JN 20: 19-31

Jottings on John…Easter 2…Revised 2017…

This was almost certainly the original ending of John’s Gospel. Then, some Christian Community, decides the story should go on a bit further into what we know as Ch.21! Which isn’t a bad theme for preaching this passage. Telling the story on a bit further keeps it up to date; keeps it in circulation; keeps it as alive as we are; as Jesus is!  

The locked door & the fear itself our passage starts with both stand for living on the wrong side of the resurrection. Despite our being told [v.18] that Mary M tells her male counter-parts she’s seen Him! It can be hard & hurtful, too, to convince others of personal religious experiences - even genuine ones! But let’s not give up & settle for, ‘Why bother?’! 

When Our Lord comes among them, He gifts those present with Peace, a Mission, & en-Spirits them to kick-start both Peace & Mission. Both need to be personal, not theories. That Thomas misses out & won’t believe what the others tell him must leave them as frustrated as Mary M must be at being un-believed! Maybe we’ve experienced that too when we’ve tried, with some sense of Mission, to reach out to someone in & with God’s Peace? But good can still come from such an unpromising (& unbelieving) start. Mind you, that door is still locked when Our Lord appears to them again a week later! The Peace the disciples have been gifted with on the first Easter night hasn’t kicked in yet; not enough to embolden them. Neither has any sense of Mission given them some sense of purpose yet, or so it seems. 

Tom, though, is with them this time. We’re not told he takes up Jesus’ challenge to put his finger into the nail holes on His hand; nor of putting his hand into the hole made by the spear. But the bit “Don’t be faithless, but faithful” makes its mark! Tom believes! On the spot! Jesus doesn’t knock Tom for being a doubter, coming to faith a different way; but He does hold up those who ‘believe without seeing’ as ‘blessed’.

What we're dealing with in this upper room is faith, another dimension from proof. To close our minds, or try to shut down someone else’s, is another form of lurking behind locked doors. Confusing Faith with proof can still be a gaoler in the locked rooms of hearts & minds. Jesus doesn’t expect us to dig our own tomb looking for proof that He’s been raised from His! 

Our own extensions of this story of Jesus as God’s Anointed One raised from death will be lived out, rather than written in yet another book. Being en-Spirited to Live God-in-Jesus out, in Peace & with a sense of Mission, is what truly gives us all ‘life in His Name’!