Room for Doubters

Christos Anesti!! (Christ is Risen!!!) Alithos Anesti (He is Risen Indeed!!!).

I use this greeting that is traditionally used on Easter Sunday because today, we celebrate what is known as Easter 2. You see, the Easter season is not just the build up to Easter during Holy Week. It is the 7 Sundays following Easter until Pentecost. It is a time of reflection and rejoicing in the resurrection of the savior. Yet, one would be hard pressed to think of Easter as a season. After Easter Sunday, the world goes back to normal: the lilies are gone from the churches, the attendance in many churches drops, in some churches the pastor may take off the Sunday after, and in the stores all Easter candy and decorations are on sale 50% off or more. It can really seem that we let Easter fall by the wayside after the big day, unlike Christmas which we hold onto until after New Year’s. Why is that? Shouldn’t Easter be as, if not more, important than Christmas? After all, this is the time we celebrate the fact that Jesus was raised and conquered death.

There was a time when there were some who were not celebrating even on Easter Sunday. At a time when people were celebrating, going to dinners, going to the temple and all around enjoying themselves during the Passover festival, there was a group who were trying to stay as far away as they could from the crowds. This group was composed of ten of the disciples, and perhaps others; the text does not specify how many there were. They are “social distancing” which, in this case, would be a nice way of saying they are hiding because they are actually scared to death. They are hiding from the Jewish authorities (not the “Jews”. This has been a misunderstanding for centuries. The authorities are the ones whom John is against, not the Jewish people.) The Jewish authorities who have connived and helped to carry out the crucifixion of their teacher and friend, Jesus. But there is something ironic about them hiding on this day. Early in the day, Mary Magdalene and others had brought to them the news that the tomb was empty and Mary had even spoken to the Lord himself! What wonderful news! Yet, here they were on the evening of the same day, hiding in fear.

While they are wondering what is going to happen to them, jumping at every squeak and creak they hear, wondering if they will be hearing boots coming up the stairs, Jesus is there among them. His words to them are, “Peace be with you” or “Shalom aleichem” in Hebrew.

If they were anything like me, I am sure they would not have felt too much peace. There were, I’m sure, stunned looks, mouths open and probably a few whimpers of fear. But the words spoken to them are a greeting which would be meant to put them at ease. The greeting Jesus speaks here is totally unexpected. This was a group who ran when he needed them the most. They were probably expecting him to be wanting vengeance or at least shaming them for their cowardice. Instead, he wishes them peace and extends grace to those who did not deserve it.

But still they hold back. They are skeptical, unbelieving. It is not until they are shown the wounds in the body of Jesus that they believe and rejoice in the fact that this is indeed the one whom they saw crucified now raised from the dead. This occurs once more later in this passage. You know the one, where Thomas states what we would all have said, “Unless I see…. I won’t believe.” Today we look upon Thomas with a bit of judgement calling him Doubting Thomas. Why did he not believe what he had been told by those who had seen Jesus? Weren’t these his friends and partners in ministry whom he would know were trustworthy? But there is something very interesting here. While we judge Thomas, the others were doing the exact same thing. They did not believe the reports that Jesus had been raised and did not believe that the one before them, the one who looked and sounded like the Jesus that they had known, was really Jesus until they had seen the scars. The fear that they felt was an issue that kept them from believing that the one who had said that he would be raised, who had appeared in the room when the door was bolted, was indeed Jesus. But when they did see they were, well, let Frederick Dale Bruner give his translation of this sentence, “…he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were absolutely ecstatic: they were looking right at the Lord!” (Bruner, Frederick Dale. The Gospel of John (p. 1158). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.)

But Jesus is not done. He once again says “Shalom aleichem” (peace be yours). This time the statement is not a greeting. It is a statement of life and life giving. We know that shalom means “peace” but it means so much more than that. Matthew Schlimm in 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know, tells us that shalom means peace of the body, mind, spirit and relationship; it is a feeling of being complete and whole; it is peace from foreign and inner demons (Schlimm, Matthew. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. 120-121). The peace that Jesus is wishing upon the disciples covers their entire life, to give them peace in knowing that they can overcome their fears now that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

Jesus then breathes upon them. The disciples are told, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (Joh 20:21 NRS) This is John’s version of the Great Commission. Jesus is telling them that the Father sent him into the world to do the Father’s work and tell the message of salvation and reconciliation. And now, the disciples are charged with the same thing. They are to go and tell the message of redemption, salvation and reconciliation to the world outside of the room where they are huddled in fear.

But that is not all. “When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” (Joh 20:22 NRS) The breath of Jesus confers the Holy Spirit. In a few weeks we will celebrate Pentecost and read the Acts version of this event. Interestingly, this text is the Gospel lesson for that day. In this text, Jesus is telling them that the Advocate, the Helper earlier promised to them was now given to them in the breath that he had breathed upon them. The breathing upon them is not just a blowing on the disciples and telling them that they now have the Holy Spirit. Rather, this is symbolic of God, in Genesis 2:7, breathing the breath of life to Adam in the creation story as well as in Ezekiel 37 where the Spirit is breathed into the dry bones in the valley and giving them life. This breath, this giving of the Holy Spirit, is letting the disciples know that there is a new, second creation occurring. That the reconciliation of humanity and the creation is beginning with the resurrection of Jesus and his giving them the Holy Spirit.

Today, we can understand the disciple’s actions. Their whole world had been smashed to pieces. They were afraid of what was going to happen to them. They were locked in a room in fear of the Jewish authorities who were angered that their leader, and by association they, had upset the apple cart of the establishment. In this room, they were not believing the words of those who had told them the good news.

Are we like the disciples today? Do we have doubts about who Jesus is and what he calls us to do? If we are honest with ourselves, we would say yes. We doubt every day about what Jesus said and did. Our doubts lead us to fear. And we have every kind of fear. We fear what is going on in the world. We fear what will happen to our finances as the markets go up and down. We fear the hostility that is rampant all around (if you don’t believe that, just read a comments section online. Anywhere.). And if we are honest, we fear what others will think of us, in our church and our community, if we were to stand up to the “traditions and establishments” and do as Jesus did: upset the apple cart. That did not seem to work out too well for him, did it? If we are honest with ourselves, we are the disciples in the locked room on the evening of Easter wondering what happened and what will now happen.

Then, while we sit in fear in our locked room, Jesus appears saying, “Peace be with you” and still we do not believe. We want proof. We are like the man who said that he was from Missouri, you had to show him for him to believe. We are like Thomas who has to feel the scars to be convinced. Yet Jesus gives us the same grace he gave to the disciples. Rather than shaming us and making us feel guilty for the doubts that we have, he allows us to “see” his scars and then breathes the breath of new creation upon us, telling us to go out and tell the world and, at the same time, giving us the Holy Spirit. Our lives will never be the same. If we have the Holy Spirit in our lives and we are living the life Jesus calls us to live, people will notice. They will want to know what is different about us and they will want a part of it too. Or maybe they will want us to stop doing what we are doing and do whatever is in their power to make sure we stop. Yet we know that the Holy Spirit is with us and that we no longer need to fear those who would stop us. Just ask the disciples who saw the risen Lord. Just ask those who never did see or hear Jesus. Those who followed him because of the report that they heard or read from those who were doubters. It is Jesus who tells us that there is room for doubters. Come and see. Amen.