do that for ourselves how can we deal with the unbelievers, the sceptics who surround us?

Isn’t Thomas the answer to these non believers, we can’t bring Jesus’ physical body to them but we can bring his spiritual presence to them. In the same way as the

disciples on their own couldn’t make Thomas believe that Jesus was present, so we on our own will not succeed. We can’t bring the Risen Christ to them, but we can bring his healing grace, we can show them the power of the Holy Spirit, invite them to reach out to the Spirit and accept it into their lives.

Faith isn’t knowing exactly where our lives will take us, faith is journeying along the path trusting in God and following in Christ’s footsteps. Faith also isn’t having an answer to everything, isn’t a disbelief in scientific knowledge. Faith isn’t some dogma that the world was created in six days, denying that there were forms of life on our planet millions of years ago. Faith is believing and trusting in Jesus. Believing he lived among us and accepting his teachings, giving thanks for his sacrifice for our sins.

Sharing faith is perhaps similar to trying to share the beauty of a scene or picture with someone through description. We cannot know whether they can see exactly what we see but we do know that through our enthusiasm it is possible to help them to see, help them to understand what it is that fills us with joy. If we don’t succeed, if we can’t make them see it as we do, that doesn’t mean the scene or picture doesn’t exist it just means that we have been unable to convey the beauty of the scene with them. Surely that is the same with faith the fact that we try to share our faith with someone and they don’t understand doesn’t mean Christ doesn’t exist it just means that we haven’t been able to describe him clearly enough for the listener to understand.

We are called to open the door to peoples hearts so that they can see the glory of the risen Lord, feel the healing grace of God’s love for them,. We are asked to help set them free from all that restricts their lives, we are asked to help them to lead life to the full, safe in the knowledge of God’s love for us. That love bought for us on the cross. We are to called to be Christ’s disciples in the world; to accept into our hearts once more the risen Christ. And when we do this we know that fear is changed to faith, anxiety to peace, that we are truly free. Amen