SERMON FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, APRIL 24, 2022     TEXT: JOHN 20:19-31
     All four Gospels report confusion and disbelief on the part of Jesus’ followers when they first hear of his resurrection. Matthew tells us that when the eleven disciples “saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (28:16-17). Mark writes, “So [the women] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (16:8). According to Luke, the women returned from the empty tomb and told the disciples what they had heard from the heavenly messengers, “He is not here, but has risen.”  “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (24:5, 11). Even after hearing about the experience of two of their company on the road to Emmaus, when the risen Lord made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread, the other disciples remained uncertain. Luke writes, “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost” (24:36-37).
     According to John, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb early on the first day of the week while it is still dark. She finds the stone removed from the entrance and Jesus’ body gone. She runs back to Peter and the others and tells them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (20:2). Then Mary returns to the tomb, and this time when she looks inside, she sees two angels sitting where the body had been. When they ask her why she is weeping, she repeats her lament, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:13). Mary Magdalene then turns to find Jesus himself standing there, but at first she does not recognize him. She mistakes him for the gardener. 
     Jesus had told his disciples, the shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice . . . . I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (10:3-4, 14). Jesus speaks Mary’s name, and she responds “Rabbouni!” (Teacher). It is an assertion rather than a question. Not “Is that you?” but  “It is you!” She is convinced that her Lord is alive, not by seeing his body, but by hearing his voice calling her.
     The Gospel of John presents another such story of recognition, that of Thomas the Twin. Thomas has appeared earlier in John’s account. When after the death of Lazarus Jesus announces his intention to return to Judea, the disciples try to dissuade him, knowing the trip would put him at risk. Still their teacher is insistent, and Thomas exhorts the others to stay with Jesus, despite the danger. “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” he says (11:16).
      Then on the last night of Jesus’ life Thomas speaks up again. Jesus offers his disciples reassurance: “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” he says. “Believe in God, believe also in me. 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 will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:1-6). 
       Now, after Jesus’ death, we encounter Thomas for the third time.  Once again he is perplexed and speaks forthrightly. He was not present when the risen Jesus appeared to the others. He has not seen the Lord’s scarred hands as they did; he has not heard Jesus’ word of blessing, “Peace be with you,” or shared in the gift of the Holy Spirit that he breathed into them. After her experience in the garden, Mary had told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” and delivered his message. Yet Jesus found them later that day hiding behind locked doors in fear of those who had conspired to kill him. Evidently Mary’s testimony was not enough to convince them. They needed to experience Jesus’ presence for themselves so that they might believe. 
     Thomas is no different. He asks no more than the Lord has already granted the others. Now Jesus comes to him also and speaks to him directly, “Do not doubt but believe,” he urges this troubled man. Trust me, Thomas, and cling to the love that binds us in the midst of what you cannot understand. The opposite of such believing is not doubt; it’s despair. Jesus’ word is enough for him. Thomas goes well beyond the other disciples’ exultant “I have seen the Lord” to confess not what his eyes see but what his heart realizes, “My Lord and my God!” By the end of the story he is clearly believing Thomas.
     Why, then, does the church continue to identify him as doubting Thomas? Why the implication that there is something wrong in his struggle with uncertainty and his longing for assurance? It comes from hearing Jesus’ response to Thomas as a reprimand: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” These words aren’t meant to put Thomas down; they are meant to lift us up. We are among the ones who have believed without seeing, who follow the Good Shepherd because we know his voice and hear his call. Mary Magdalene and Thomas did indeed get to see the risen Lord, but in the end for them too it was what they heard that opened their eyes, his word of assurance to them, just like the word of blessing Jesus speaks to us today. Amen.