2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER. April 12, 2026
Year A, John 20: 19-31
Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, NLR
Michael Mitchell, Lay Assistant
Life for early followers of Jesus was often chaotic and dangerous. It wasn’t just a matter of believing and practicing a new religion. Repeatedly we are told the disciples hid in locked rooms to avoid the Jewish religious authorities. As Jesus had been killed, they expected to be hunted down and executed as well. When the Christian message began leaving Jerusalem out into the Roman world, early followers were persecuted in the Synagogues. And in the wider world, Rome was the authority on religious practice and expected its populations to follow the state religious beliefs. To follow Jesus and live the life he proclaimed was often met with ridicule, persecution, and threats of death. How did they manage to live in such chaotic circumstances?
On Easter Sunday morning, some of the women in Jesus’ inner circle encounter the risen Jesus. Though the disciples did not believe the women when they told them they saw and talked with the resurrected Jesus, their unbelief is changed when Jesus appears to them in a locked room where the disciples are hiding from the authorities. Now in our scripture today where Jesus again appears to the disciples in their locked room, he appears to Thomas, who until now had not seen the resurrected Jesus. We’ve memorialized Thomas as “doubting Thomas,” even though all the disciples also had doubted Jesus’ resurrection.
Our Gospel writer, John, is not only interested in Thomas; John gives detail about how Jesus handles matters with Thomas and the other 10. John’s focus is on the risen Jesus and his attitude toward the disciples.1 When Jesus appears this time, he begins by saying “Peace be with you” to the disciples who are afraid of being found and arrested. They are anything but at peace. So Jesus again shows them his hands and feet, the wounds, and shows them he came back to life by the power of God. They don’t only have to be afraid; they can also feel joy and excitement in the presence of their Jesus, their teacher and friend, the Son of God. Jesus expresses compassion, understanding and grace with these people who followed him, ran out on him, and are terrified. He makes clear he still believes in them, and he will place his ministry in their hands to finish what he started. To equip them for the task, he gives them several gifts: his peace which he tells them several times, himself and his love for them, and the Holy Spirit which will empower them to continue his work. John wants the Church to remember they have these same gifts within them. Though the disciples and the Church may be afraid and confused at times, they also have these gifts from the risen Jesus.
Jesus’ gifts are imparted through the spiritual window of belief. Thomas has several preconditions before he is willing to believe Jesus is alive. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.” For John, Jesus’ response is critical. Jesus in compassion and love meets Thomas’ conditions for belief. “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.” Jesus offers Thomas the chance to verify by touch that Jesus is in fact resurrected, that he is the Jesus Thomas and the others have been following. He gives Thomas what he needs for faith and then asks Thomas to believe, to let go of his unbelief. It works: Thomas sees in Jesus so much more than the others have seen. He responds to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” This statement is the central theme in John’s Gospel: Jesus is both Lord and the incarnated presence of God, the One Creator of the universe and all life. This reality is what Thomas in this moment recognizes.2
Earlier I said Jesus equipped the disciples, and now Thomas, with the gifts they need. What did Thomas do with these gifts which his belief in Jesus opened? Into that dangerous and chaotic world he boldly traveled. Thomas is said to have left Jerusalem, headed North, founded new churches of believers in the risen Jesus in what is now Eastern Turkey, headed East into Iraq, Iran, and eventually traveled into Northwestern India. He traveled down the west cost of India and landed in Southern India where he founded 7 new churches. These churches exist today. They trace their history to the Apostle Thomas in 52 a.d., roughly 19 years after the Resurrection. That’s what Thomas did with Jesus’ love and grace (see the Apostle Thomas in Wikipedia).
Jesus looks now to those that need to hear about him who have not seen him, so they too may believe in Jesus and meet the God of all. That includes us!
Peace: “Peace be with you.” Peace is more than a greeting. Peace is a presence, a power which Jesus uses to love and calm our spirits. Peace calms frayed nerves, quiets fearful thoughts, and relaxes tense bodies. The disciples were locked in a room afraid for their lives. Jesus gives them peace.
Jesus’ Presence and Love: The one whom the disciples followed and looked to for support and direction now will be with them wherever they go, and in every moment. They will feel loved and supported, for the resurrected Jesus is with them still. We are not alone.
The Holy Spirit: The presence and love of God is within the disciples and will be continuously given. God’s nature of love and grace will flow in them.
Love: Jesus loves his disciples as God loves; we’ve seen it in action in our reading today in the way Jesus handled Thomas. Jesus’ love sees us as we are, the good and the bad, and gives us what we need to accept ourselves, for our Creator already has accepted us. God’s nature is seen in Jesus, as love, grace and forgiveness.
God is building communities. Jesus is equipping them to love one another as Jesus loves. Jesus and Thomas are an example of this love. Says commentator Gail O’Day, “at the heart of this story is Jesus’ generous offer of himself to Thomas. Thomas established the conditions for his faith: he must be allowed to touch Jesus’ wounds. He does not censure Thomas for these conditions, but instead makes available to him exactly what he needs for faith.”3 We live in chaotic times too, as did the disciples. Christianity was born in fearful, dangerous times. In the midst of our chaos and fear, these generous offers are available to us as well. What are your conditions for faith? Jesus knows how to meet them. Peace, Jesus’ presence and love, the Holy Spirit and God’s love and grace, and unlimited love like Jesus loved Thomas, are our gifts too. The resurrected Jesus walks by our side to meet our conditions for faith. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says.
1 The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. IX, John. By Gail O’Day, p.852.
2 Interpreter’s, O’Day, John, p. 850.
3 Interpreter’s, O’Day, John, p. 852