Gospel Reading: John 20:19-31
“Thomas, thoughtful though tentative, thinks through terrific tidings - takes time to trust - then, totally transformed, travels teaching truth.”
“Thomas,
thoughtful though tentative, thinks through terrific tidings - takes
time to trust - then, totally transformed, travels teaching truth.”
Thus
a clergy friend of mine meditated on a statue of St Thomas in the
church of St Thomas and St Andrew, Doxey, Stafford. I think it is a
very good summary of our Gospel reading for today which, as every
year, tells Thomas’ story.
The
disciples are together, hiding from the authorities, in the evening
of that first Easter Day when the Risen Lord appears to them, and
reassures them. And then Cleopas and his wife come racing back from
Emmaus to tell them that they, too, had seen Jesus.
But
Thomas wasn’t there. We don’t know why, but he missed it. And
he isn’t inclined to believe the others, thinking they must be
deceived in some way. Well, you can understand it, can’t you? If
it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If it were true, it
would indeed be terrific tidings – but people don’t just come
back from the dead! Not even the dear Teacher. Once you’re dead,
you’re dead, thinks Thomas. How can you come back to life again?
Surely this was wishful thinking on the part of the others? Surely a
group hallucination? Surely they were mistaken, weren’t they?
Weren’t they?
Thomas
remembers the last couple of years, since he started being one of
Jesus’ disciples. How they had travelled together, quite a large
band of them, with a few women who saw to it that everybody had
something to eat and at the very least a blanket at night. There was
the time he had gone off with Matthew, on Jesus’ instructions, to
preach the Good News, and they had had such a great time. And then
it had all gone sour, and Jesus had been arrested, tortured, and
crucified. But they were saying he was still alive? Not possible,
surely. It couldn’t really be true, could it. But then, there had
been those miracles, people healed – the time his friend Lazarus
had died, and Jesus had called him to come out of the tomb, and he
had come. Or when that little girl had died, only Jesus had said she
was only sleeping. Or that time when…. Thomas goes on remembering
all the times Jesus had healed the sick or done other miracles. But
then, he couldn’t be alive, could he? And so on, round and round,
on the treadmill of his thoughts.
This
goes on for a whole week. It must have seemed an eternity to poor
Thomas, with the others, although still cautious and hiding from the
authorities – indeed, some of the fishermen were talking of going
back to Galilee and getting the boats out; safer that way – the
others, still cautious, yet fizzing and bubbling that the Teacher was
alive!
A
whole week. Right now, with lockdown, a week seems an eternity,
doesn’t it? How long is it since we’ve been able to worship
together in person? Three weeks? Four? I’ve lost track…. But
it is definitely a long time. I can’t think of any other time
in history when this has happened, except perhaps for Catholics
during the penal times in 18th century Ireland. Or, perhaps, for the
Presbyterians who went across the Atlantic on the Mayflower and its
sister ships to escape what they saw as persecution in this country.
We
are all, I know, longing and longing for lockdown to be over so we
can meet up again, whether with family and friends or with our church
families, or both. Modern technology means that we can at least stay
in touch, even have video calls with our family, but it’s not quite
the same, and, of course, as soon as you can’t have something, you
want it badly! Even seeing the
newest great-nephew on a family Zoom get-together made all
the aunts and grandmothers want to cuddle him, which
right now we can’t do.
Some
of us may well have had this Covid-19 – the doctor thinks I have –
and I must say I did feel very ill indeed for a couple of weeks, and
longed and longed to feel better, as I am sure any and all of you who
have felt unwell from Covid-19 or any other illness have done.
We
look at the world around us just now – people at home, unable to
visit their nearest and dearest; too many being ill, and too many of
those dying. And I don’t know about you, but I have wondered where
God is in all of this. Where is God when you need him? We
want to see God’s face in this, to hear the reassurance that all
will be well and all manner of thing will be well. We want the
reassurance that God is truly there and hasn’t abandoned us.
But
you see, Thomas shows us that this is okay. He had to wait a whole
week until the risen Jesus came to him to reassure him – and a week
can be a very, very long time! But that’s okay. We don’t have
to get immediate answers; we don’t have to feel better at once if
we are taken ill; we do, perhaps, have to be very patient while this
lockdown goes on and on.
For
Thomas, it took a week. That’s why we remember him on this day
each year – Low Sunday, I was taught to call it – as it’s the
anniversary of the day when Jesus did come to Thomas.
The
disciples were still hiding from the Jewish authorities – they
could easily have been picked up, arrested, and crucified in their
turn. And this time, Thomas was with them. He was still doubtful,
still not convinced – but Jesus came, specially for him. “Here,
touch my scars, touch my side – it’s true, I’m alive, you can
trust me!” And Thomas’ immediate response was to fall down in
awe and worship.
And
he was totally transformed. His doubts all fell away, as if they had
never been. He knew Jesus forgave him for having doubted, just as he
was to forgive Peter for having denied he knew him, just as he would
have forgiven Judas for having betrayed him, had Judas been in any
condition to receive that forgiveness. He was forgiven and
transformed.
As
we, too, can be. You know this and I know this, but sometimes it
feels as though that knowledge is only in our heads, we don’t
absolutely know it with all of us. Except when we do – and then we
wonder how on earth we ever doubted, why we don’t always believe
with our whole being. We have all had those mountain-top
experiences, I expect – and we have all had our times of doubt and
even disbelief. It seems to be normal and human. Thomas certainly
didn’t believe that Jesus had been raised; it took a special touch
from our Lord himself to convince him, as it sometimes does to
convince us.
And
Thomas was totally transformed, from doubter to staunch believer.
And, what’s more, he then travels, teaching truth.
We
have nothing in the Bible to tell us what may or many not have
happened to Thomas after his encounter with the risen Lord. But
there are various traditions, most notably that he went to India and
founded the church there. They say he was martyred in Chennai in
about AD72, having lived and worked in India for over twenty years,
and some sources say his remains were brought back to Edessa,
in modern Syria,
although others think he was buried in India.
Even
today, almost two thousand years later, there are Christians in India
who trace their faith history back to Thomas’ ministry. How much
of this is factual, and how much tradition, we don’t know. But
given that so many Christians in India, Orthodox, Catholic and
Protestant, all trace their faith back to him leads me to suspect
there might be something in it.
But
whatever the truth, we know that Thomas travelled, teaching the truth
about Jesus, teaching, as did many of the other apostles, proclaiming
the Risen Christ, witnessing that he had actually seen and spoken to
him, being filled with God’s Holy Spirit to proclaim the Kingdom of
Heaven. He was totally transformed from the doubtful, worried
disciple of that first Easter Day.
Most
of us have been following Jesus for many years now. We too have been
transformed, probably gradually over the years, to be more like the
people we were created to be, the people God designed us to be. We,
too, proclaim our risen Lord, not only – probably not even
primarily – in words. And like Thomas, we sometimes take time to
tentatively think through terrific truths, and we take time to trust.
And
Thomas shows us that this is okay, as long as we don’t stop there.
As long as we can accept that our first views may be wrong, and allow
God to heal and transform us. And then, my friends, along with
Thomas we too will be teaching the truth.
“Thomas,
thoughtful though tentative, thinks through terrific tidings - takes
time to trust - then, totally transformed, travels teaching truth.”
With
thanks to the Rev Bill Mash for the meditation, which I have used
with permission.
