Thomas the Twin - A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter April 27 2025
Gospel: John 20:19–31
The holy gospel according to St. John, the 20th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
The risen Jesus appears to his disciples, offering them a benediction, a commission, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. But one of their number is missing, and his unbelief prompts another visit from the Lord.
19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So 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 hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
26A 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, "Peace be with you." 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written 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.
The gospel concludes:
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Peter is known by a few names:
Simon, Cephas, the Rock,
but we don’t call him Peter the Denier.
But Thomas,
who already had a really cool nickname
- the Twin -
he gets the bad rep.
He gets to be known as Doubting Thomas.
And it’s basically because he was at the wrong place
at the wrong time.
I’m going to start calling Thomas by his first nickname,
the Twin - because when it comes to faith,
he’s my twin - maybe yours as well.
Everyone was gathered that night,
behind locked doors,
but not Thomas.
Where was he?
Was Thomas the Twin stuck in traffic?
Was he stuck in line getting groceries?
Did he fall asleep on the couch?
What could possibly be more important
than witnessing the resurrected Jesus?
It could be fear.
We read that the disciples locked the doors
for fear of the Jews,
or better, the non-believing authorities.
Perhaps they were afraid of them
because Jesus’ body was missing.
But they didn’t know where it was.
They had no hand in any plot or trickery
Yet for some reason they were fearing
for their own lives,
and they are likely afraid of their uncertain futures.
The question would be:
what happened to Jesus’ body?
what will happen to us?
If Jesus was killed,
why wouldn’t his disciples be next,
especially if there is some kind of conspiracy.
Maybe there is more to it….
What if they were afraid of Jesus?
They know the tomb is empty,
there’s no doubting that anymore,
maybe they remembered Jesus saying he would rise,
maybe they actually did believe that Jesus was alive,
Maybe they expected Jesus to find them,
and maybe they were afraid of Jesus.
And why not?
Betrayal, denial, doubt,
the disciples abandoned Jesus.
Only the disciple whom Jesus loved
stayed by Jesus’ side at the cross,
taking Jesus’ mother into his home.
Maybe in that way we are all afraid of encountering Jesus.
After all, we have our own failings.
We deny our Lord.
We fail to love God
and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
I think Thomas was missing because he went home,
that’s what Peter did
when he saw the linen cloths by themselves.
When I’m afraid, sad, despairing
I just want to go home.
Or it could have been just a coincidence,
that Thomas wasn’t around:
a coincidence that God used
as one of the greatest God-incidences ever.
I wonder if Thomas has a different fear:
FOMO - the fear of missing out.
Anna Carter Florence says
Thomas wasn’t so much doubting
as he had a temper tantrum.
Maybe he was mad that he missed out.
I would be.
But, no one rises from the dead,
maybe it doesn't matter if you hear the news
from your best friends,
or people you consider idle chit-chatters,
resurrection is too hard to believe.
It is natural to be skeptical.
It’s not the first time Thomas was skeptical.
On the night of Jesus’ betrayal,
Jesus said to the disciples,
“In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places.
If it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again,
and I will take you to myself,
so that where I am,
there you maybe also.
And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to Jesus;
“Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?”
This isn’t doubt,
this is Thomas asking a straight forward question.
Faith is found, not so much in the answers,
but in the questions.
Faith follows Jesus, the Way
even with the lingering question,
what does that even mean???
People talk about faith and doubt as opposites,
that the opposite of faith is doubt,
but this is incorrect.
The opposite of faith is not doubt,
it is certainty.
For example,
I don’t need to believe in this pulpit.
it is here.
it exists.
I am certain of it.
We can have different beliefs
about what the pulpit represents.
But there is no doubting its existence.
With our senses, we can know certain things for certain.
Certainty says no one rises from the dead.
Faith says “but!”
When it comes to the things of God,
we are not given certainty,
we are given faith.
It is ok, it is natural to be skeptical,
to have some doubts
with the lack of tangible evidence.
The faith we are given
journeys alongside our doubts.
Have faith.
Believe in Jesus, even with your doubts.
The opposite of faith is not doubt,
it is certainty.
And it is fear.
Fear is an opposite of faith.
Sometimes we are like those disciples -
when we are afraid,
we lock the door to our hearts,
coiling into self-protection,
uncertain and afraid of what lies ahead.
When Jesus confronts the disciples,
it is not with a word of judgment,
it is not to affirm their failings -
Rather, Jesus confronts the disciples
to bring them words of peace amid their fears,
and to send them out.
Something is different in the resurrection.
Jesus’ resurrected body is different than before.
Jesus is difficult to recognize -
his appearance is different,
he can magically appear behind locked doors.
But his scars remain,
his wounds remain.
And faith is found in his scars.
Amid the disciples fear, anxiety, pain and grief -
they are given the gift of faith and peace -
and they are made apostles - the sent ones,
sent to forgive.
sent to reveal God,
sent to be signs of God’s presence in the world.
The gift of faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit
are more than enough.
This is a time of doubt and fear.
As congregations across the board dwindle in size,
as fewer people find association on faith communities,
as doubts grow for the sustainability
and fear grows that the church will die,
as lifelong Christians ask themselves
‘do I even believe this anymore?’
as fears grow for the future,
economy, climate, security,
as certainty says the church’s death is near,
God is going to send us out,
with faith and the Spirit.
My real fear is that we will only gather
behind locked doors of fear.
It’s hard to get the message out
from behind a locked door.
We are the apostles,
we are the sent-ones;
Jesus sends us out
with faith and the Spirit.
You and I -
We do not get to see Jesus like Thomas saw Jesus.
We do not get to feel Jesus like Thomas felt Jesus.
We cannot see and touch Jesus’ wounds.
We will have doubts,
we will have our fears,
and yet God gives us faith and hope
amid our doubts and fears.
John’s gospel was written so that
we might come to believe,
continue to believe,
and in believing have new life in Jesus’ name.
Believing happens when the story is shared,
when we witness to the resurrection.
Do not doubt, but believe.
Just as Jesus was different after the resurrection,
So we are different than before
when we are raised to new life in baptism.
Our scars remain, our wounds remain.
We continue to build walls around us,
we lock the doors to our hearts,
uncertain and afraid of what is ahead.
But the resurrected Jesus cannot be stopped
by our own locked doors.
Jesus cannot be stumped by our hiding places.
Jesus encounters us amid our fears, our failings,
our doubts, our unbelief, our pain.
and faith is found there,
amid our scars and wounds,
faith is found in the questions.
We need not coil into self-protection.
we need not hide from the world as the disciples hid.
we need not hide from Jesus,
you need not hide from yourself -
because Christ is alive,
and Christ is with you,
encountering you as you are
and Jesus is breaking through the doors we have locked.
My sisters, brothers, and siblings in Christ,
When you are afraid,
May you come home to Jesus,
and be filled with the peace of the resurrection.
May God unlock the doors to our hearts,
and find Jesus standing beside us,
sending us out with faith and the Spirit.
With doors unlocked,
sent with faith and the Spirit,
May we proclaim with our words
and our very lives:
That Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
