“Personal Touch”
John 20:19-31
A week has already passed since we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Once again Easter Sunday has
come and gone for us. The emotions of
Holy Week have subsided, the excitement of Easter Sunday has settled down, and
churches are once again returning to normal.
And yet, one look at the bulletin header for this Sunday reminds us that
this time of the year for us is to be anything but normal. Easter Sunday may have come and gone, but the
Easter season has not stopped, it is just beginning, and it will continue for
next forty days until Pentecost.
Easter is more than just about one day.
It is about our on-going encounter with the living Christ as
post-resurrection Christians. It is this
fuller meaning of Easter that reminds us that our faith is not centered on the
empty tomb, but on the one, who appeared in the flesh to the disciples after
God raised him from the dead. The event
of the resurrection may have been one moment in time, but we continue to live
as a people in the light of that one moment, in the light of the One who was
raised from the dead, in the light of the One, who continues to illuminate our
lives with the glory of God.
It is Jesus Christ, who has always
been and will always be the central claim of the testimony and witness of the
church. Christianity is not founded on a set of ivory tower doctrines, nor is
it founded on self-help, utopian beliefs.
Christianity, at its very core, is grounded in the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, through whom God has once and for all reconciled,
redeemed, and saved not just humanity, but all of God’s creation. This is important for us to remember as we
continue our journey of faith through this Easter season. It is important for us to remember that the
event which turned a band of fearful men and women into a group of faithful,
evangelical disciples, was not the empty tomb, but the appearance of Jesus
after he was raised from the dead.
The empty tomb in and of itself is
no proof that Jesus was raised. It
Christianity was based on the fact that the tomb where Jesus was laid after he
died was found empty three days later, then we would believe in nothing more
than just that, an empty and cold stone tomb.
But our faith is not in the empty tomb, but rather our faith is in the
One who is God with us, in the One who appeared to his disciples after he was
raised, in the One who is ever present with us through the Spirit, in the One
who continues to come to us, his church, inviting us to touch him again so that
we may continue to discover the power of his grace and love, and the hope we
have through his living presence. Our
text for this morning points us toward this important testimony of our faith.
The story of “doubting” Thomas is
another well-known story for us. The
story takes us back to that night long ago, to that night of the resurrection,
to a house in the midst of a sea of houses probably somewhere in
There must be another explanation
for Jesus’ absence in the tomb, and that explanation sent shock waves through
the disciples. The Jews must have taken
Jesus. What better way to get rid of
this fledging religious movement, than to take away the body of its leader and
dispose of it quietly and secretly. No
more burial spot to be revered. No more
martyr to be worshipped. Once the body
of Jesus was taken away, there would be nothing to stop the Jews from seeking
out the rest of Jesus’ followers. It was
only a matter of time before the disciples would be rounded up and summarily
dealt with. No wonder the disciples were
in fear. Their teacher and friend was
gone from the tomb, Mary was delusional, and the Jews would be coming after
them any minute.
But then
something happens. Jesus came and stood
among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And then Jesus showed them his hands and his
side, and the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Then Jesus breathed on them and they received
the Holy Spirit. Their lives had forever
been changed. Their doubts and fears
forever relegated to a distant memory.
They had seen the One who was no longer just their teacher and friend,
but who was now their Lord. They had
seen the One who was dead but is alive forevermore. Well, all but one of them anyway, Thomas.
We don’t know
where Thomas was during this time.
Probably hiding out as well in another place. But what we do know is that he was not there
when Jesus came to the disciples that Easter evening. And when he heard about Jesus’ appearance, Thomas
reacted just as I would have reacted. “Have you lost your minds?” “I know Jesus died on that cross. I know that he was buried in a tomb. And the last time I checked, dead means
dead. And you are telling me that you
have seen the Lord?” “Alright fine, I’ll
believe you, only after I see the mark on his hands where the nail was hammered
in, only after I put my hand in the hole in his side where the Roman guard
drove that spear to the bone.” You can’t
really blame Thomas. After all, he was
only reacting to what his expectations had taught him. He needed more than just the words of the
other disciples. He needed much more to
convince him that Jesus was indeed alive.
They had all seen Jesus and had seen Jesus’ hands and sides. But Thomas had not, but he would see for
himself very soon.
A week later,
the disciples are once again together along with Thomas this time, and all of
them were once again behind closed doors.
