John 20:19-31 It s Ok to doubt

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1 John 20:19-31 It s Ok to doubt LESSON FOCUS: Jesus work in the world is not done. He now sends us to be his Spirit-filled hands and feet in the world. LESSON OUTCOMES: Through this lesson students should: 1. Understand that it is ok to doubt. Jesus will help us believe. 2. Understand that the salvation that we receive because of the resurrection is also our commissioning as God s co-workers. 3. To be encouraged to take the life giving Spirt of God to others. CATCHING UP ON THE STORY: Jesus has died and been buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus. The disciples, having just had their world wrecked by the impossible death of their leader, sit and wait. Then, early in the morning of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb only to find that the stone which had been placed in front of it had been rolled away. In a dead sprint she takes off to inform the disciples. Peter, and another disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, supposing that someone has stolen the body, sprint back to the grave. When they arrive in the garden they find that the tomb was empty and that Jesus linen wrappings have been rolled up and placed by his head. After Peter and the other disciple return to the group, Mary returns to the grave where she encounters the risen Christ. She is weeping because she believes that Jesus is gone forever, only to have the very one for whom she mourns call her name. After a short conversation she rushes back to the disciples to report all that she had seen. JOHN 20: 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. 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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. 26 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. 27 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. 28 Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! 29 Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you 1

2 have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 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 TEXT: The disciples are huddled in a room in Jerusalem. It has been three days since Jesus, their leader, was crucified. They are huddled in this room because, we are told, they are afraid of the Jews. This is a reference to the Jewish leadership that has opposed Jesus. There are two reasons they might be afraid of the Jews. First, they were, after all, followers of this man whom the Jewish leaders hated, hated enough to have killed (along with the Romans). They were guilty by association. If you and I were a follower of a radical leader like Jesus, one who was challenging the status quo and reinterpreting everything that people believed, we would have been a little scared too. Second, the disciples were scared because they had received news earlier that day that the tomb where Jesus had been laid was now empty. The stone had been rolled away and the only thing left inside was the burial clothes. The Jewish religious leaders had placed guards and sealed the grave up nice and tight just so this sort of thing might not happen. The religious leaders were afraid that Jesus disciples might steal Jesus body and claim that he had been raised from the dead. It was certain, by this time in the day, that the Jewish religious leaders knew that Jesus body was no longer in the tomb. It didn t matter that Mary Magdalene had claimed that she had seen the risen Christ. The Jews would probably still accuse the disciples of stealing the body anyway. There were many reasons to fear. So now, as night was falling on Easter Sunday, the disciples are held up in a room in Jerusalem, afraid for what might come next. I m sure, that in the midst of this fear there was hope. Hope that what Mary had seen and reported was true. But still, fear persisted. Fear persisted in the absence of the One who had promised them peace, the one who had promised them a new way of life. Then, as they were discussing all that had transpired, all that had happened over the last few years, as they stood discussing what in the world they might do next, something happened. As they sat in fear suddenly Jesus appeared right in the middle of their conversation. The disciples stared in disbelief. How could this have happened? The door was locked? How did this man get in? The fact that Jesus came through a locked door should not be overly stressed. It is, according to some, a signal to John s readers that Jesus resurrected body had been transformed, but it is still Jesus original body, as his wounds will display. Jesus has, at the same time, his original human body, but a body that has been transformed by the resurrection. Then Jesus spoke. He spoke with a calmness and assurance that only Jesus could speak. Peace be with you. This simple, ordinary greeting shatters the silence. Peace be with you. In the midst of fear and dread, in the midst of the hopelessness of the death of their leader, these words suddenly drive away, with great force, the fear that had previously pervaded the atmosphere. The questions about what to do next slowly faded away as Jesus begins to reveal to these men the wounds and scars of his crucifixion. These wounds and scars are no 2

