Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed

 Read John 20

The morning of the first day brought revelation but not complete understanding.  Jesus was no longer in the tomb. His body had not been taken as was Mary’s initial concern.

Mary had subsequently seen and spoken with the resurrected Jesus, and told the disciples.  We have no evidence that they returned to the tomb.

It seems they were scared.  Jesus had been killed. He told them that he was giving his life but in their minds, they could be next on the cross.  They were scared.

Gathered in one place—well everyone except Thomas—and behind locked doors, they gathered for their evening meal.  They were surely fearful of a knock at the door.  The Sanhedrin could come calling any minute, and they would not come alone.  Their guards—soldiers if you will—would be with them.

They got what they wanted with Jesus.  They had their way. They even got the Romans to do the dirty work. The religious hierarchy and the Roman government had no idea that they were parts of a bigger plan.

The disciples wondered; would they be next?  Would they come tonight? Imagine trying to settle in and get comfortable for the evening meal knowing that there might come a knock at the door.

Or would they even knock?  Would they just kick in the door and seize everyone inside?  I’m not sure what the rule was on No-Knock Warrants back then. 

You might feel better being in a locked room but you had no peace.  Jesus had appeared to Mary, but the disciples had only her word for it.  They were still scared.

And then came Jesus.  He didn’t even knock.  He just appeared in the locked room. 

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit

That initial appearance packed a big wallop. 

·       Peace to you

·       You are commissioned to go into the world—you are sent

·       Receive the Holy Spirit

Surely, the disciples experienced joy, but it might take a bit for them to know peace.  They were gathered and scared, but Jesus told them as his Father had sent him, he was sending them.  He had discussed this in the hours before his death.

And finally, he gave them the Holy Spirit.  Hold on.  I thought the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, some 50 days later.  Jesus gave the Spirit at this time but it would not be fully manifested in them until that day of Pentecost.  Some things take time to produce fruit.

They would be filled with the Spirit in a few weeks, but Thomas missed this meeting.  Thomas did not accept the accounts of his fellow disciples.  He needed convincing.  He had to see for himself.

Thomas was not asking for more than the others had received.  Thomas wanted to see the resurrected Jesus with his own eyes.

That’s the model the world uses:  Seeing is believing.

We have a different model:  Believing is seeing.  Paul would say that we walk by—live by—faith not sight. 

Thomas wanted the world’s model.  He wanted to see for himself.  After all, the others said they had seen.  Thomas got what he asked for.  Jesus arrived in the locked room a week later and Thomas was there.

I’m guessing that the other disciples having seen Jesus in his resurrected body still thought it prudent to keep the door locked, but that’s a separate discussion.

Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him to touch whatever he needed to believe it was his Lord.  Thomas fell to his knees proclaiming my Lord and my God. Further inspection was not required.

Jesus spoke to Thomas and surely the other disciples, but he spoke of us.  He said you believed because you saw.  Blessed are those who didn’t get to see me first hand but still believe.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We have not seen; yet we have believed.  We are blessed for we have believed.

We move from this encounter to the first of John’s short epilogues. There is another at the end of the next chapter, but this one is especially for us.

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name

We were not there.  We did not see first hand but we have these accounts in the gospels so that we might believe and have life in Christ.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Amen.