St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 2nd Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31
Gospel: John 20:19-31
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.
NRSV
Bonds that Last
There are situations where the bonding between the people involved will transform them for the rest of their lives. I am talking about those moments where human beings come together, either by a common interest or because they were assigned to the same situation, to face a mountain looking too tough to climb.
These situations are myriad. They can be the pre-school or kindergarten class of little kids going away from home and discovering the world out there together for the first time, or the team that surpasses all the expectations and reaches the regionals, state, or the championship game for the first time.
Maybe it is a group of young professionals working 24/7 to launch a new start-up company that will change the world or the farmers who unite to harvest the field of a neighbor who had an accident. Or the community who assembled their talents and tools – and lost them for a while to their despair – to build the houses of worship where now we form new disciples for Christ.
Certainly, these bonds have been formed among those forced to come together to fight for the land of their ancestors or for the group of brilliant young seminarians giving up lives elsewhere to learn together how to proclaim to the world a crucified and risen Christ who frees all who believe.
It can also be the group of single mothers learning together how to take care of the lives they will soon deliver to the world; or maybe those who meet after hours in the community center to talk about the addictions that plague them; or they could be the homeless who gather together at night to stay warm. Perhaps it is the prison ministry group that comes together to repent and receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Whoever they are, the task is never easy. It takes work and dedication. It often tests the ones involved. There is disagreement, obviously, for they see things differently. There will always be fear and doubt. But the memories of those events will be the last ones to fade, and stories will be forever told.
No situation is perhaps more daunting than the one faced by the disciples, scared to death in this room. A whole nation and their occupiers are out there looking to arrest them and do God knows what after that. Yet, it is when they are at their worst, dying, feeling abandoned, paralyzed, losing trust, and perhaps even love for one another, that their Savior and Lord manifests and breathes on them new life.
For the first witnesses of the empty tomb, that was the first moment of resurrection in their lives. The day they will forever remember, be glad, and celebrate. The day they will remember the branches, the day that the Lord has made for them. The stones once rejected – as the psalmist sings – will be the new cornerstones. There will be other moments, and we will hear about them. Certainly, because of the transformation they experienced, we hear such stories until this day.
Christ is risen!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 