3 longer open and causing pain. They have been transformed. Jesus shows his body to his disciples to prove to them that it is indeed him, the very one who three days ago hung from the cross. But it also proves to the disciples that something decisive has happened. The effects of sin, the pain, and the death that Jesus had suffered were nullified, done away with. What humanity tried to do to Jesus to kill his message of salvation, his love, his selflessness was ineffectual. Pain could not hold the power of God. Death could not hold the power of God. Death had been conquered. Jesus was alive. The disciples begin to rejoice! Their fear has been dispelled. Now that the power of God has been shown to be more powerful than that of the Jews or Romans, of death, of anything humanity could do to them, the disciples can now rise to a new level of faith and action. A few moments of rejoicing, of embracing pass. Jesus speaks again. Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. And when he stopped speaking he takes a step back, draws in a deep breath and slowly exhales over the room: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Immediately everyone in the room remembers what they had learned as a little child: that God breathed into Adam and Eve and gave them life. Surely this means that some kind of new creation is happening. What the disciples had been scared, feeble, weak and faithless men is not what they now are. Jesus has given them the Spirit of God and they have been changed. They have been remade. And they have been sent. Any time the breath of God or the Spirit of God is given, things change. A week passes and the disciples again gather together on the first day of the week. They are all there this time, gathered in the room in Jerusalem. They are gathered in the very same room in which Jesus had appeared to them a week earlier. Thomas, who had not been present the previous week, expresses his doubts about what had happened. Thomas isn t a bad guy. He isn t particularly faithless. He merely wants what all the other disciples have already had, a visible encounter with the Risen Christ. Jesus has a way of knowing what we need. As Thomas and the other ten are discussing the previous week s events, suddenly Jesus appears. Joy once again fills the room at the presence of their risen Savior. Once again Jesus greets his followers: Peace be with you. As before he gets right to the point. He instructs Thomas to touch his hands and his side. Believe, Thomas, believe. Thomas, in one of the greatest confessions in the book of John, exclaims, My Lord and my God! It is a confession not just of Jesus position of leadership over Thomas. It is a confession of Jesus deity. This very same man that Thomas had been following for all this time was truly in fact God. Thomas sees it now more clearly than he ever has before. But Jesus, in his calm, gentle way doesn t harshly chastise Thomas. He doesn t cast Thomas out for not believing what he had not seen. No. Rather, Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who have not seen, but yet have believed. SO WHAT? This is a fantastic story. It is so simple, yet so meaningful and profound. In the midst of our fear about the future, in the midst of our sinfulness and brokenness, the risen Christ comes to us and commissions us. 3

4 Jesus words, As the Father has sent me, so I send you, are spoken to us, here today. God has enlisted us to continue the work that Jesus Christ started through his life, teaching, death and resurrection. We are to be little Christs. The breath that Jesus breathed on the disciples Jesus now breathes on us. The Holy Spirit who creates men and women and makes them new, Jesus now breathes on us. This breath now comes to us to fill us with new life, to fill us with new energy, to fill us with new ability to go out into our world and be like Jesus for the salvation of those around us. This is what the Resurrection means for us. It is our salvation, but it is more than that; it is the beginning of Christ s work through us to participate in his work of redeeming the world. CRITICAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What does God look like in this text/who is God in this text/what is God doing in this text? a. God has not left his followers to fend for themselves in the world without him. He breathes on them and gives them the Spirit so that they might continue on with his mission in the world. He gives them peace too, not just the absence of conflict, but a wholeness (shalom) with which to confront a combative and broken world. They will need both Christ s Spirit and his peace if they are to continue to be faithful. b. God also comes along side those who doubt. He reassures them so that they too may believe. 2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text? a. Perhaps salvation comes to us even in the midst of our disbelief. More then that, it comes to us so that we may participate helping others have access to it. Salvation, and the giving of the Holy Spirit always carries with it an element outward movement. We have been saved. We have received the Spirit. Now we must go as Christ went. 3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become? a. As Christ s breaths his Holy Spirit on us we are filled with peace to go forth and make disciples. Peace, of course, is not just the absence of conflict, it is the creative, life giving force which leads to wholeness. If we are truly allowing ourselves to be filled with the life giving Spirit of God, then we will be able to be people of peace for others. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story. 1. Why were the disciples afraid? Of whom were they afraid? If you were 4

5 in the disciples shoes, would you have been afraid too? 2. Why does Jesus greet the disciples with a blessing of peace? Does this blessing of peace forgive the unfaithfulness and unbelief of the disciples in the last hours before Jesus crucifixion? 3. Read Philippians 2:1-11. How do these verses by the Apostle Paul help us understand what it means to be sent as God the Father has sent Jesus? 4. In verse 22 Jesus breathes on the disciples the Holy Spirit. What changes for the disciples when they receive the Holy Spirit? How might the Holy Spirit help us to fulfill our mission? 5. In verse 23 Jesus says, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. What does Jesus mean by this? How is this connected to our being sent as Jesus has been sent? 6. Why does Jesus insist that Thomas feel his wounds? Is Thomas any different than the other disciples? The other disciples saw Jesus and believed. WAYS TO RESPOND TO JESUS COMMISSION: 1. Responding to Jesus commission might mean that we leave our comfortable place of residence so that we can minister to those in need. For example, you might become a missionary in another country. Or, you might move to a lower income part of town so that you might be the very real hands and feet of Jesus there. 2. Responding to Jesus commission might mean that we find ways to use our positions of power and prestige so that we can serve those who have no power. For example, how might your professional skills (in finance, law, medicine, education, etc.) be used to support and advocate for those who are poor, oppressed, or discriminated against? 3. Responding to Jesus commission might mean that you work to mediate forgiveness and peace between people who are at odds with one another. For example, helping to settle disputes between your coworkers. Or, helping to settle disputes between members of our local congregation. At the very least, it means being a non-anxious presence in the midst of disputes. 4. Responding to Jesus commission might mean that your life become the tangible evidence of the resurrection so that people like Thomas might see and believe that Jesus is our resurrected Lord and Savior. 5