Suddenly Jesus appears. And he
goes to Thomas and says to him, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my
side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas’ only response, the only response he
could give, “My Lord and My God.” It was
their personal touch of the risen Lord that turned these fearful men and women
into believing and rejoicing disciples.
It was their personal touch of the risen Lord that turned their doubt
into the assurance of faith, that turned their doubt into the faith and
conviction that would send them out into the world, no longer as individuals,
but as brothers and sisters, as witnesses of the living Lord, Jesus
Christ.
Two thousand
years removed from Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples, we find ourselves
in a position similar to that of Thomas.
We have not seen the Lord in person, standing in front of us. And we too sometimes find ourselves in doubt
about whether or not what we have heard from others about the resurrection is
the truth or just the ramblings of delusional people. Simple testimony is not always enough. Sometimes we want proof. Sometimes we need more than just someone
telling us the stories of Jesus in order to believe in him. Not one of us here believes that Jesus is the
risen Lord because someone told us to believe it.
It’s like
when I was in college and involved in a Bible study with some of my fraternity
brothers. There, sitting in a room,
behind closed doors, the leader of the group began to tell us how we are
saved. He went through the stories of
Jesus, telling us what he did for us, how he died on the cross, and how we was
raised from the dead. Then he said, “All
you have to do is say this little prayer, and you will be saved.” But I’m not saved, because someone told me about
Jesus, and I said a little prayer asking Jesus into my heart. I was saved when Jesus died on the cross for
the forgiveness of sins, and I have faith in God because God raised Jesus from
the dead, but I know I am saved and I know that I have saving faith, because I
have personally encountered the risen and living Christ. As have we all.
We all
believe Jesus is the risen Lord, because in one way or another, Jesus has come
to each one of us, one by one, and said, “Put your finger here and see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it in
my side. Do not doubt, only
believe.” Each one of us has come to
believe in the saving death of our risen Lord through our personal experience
with the risen Christ. And it is this
personal experience with the risen Christ that joins us together into the
community of those who share in that experience, who share in our common
identity in and with Christ, who share in our common calling to go and witness
to Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God.
Do you doubt
that you have had this personal experience?
Do you doubt that you have seen the risen Lord? Do you doubt that you have personally touched
the risen Christ in your midst? You do
it every time you shake your neighbor’s hand.
You do it every time you give someone a hug, or a pat on the back. You do it every time you hold someone who is
hurting. You do it every time you lend a
helping hand to those who need it most.
You do it every time you stand shoulder to shoulder with someone who is
in crises. You do it every time you look
someone in the eye, grasp their hand, and say to them, “The Peace of Christ be
with you.”
It is in this
personal encounter, in this personal touch, that we too feel the hands and
sides of Jesus and now that he is our Lord and our God. It is in these ways of personal touch that
helps bind us together as Christ’s very own, that helps us to see in others and
in the world around us the risen and living Christ. We can never underestimate the importance of
that personal touch for our lives of faith, and most importantly for our ministry
and mission in the world in which Christ is present and at work in the lives of
those who have not seen him.
It is through us that Christ makes
himself known. It is through us, the
church, that Christ personally touches the lives of those who do not yet
believe. It is through us, the very body
of Christ, that he is present and at work in the midst of the world around
us. That is the power of the
resurrection, that is the testimony and witness of the church, that is the good
news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of the One who was dead but
who is alive forever more and is even now transforming the world so that one
day, the whole world will join the voices of the great cloud of witnesses in
the great proclamation of Thomas, “My Lord and My God.”
I want to
conclude with this poem appropriately called, “Thomas.”[1]
Put your
hand, Thomas, on the crawling head of a child,
imprisoned,
in a cot, in
Place your
finger, Thomas, on the list of those,
who have
disappeared in
Stroke the
cheek, Thomas, of the little girl,
sold into
prostitution in
Touch,
Thomas, the gaping wounds of my world.
Feel,
Thomas, the primal wound of my people.
Reach out
your hands, Thomas,
and place
them at the side of the poor.
Grasp my
hands, Thomas, and believe,
when you
feel me in the world’s pain,
and in the
world’s glory.
Amen.
[1] Kate McIlhagga, in Human Rites: Worship Resources for an Age
of Change, comps. Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (London: Mowbray, 1995), p. 305.
Taken from Resources for Preaching and Worship Year B, compiled
by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, Westminster John Knox Press,