Our gospel reading this morning (John 20:19-31) begins on the first evening of Easter. The disciples were gathered together in the upper room, hiding and scared. The doors were chained and bolted, for fear that what had happened to Jesus might also happen to them. There was a huge amount of confusion – the 2 Marys and Salome had earlier gone to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. Simon, Peter and John also heard the story and ran to the tomb, witnessing the same thing as the women.
Then Mary came back, and said that she had seen Jesus alive. And, later on that same day, two disciples travelling on the road towards Emmaus also saw him. Yet, as the disciples gathered in the room that Easter evening, discussing the events of that day, the main emotion they experienced was fear. The door remained bolted. They had not yet experienced the power of Easter - They hadn’t met the risen Jesus. And so they remained powerless, and full of fear.
So, that evening, they were gathered, fearful and powerless, in the same room where they had been hiding since Saturday. All except Thomas. Then suddenly Jesus was there, standing among them. He greeted them: "Peace be with you." And he breathed on them the breath of the Holy Spirit, and gave them the keys to his Father's kingdom.
But Thomas wasn't there. The rest were there, frightened in the upper room, out of fear. But not Thomas. The fact that he wasn’t there perhaps suggests he wasn’t as afraid as the others – he had gone out from the relative safety of this hidden room.
We can also think back to the time when Jesus first decided to go to see Lazarus who had died in Bethany. His disciples begged him not to go, because Jesus had revealed to them that, if he went, it would mean certain death for him. The religious leaders were waiting for him, so they did their best to convince him not to go. But their convincing wasn't enough.
Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. And it was Thomas who, when the rest of the disciples were frightened, said, "Let us then also go to Jerusalem, that we may die with him!" For Thomas, life meant little without Jesus. If his Lord should die, then Thomas wished to go to the grave with him. He wanted to walk all the way with his Master. He was no coward.
Then came Good Friday. And what Jesus had warned them would happen did happen. And in the confusion of the moment, Thomas was separated from Jesus. He also ran, with the rest of the disciples. The events of the day quickly swept over them all. And suddenly Jesus, was dead. The disciples ran to the upper room for fear of the Jews. But Thomas was not with them. We don’t know where he went. Perhaps he went to think, or to grieve. This was the day when God seems to have become silent for him.
Who was there now to give God's words a human voice? Who now would give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the diseased, hope to those without hope - hope to him? Who now could cut through the issues of life and help him to see and understand things the way God sees them? Without Jesus, everything was confused - he didn't know where to turn. Without Jesus, there were no longer any authoritative answers to his burning questions…
And we have all surely experienced that Saturday – the Saturday of depression, of doubt and misery, when God seems to be silent or absent. We have trouble explaining to people who may ask us what God means to us, where is he in situations of grief or tragedy. We have trouble explaining when our prayers don’t seem to be answered.
Saturday is the day when the voice of the church seems silent, when its message sounds a little bit hollow. If Saturday was the end it would be the day when, instead of offering a clear voice and a clear call to the world, it would become trapped in the confusion itself, and finally would become silent on the major issues of the time, and of life.
Saturday is the day when we, in the church, could retreat behind our locked doors, afraid of the world outside, and perhaps feel sorry for ourselves, instead of offering healing and hope; it is the day when we could begin to wonder whether we really have anything important to say - when we wonder whether anyone is even listening anymore, anyway. That is Thomas's Saturday experience… It's the church without Jesus.
And there are times when we all like Thomas must wish to see the marks of the nails in His hands; or put our hand in the wound at His side…That is Saturday!
Then, one day, Thomas decided to come back and visit the other disciples. Again, we don't know why, but he came and he found his friends changed! They were no longer fearful. They were no longer despairing. They told him they had seen the risen Jesus. Perhaps naturally he didn’t believe them, but later Jesus appeared to him as well and Thomas’ doubts were removed forever…
Jesus said, ‘you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
And in those words Jesus talks to us here 2000 years on – Suddenly it’s easy to feel a bit like Thomas – we wonder what picture we have of Jesus. We wonder whether we’re caught in that Saturday experience – of hopelessness, of fear, of despair, of doom and gloom… There’s an easy picture when he was with the disciples - teaching, healing, talking, eating and drinking. But where is He now? Has he appeared only to hide away again ?
He has not… Sunday has come – Jesus has, as he promised, conquered death once and for all… The risen and ascended Jesus is present with us every moment of every day, walking alongside us through every journey, comforting, cheering, encouraging us, hurting with us, celebrating with us, and he is here as well sitting beside you this morning!
He is here! He is alive! He is risen! Let us never as churches or as individuals be lost in the gloom of Saturday – powerless, fearful, dejected. Let’s remain in Easter – with good news ringing out from our churches and from our mouths… And that is a huge challenge – because the church isn’t a big faceless organisation that we can leave to magically share this news – the church is you and me…
Death has been conquered, the love of Jesus has won through, and it will always win through - Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia… Amen
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