Easter 2: Thomas believes.

John 20: 19-31; 1 Peter 1: 3-9

In the run up to Christmas 2021 Marks & Spencer hit the headlines with a jumper in their women’s wear range : “Believe”. It became very popular with women ministers. Of course, it’s left to the wearer – and the observer  - to decide what you’re being encouraged to believe.

It could be ‘believe in Santa Claus’; ‘believe in better times ahead’ (this was 2021, remember..); or for ministers – I guess something like ‘believe in the good news of Christmas’.

Whatever we are being encouraged to believe, believing is not just an empty thinking that something is or is not true – believing is stronger than that – it has an element of consequence – I believe  ‘and so’. Believing is not just about head knowledge – it involves trust and faith and acting on your belief.

 

You might know that the new manse is on the Merlin’s Lane development in Haverfordwest, and they haven’t quite finished building yet, at the end of the road. This provides me with a range of interesting distractions out of my study window onto the street. As I was writing this sermon, two workmen came to do some work on the drain outside. They removed the heavy inspection cover and then one set up a tripod over the hole, while the other got into a harness. What looked, to me, like quite a slender steel cable ran down from the centre of the tripod and was clipped onto the back of the harness – then the workman climbed down into the hole – right of sight under the road, with a bucket of tools. He believed that the cable would keep him safe – his mate would be able to winch him out if he got into trouble. Because he believed in his safety equipment he was prepared to go down and do the job. I waited with baited breath to see him re-emerge…and when he safely got up I had to stop myself from shouting “he is risen”.

He believed he was safe, he trusted, and it was so.

 

We are still celebrating Easter today – we say and sing that we believe that Jesus Christ is risen from death. If we believe that Jesus is risen, what is the ‘and so..’ – what difference does it make to our lives?

 

Let’s look at the example of Thomas.

 

The story we heard from John’s gospel starts on Easter Sunday – last week – and most of the disciples (but not Thomas) believe that they are in danger. They meet behind locked doors. But Jesus is suddenly in the midst of them and they realise that he is alive. 

They later tell Thomas what they believe – but he doesn’t believe them – he believes they are mistaken.

In fact he’s quite scathing – “unless I see the mark of the nails and put my finger in it and my hand in the mark in his side, I will not believe”.

 

A week later they are all present – again behind shut doors – and Jesus come to them again. This time Thomas sees and believes.

 

Believing, for Thomas, is not just a matter of being put right, so that he agrees with the other disciples that Jesus is alive. Thomas believes, he trusts  – and it changes his life.

 

First it resets his priorities – he sees and hears Jesus – he doesn’t need to touch the wounds, as Jesus invites him to do. He declares “my Lord and my God!”. 

The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus would have known the phrase ‘Lord and God’ – but it is a phrase they would only have used of the Roman emperor, a number of whom claimed the title ‘Lord and God’.

Thomas meets the risen Jesus and realises that even the Roman Emperor is unimportant compared to Jesus – the risen son of God – my Lord and my God.

 

Secondly it gives Thomas and all the disciples a deep sense of peace. Three times Jesus says to them “Peace be with you”. They are no longer just the frightened followers of a man condemned to death and crucified by the Roman authorities; they are sharers in the peace which Jesus gives – Jesus who has passed through death to be with them, alive again. Neither the Romans, nor their act of crucifixion, not even the grave can defeat the peace and joy of Jesus’ presence.

 

Thirdly, Jesus use this opportunity to speak about others who will come to believe “Do you believe because you have seen me?” – words he could have directed not just to Thomas but to all the disciples – ‘happy are those who have not seen and yet come to believe’.

Jesus will not continue to walk the earth until everyone has seen him, he will rely on his faithful disciples to pass on the message so that others may also come to believe.

John’s gospel pulls no punches that Jesus is not just referring to his 1^st century disciples, but to all of us, too. 

 

John writes ‘these signs 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’.

Or as the first letter of Peter puts it, God ‘has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’.

 

So what do we believe?

 

Dare we believe that Jesus is risen – that death is not the dreadful end we feared? 

Can we proclaim with Thomas ‘my Lord and my God!’ and place Jesus as the highest priority in our life – higher than any earthly power of human ruler?

 

If we do believe, we will receive the gift Jesus offers – of the peace that passes all human understanding.

This is the deep peace of those who know that God’s love is the greatest power in the universe, holding us safe when we are down in the drains of life and lifting us up again into the sunshine.

 

In the name of Jesus – our Lord and our God.

Amen.