Easter 2 (A)
John 20:1-18
When 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.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So 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.”
A 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.” Then 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But 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.
The Sights, Sounds, and Touch of Resurrection
In 1970 Hal Lindsey wrote the book The Late Great Planet Earth, a book that catalogued the events of the 60's and 70’s as signs that the end of the world was near. When he and other writers of Christian end time fiction describe the end, they write of a world filled of evil and judgment and fire. Their view is that at some point the evil will get so bad that it is going to push God over the edge and God is going wipe it all away. Before he does that, you know, he is going to transport his loved ones away to heaven. Beam them up he is. And those who are left will be facing a world of hurt and punishment. At the very end, say these professional writers of Christian fantasy horror, God is going to wad up the world and toss it into the cosmic incinerator. Those who are with God are safe in Christ’s spiritual kingdom, far away from the hassles and inconveniences of the material world. Hal Lindsey’s fantasy has been repeated in the Left Behind books of Time LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. It has been repeated on the tv broadcasts of John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, and Jimmy Swaggert. And it has been preached in the pulpits of thousands of American churches across this land.
No doubt, some of you have heard that version of the end time. Today, as we continue our celebration of God’s victory over sin, death and the devil, I want to offer you another way to look at the end. One of the most consistent and steady streams of teaching in the Bible is that God does not destroy what God loves. God does not cast aside what he poured himself into. God does not turn his back on what he is attached to. That includes you and me and it also includes the creation. From the very beginning of the world when God began creating all that exists, the Bible says that after the first day God said “It was good.” And after the second day “It was good.” And the third and the fourth and fifth and sixth, God said “It is good.” God takes great delight in what he has made. It is a part of him. It bears his imprint. God loves the material world. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the experience of it all – pleases God to no end.
Surely you understand how God could get so attached to it all. How many of you have seen, or heard, or smelled, or touched something that was so moving that it became a part of you? We’re coming up on camping season. And there will be a number of us who won’t be in church on Sunday morning because we’re going to be out in the woods going to church. You know what I mean?
Some of you are getting ready to head out and collect mushrooms. They’re called morels. You’ll be moving through the some woods somewhere, the cool spring air on your face, the smell of moss in the air, the sun’s light passing through the trees above in slanted golden streams. You’ll find a batch of morels and kneel down and pinch ‘em off at the bottom. How smooth they feel between your fingers as you cup them in your hands. At some point you’ll take them back to be washed while your butter melts in the pan, maybe a little garlic or breading added to the mix. When you finally eat them at meal time, your mind is filled with the smell of the woods, the knock of the red headed wood pecker, the sight of a spider web dripping with dew. It becomes a part of you and you get attached to it.
Others of you have spent some time at a beach. Remember the feel of sitting and looking out at that vast expanse of water that goes as far as the eye can see? The waves roll in and out and then back in again, never the same. At some point your breathing and the beat of your heart begin to sync with the rhythm of the waves. Moves you into a place of inner peace and calm. The breeze across the water brings the saltiness into your face. You can taste it on your lips. The sand between your toes tells you that you are connected to this world around you. It is a part of you. And you are a part of it.
Some of you have been to the Grand Canyon and stood at the edge of that great work of art. So massive. So inspiring. As you look over the edge, you can feel it pull on you. The depth reaches up to touch you. And you are moved.
It is not hard to see how God could get so attached to creation, the mountains, valleys, oceans, forests, and stars above. That’s why the Bible says in John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son . . . “
One thing you should know about that verse is that the word “world” means “cosmos.” It does not say “For God so loved the good people” or “God so loved our souls” or “God so loved the church”. It says for God so loved the world, as in creation, as in universe, as in the whole kit-and-kabootle. Jesus’ resurrection is not just for your soul and my soul, but for the whole created order. The plants and animals, the stars and moons, the forests and valleys. All that you can see and hear and smell and taste and touch is included in God’s saving work in Jesus Christ. That’s why when Jesus was raised from the dead it wasn't simply his spirit or his soul but his body. His flesh. His eyes, hair, nose, ears, hands and feet – all of it. Nothing about Jesus was left behind.
God loved all of Jesus. Body, mind and spirit – the whole package, the whole kit-and-kabootle.
That’s the point of today’s lesson from John. When Jesus appears to the disciples, he comes to them in the flesh, in his body. They found it hard to believe until they see his hands where the nails had been and his side where the sword had pierced. Thomas, too, needed to know it physically. He wanted to see with his own eyes, to feel with his own hands, to hear with his own ears. And he did. Thomas recognized Jesus. He knew who he was.
There are those who will tell you that all the earth and everything connected with it will be wiped away forever, nothing more than a distant memory. Don’t you believe it. In Jesus Christ, God reclaims, renews, and recreates the material world to his purpose.
What you have seen with your eyes, heard with your ears, touched with your hands, tasted with your mouth, held in your arms will be redeemed and saved for eternity. There are some of us who have said “goodbye” to loved ones. Either in a funeral or a disagreement. There are relationships that have fallen by the wayside. There are friendships that never reached their potential. These too are redeemed and reclaimed.
In a previous church, I did a funeral within the first month of arriving as pastor. After the funeral, when I went to visit the surviving wife, she wanted to know one thing: “When we see each other again in the resurrection will he recognize me?” “Yes,” I said “and you will hold him in your arms, see him with your eyes, hear him with your ears.” What happened to Jesus happens to all of us.
You -- mind, body, and spirit -- will be raised in a new birth to a life without end with the beauty and wonder and affection of those you love.
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