Always Room for Questions

Easter + 2

Year C

27 April 2025

Acts 5:27-32

Psalm 118:14-29

Revelation 1:4-8

John 20:19-31

O God,

our beginning and our end:

accept our doubts,

heal our desire for certainty

and, by your Spirit’s gentle touch,

make us a people forgiven and forgiving;

through Jesus Christ, the Giver of Peace. Amen.

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Today’s text of Jesus’ appearing among the disciples often winds up with us focussing on Tomas. We look at him and his doubts instead of on the miracle of the resurrection, and Jesus appearing in the locked room.

So, here we are it’s the evening of the first day of the week, and we’re here, in the locked room.

We’ve heard from the women who went to the tomb and encountered the stone rolled back, who found the grave clothes and the angel messengers, but not the body of our Lord and Saviour.

Some of our members left this morning for Emmaus, after hearing the message of the women, yet not understanding the significance of it all.

But when Jesus appears in the room, Thomas is also absent, and yet, he’s the only one John’s gospel mentions by name as being elsewhere when Jesus appears.

The gospel tells us: “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.  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.” (JN 20:19b-20, 24-25)

And here is where we get stuck.

We’ve taken our eyes off of the risen Christ and we give Thomas a good eye roll, as he receives the revelations of those who stayed in, instead of going out.

We call him “Doubting Thomas” because he’s not willing to take the enthusiasm and the testimony of the disciples into account.

In fact, he’s even rolling his eyes at their accounts of Jesus’ appearance, as well as the accounts of those who had left for Emmaus today and rushed back to report the sighting and the time spent with our resurrected Lord and Saviour.

But Thomas shows us that the message of the resurrection isn’t always accepted as we would wish, even in our own lives and hearts.

There are times when we have doubts in our own lives of faith. When we worry that we’ve ‘bet on the wrong horse.’ Or perhaps when we feel that because nothing goes as we expect, and perhaps we’ve lost sight of Christ and the message of the gospels.

At the same time to our ability to doubt leads us to seek, and to ask questions. It encourages us to seek the truth of our lives of faith and come to a deeper, better understanding of the roles of faith and belief play in our lives.

So, the question, then becomes will we be assured by the answers?

Christianity throughout the ages has not only faced challenges but it’s caused challenges as well, from the many definitions of what it means to be a Christian to the ways Christianity has been imposed upon societies around the world and throughout human history.

But when we ask, as Thomas does, then we find that we are open to Christ. We discover that we are open to meeting the divine, no matter where we are or what we are looking for.

“[Thomas] 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.” (Jn 20:25b)

Throughout the ages, throughout our lives we’ve all sought the living Christ. We’ve all looked for ways to be assured that we are the Children of God.

In our lives and journeys of faith, we seek assurance and affirmation that we’re on the right road.

We look for signs and promises that we are called to positions of responsibility, especially when, like Thomas we are unable to see what tomorrow may bring or what will happen in the morning.

At the same time, we desire to know that we’re not alone without the divine in our lives; and the list goes on.

Todays gospel reminds us: “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 have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”” (Jn 20:26-28)

Looking at the world around us, we are able to see a lot of similarities to the disciples in the locked room, and in so many ways we see that the Kingdom of God has yet to be realized in the world around us; but this doesn’t mean that the Christian message has failed.

Rather it means that we, as the body of Christ in the world around us, still have work ahead of us, and within each of our lives as well to bring the kingdom of God to fruition.

“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.” (Jn 20:19b)

The disciples were afraid. They were huddled together and unsure of the way forward. They were afraid for their lives, and for their way of life in the teachings of Christ.

They didn’t know which way to move because although they’d heard the message of hope that the women brought, and yet they still don’t know what this means for each of their, each of our lives tomorrow.

Last week’s gospel told us: “the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” (Lk 24:5b-7)

But for the disciples that was this morning, and they were afraid.

For those of us who are in the locked room we were assured not only by the arrival of Jesus, of the proofs that he was truly alive, but also because Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“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.”” (Jn 20:19b-23)

The disciples are not only reassured of Jesus resurrection, but they also have this enthusiasm and energy that is hard for someone who is still grieving to understand.

So, Thomas doubts.

Thomas brings his questions and his need for reassurance to the conversation because the emotional turnaround inside the locked room is hard for him to comprehend, because now, they’re positive, and upbeat and assured by their experiences in the locked room.

Dorothy L. Sayers, in her final radio play on Jesus’ life and ministry “The King Comes to His Own” portrays Thomas in this way: “It is unexpected, but extraordinarily convincing, that the one absolutely unequivocal statement, in the whole Gospel, of the Divinity of Jesus should come from Doubting Thomas. It is the only place where the word “God” is used of him without qualification of any kind, and in the most unambiguous form of words. And this must be said, not ecstatically, or with a cry of astonishment, but with flat conviction, as of one acknowledging irrefragable evidence “2+2=4”, “That is the sun in the sky”, “You are my Lord and my God.”” (The Man Born to be King, pg 314)

“29 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.”” (Jn 20:29)

Jesus’ acknowledges Thomas’ journey and lets us know that there is always room for questions, for doubt, and for growth.

Thomas’ example leaves from for such growth, for acceptance, and for personal revelation. Jesus didn’t turn away from him, rather he answered the questions, he provided the proofs, and he encourages Thomas, as we are encouraged to not only continue in our beliefs, but to grow our beliefs and faith, as well.

There was a movie, in 2016, called “Risen”, starring Joseph Fiennes. The movie’s premise is proving that the resurrection is a hoax, but the more this Roman Tribune investigates the more he comes to believe. He approached from the certainty that the resurrection was a fraud and learns the truth that Christ has truly risen, and is among us, still.

At one point he asks a woman “What happened to the Nazarene?” and she replies “He’s right here. Open your heart and see.”

This is the point of seeking, of finding, of doubting, so that we are able to believe even more.

“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!” (Jn 20:26b-28)

Today we are able to look back at the teachings, and the work of Jesus in our midst. We’re able to ask questions and seek the answers, and we’re able to open our hearts and see that he is in our midst, urging us to believe, and to help others to do the same.

Jesus says: “Come ... Put your finger and feel my hands. Reach out your hand and thrust it into my side. And doubt no longer, but believe. (with absolute conviction [Thomas says, and we echo] You are my Lord and my God.” (Sayers pg 334)

Amen.