aSacredRebel

Whating Thomas

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “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.” ²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these 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. (John 20:19-31, NRSV)

Where was Thomas the first time Jesus came to be with the disciples?

But to the title of this post, this Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter is always this text from the 20th chapter of John about Thomas. It has been called Doubting Thomas Sunday, which is not a good title for Thomas and is a bad translation of the text. Jesus didn’t actually say to Thomas, “Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus actually said, “Do not be untrusting but trust.” or “Do not be unfaithful but have faith.” or “Do not be unbelieving but believe.” Jesus never said that Thomas doubted.

We have come to think that doubt is bad, but doubt makes us find answers. Doubt pushes us to seek the truth. And that is not bad, but to be unfaithful, untrusting, or unbelieving is bad.

So don’t worry about doubting or questioning, worried about not trusting what God has promised us.

Take refuge in God

¹Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
²I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
³As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
⁴Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.
⁷I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
¹⁰For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.
¹¹You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16, NRSV)

God will protect us. God is the place you can take refuge.

God will give us what we need. And will help us make it through anything that comes our way.

We can always be assured that God has us and is a place of refuge for us.

Trust in this. Hold close to God.

hold firmly

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. ³For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, NRSV)

Hold firmly to what we know is true, that Christ died for all of us and gives us new life.

Believe it and trust it.

The scripture tells us it is true and we just need to believe it.

Hold firmly to that and God will never let go of you!

Devote yourselves to prayer

²Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. ³At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, ⁴so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should. ⁵Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. (Colossians 4:2-5, NRSV)

Be thankful for what God has blessed you with.

A new day.

A place to shelter in place.

Health.

And all the other wonderful things…

And pray for all of those who may not have those things.

And be ready for God to reveal grace and love through you to the world.

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” ¹⁹He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” ²⁵Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. (Luke 24:13-27, NRSV)

Here is another example of people who should know what Jesus looks like and recognize Him when He walks up to them, but they are so distraught that they are weighed down in grief and despair that Jesus is some random stranger.

But these two, Cleopas and the other are walking to Emmaus a village 7 miles from Jerusalem on the night Jesus rose from the dead. They really haven’t figured this out yet, because they left before Jesus appeared to the disciples, but He had to the women. And they are wondering what will happen to all of them. And Jesus comes along and opens the scripture for them, which is the Hebrew Scripture or the Old Testament.

What would you do if someone made your heartburn as the opened the scripture for you?

Would you know it was Jesus?

Have you been on the road to Emmaus?

Dejected and filled with despair?

Jesus might be walking with you…

Mary and Jesus

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18, NRSV)

Have you ever seen someone and not recognized them?

I mean we all probably wonder how is it that Mary saw Jesus but didn’t know who he was? I mean she had been with him for a long time and knew him.

But also remember that she is in deep despair and anguish. She has just lost some she loves deeply and then only to discover that his body is missing. You might not recognize yourself in that mess.

But the moment Jesus says her name.

She knows Him. It is the most wonderful sound you can hear. Jesus calling you by name.

Jesus calls you name, are you ready to respond. To hear the sweet sound of God calling you by name and sending you to go.

Know that God loves you and died for you, and is alive now and calling you by name. Listen and hear God calling, and follow where God leads.

Running to the Tomb

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes. (John 20:1-10, NRSV)

Now had how does Mary Magdalene know Jesus’ body is gone? It says she went to the tomb and saw the stone had been removed. And upon seeing the stone missing she ran to tell Peter and the disciple Jesus loved.

But the disciples run to the tomb, racing each other like they are saying I’m going to beat you. And the other disciple wins but doesn’t go in and Peter just runs in, kind of like, ha I beat you!

And they see that Jesus is gone, but the wrappings are still there. They had no clue what had happened or what was happening, but they knew that Jesus’ body was gone.

And so they went home.

Seriously? If someone came and told you that your beloved friend was no longer in the tomb where you had placed his dead body, you would probably go and check it out, and if it were true, what would you do? Go home and act like nothing happened?

I would be looking for the body or trying to discover what had happened. I wouldn’t just go home.

How many times do we just go home, when we really should be looking for Jesus?

The Empty Tomb

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8, NRSV)

This is the end of the Gospel of Mark. Most of you might go look at your Bible or know there are still 12 more verses. Most Bibles put those verses in [brackets] because most scholars believe and agree they were added later because who ends a story with, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” That is no way to end a story. But really is Mark a great writer? I mean he does start almost every sentence with and immediately.

But back to the end. Mark ended his short gospel by telling that the man who was laid in a tomb was no longer in the tomb. And the women that came to take care of the body fled in fear and told no one anything. Which we know isn’t true otherwise we would not have known about it, or Mark would not have heard and been able to write about it.

So why is this the end? Because the beginning of Mark says it all, Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the story of Jesus Christ and what he has come to do and has done and is doing. So the women leaving in fear really isn’t the end, it is only the beginning.

Jesus being laid in the tomb is not the end, it is only the beginning of Him rising from the dead and giving us new life.

So walk out of death and claim the life that Jesus gives us all.

And go and tell the world, what Jesus Christ has done for you and for all!

The Burial of Jesus

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. ⁴²When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid. (Mark 15:40-47, NRSV)

Joseph was a respected member of the Jewish High Council and yet was there to offer his grave and to help take the body of Jesus off the cross. This would mean that he would not be able to participate in Sabbath rituals for having been in contact with a dead body. But yet he did it. He did it knowing it went against what most on the council thought. We do not know why he did it, but he did.

Would you have done it?

Risk your place in society?

Do something for someone who can no longer do anything for you?

Would you risk your life for Jesus?

Jesus came to show us how God had intended for us to live. He came showing love to all and forgiveness and He was killed for it. Do you stand with Jesus?

Are you ready to lay Him in the tomb?

The Death of Jesus

¹⁶Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. ¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. ¹⁸And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. ²⁰After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. ²¹They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. ²²Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). ²³And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. ²⁵It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. ³²Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. ³³When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Mark 15:16-39, NRSV)

Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani. This seems a weird thing for Jesus to say from the cross. Why would Jesus cry out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Well, it could be because Jesus feels like God is nowhere near Him and He has been forsaken or left by God. Saint Teresa felt this in her life and often commented on it as the dark night of her soul. Is that it?

I don’t think that is why Jesus says this. If you know your Hebrew Scripture, you would know that My God, My God, why have you forsaken me is the first verse to Psalm 22. And in my understanding in Jesus’ time when a person wanted to pray a psalm they only needed to say the first verse to call all of at that psalm to cover them. And Psalm 22 starts out dark and like the writer had been left by God, but then becomes light and talks of God’s ruling over the world.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
²⁸ For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
²⁹ All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
³⁰ Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
³¹ they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that He has done it!!! Jesus died to complete something that none of us could have done. And it is something we will not understand until it doesn’t matter.

But know that God never left Jesus and God will never leave you.