While we Episcopalians ‘do lent’ rather well, we are at our essence, an Easter people. We are people who boldly proclaim the message of Easter.
This message is that, Hallelujah, Christ is risen from the dead. When we say this, we are proclaiming something truly radical! We are proclaiming that we believe that Christ is stronger than the burdens of this life…. We in fact are proclaiming that Christ is even more powerful than death itself.
Today, we Christians gaze upon the Lord with the eyes of our souls. It is through our Savior’s Spirit, that we are able to know Christ today. While Christ appears to us today through the power of the Spirit, we cannot depend only upon our physical senses to see our resurrected Lord.
The Gospel lesson that we heard this morning tells of a different kind of sight that led to belief. Today’s Gospel lesson bears witness of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to his disciples.
Perhaps the most famous words in our Gospel lesson this morning are the words that the Apostle Thomas spoke to his friends. Thomas said, “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”.
Thomas, who had known Jesus intimately prior to his death, did not believe his friends when they shared with him the good news of Christ’s resurrection. Thomas who had eaten with Jesus, laughed with Jesus, heard the teaching of Jesus, and even witnessed the miracles of Jesus did not believe his the words of his friends when they told him that Jesus had risen from the dead..
Therefore, it is easy for us to see how Thomas has been given that nickname in the church, “doubting Thomas”. We may say that Thomas was a “doubter”, but we in the church should remember that he was not the only one. Thomas was not the only disciple who came to believe in the resurrection only after an experience of seeing the resurrected Christ with his own eyes.
There are, after-all, three post-resurrection appearances in the Gospel of John. In each of these instances, Christ cured the disciples of their disbelief only after they saw and spoke with Jesus.
We heard of the first of these appearances last week on Easter Sunday. If you remember, Jesus made the first post-resurrection appearance to a woman. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene while she wept by Jesus’ empty tomb. When Jesus appeared to Mary and spoke her name, Mary stopped weeping and immediately believed that Christ had risen from the dead.
Mary then did what we all want to do when we have great news to share. She immediately went to tell her friends the good news. Mary hurried to tell her fellow disciples that their teacher and Lord had risen from the dead.
It is at this point in the story, the point at which Mary has gone to pass on this news to her friends that our Gospel lesson from today begins. The scene opens on a group of Jesus’ disciples who have gathered together, and locked themselves away in a room.
While Mary came to tell them the very news that should have relieved them of all of their fears, the group simply didn’t buy it. Not only did they not believe that Jesus had risen, but they were totally frozen in fear that they themselves were going to be persecuted next.
Jesus then appeared a second time to this group of incredulous disciples. The Lord showed his wounded hands and his feet so that this group of disciples too might believe. This group saw Jesus, and only now believed that Christ had overcome death.
Now we learn that Thomas had not been in the room when Jesus had appeared. Thomas was the only disciple that was not in the group. When Thomas gets back to the room of the other disciples, he is told about Christ’s appearance. But does Thomas believe this news? No. Thomas did not believe the group of disciples any more than those disciples had believed Mary Magdalene.
Like the other disciples before him, Thomas wanted the kind of proof that he could see with his own eyes. And Thomas added that he wanted to be able to even touch this proof with his own hands.
At this point, in another instance of divine love and mercy, Jesus then appeared to Thomas. Although Thomas had already heard of this good news from others, Jesus appeared to Thomas personally by showing the wounds of crucifixion on his glorified body.
Thomas’ disbelief was healed as he saw Jesus standing before him. Like Mary Magdalene and the other disciples, Thomas was moved from fear to rejoicing when he saw the Lord.
Jesus appeared in person to the disciples whom he had known on earth so that they might believe and be able to testify to others. Jesus appeared to those whom he had known intimately on earth so that He might both comfort his friends in their despair and and assure them that the promises He had made on earth had been kept.
Jesus made several personal appearances after his resurrection. The truth is that, although Jesus was only visible to His disciples for a moment in these appearances, Jesus never again disappeared from the earth. Through the gift of His Spirit, the resurrected Christ remains with us even today.
Through the Gift of Jesus’ Spirit the disciples discovered that Jesus was still with them. The disciples found that they could continue to enjoy the same fellowship they had had with Jesus even after his resurrection. The disciples continued in that Holy Fellowship because Jesus was still with them. They were empowered to be reconciled with one another, to live in peace with one another, and to partner with one another in common mission.
Through the gift of Jesus’ Spirit, the disciples were able even to boldly come out of the room where they had been cowering in fear, and trust in God despite the frightening forces of their world. The disciples were indeed filled with the joy of Easter when they saw their Lord.
Easter joy is the joy that comes from the knowledge that we are free – that Christ rose from death so that we all might live. Easter Joy is Christ’s Spirit dwelling with us and in us. The Joy that filled those first disciples when they first believed in the resurrection is the very same joy that fills us in the church today when we believe.
The world of the first century was a frightening place, and, while we in this country do not live in fear of religious persecution as they had, our world today often fills us with anxieties as well. It can be tempting for us today to hide behind closed doors as the disciples had before they believed in the resurrection. A fearful response, that cuts us off from the world, however, is not a faithful Christian response.
Easter is for us in the church today a joyful time when we are reminded that we do not need to huddle together behind closed doors as the disciples did before they heard of Christ’s resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead left with us His Spirit so that we may no longer be bound by fear.
Easter joy reminds us that our strength and comfort is not of this world. We who proclaim Christ’s resurrection can rejoice in the power of the Spirit that saves, that heals, that renews. It is the joy of Easter given to us by the Spirit of Christ that lets us see Christ today with not only our eyes, but with souls.
AMEN.