12 April 2026 Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2.14a; 22-32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1.1-12 John 20.19-31
Last week, both the angel and Jesus told us, ‘fear not’, but this week, on the day Jesus is raised, the disciples are locked in a room for ‘fear’. Fear of the unknown, fear of ‘moving forward’, fear of ??? And when Jesus appears in this locked room, his first words are ones of ‘peace’, in fact he offers his peace to them twice, and between these two ‘peace’ greetings he shows them his hands and side. And just as he was ‘sent’ into the world by the Father, he now ‘sends’ the disciples, and to enable them to continue this work in the world, he ‘breathes’ on them, giving them the Holy Spirit.
I think it interesting that John, the author of this gospel, has Jesus breathing on the disciples and giving them the Holy Spirt, and in 40 days, John, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, has the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples who are again, in a locked room because of fear. Whether the Spirit here is the same as ‘the Advocate’ who will come in 40 days or not, the important message is that Jesus is empowering the disciples with God’s presence and guidance. In his absence, the Spirit will be crucial for them to continue to do all that Jesus has discipled them to do.
And then Jesus comes again, a week later so that Thomas, who wasn’t there the first time, may ‘see’ so that he can ‘believe’. We are often critical of Thomas’ apparent ‘lack of faith’ in his demand to actually see Jesus himself before he will believe what the disciples are telling him. But that may be a little unfair, because, when we look at it, Thomas is only asking for what the disciples have already received. When Jesus appears the first time, the first thing he does after offering them ‘peace’ is show them his hand and side. He has already given the disciples the same ‘proof’ that Thomas is asking for. And, let’s face it, the story from the disciples must have been a bit ‘far fetched’, after all, Thomas has seen Jesus nailed to the cross, he may well have already heard the story from the women that the tomb is empty, but that does not automatically mean you think he is ‘walking around’ the community. So, when Jesus comes the second time, he is simply providing Thomas with the ‘evidence’ the disciples have already received. And the ending to our passage sums up the ‘reason’ for this story – so that all who hear may believe even though they have not seen.
When Jesus comes to the disciples, on both occasions, he comes with raw wounds. His body does not hide its suffering, its sorrow, its brokenness. These are not ‘old wounds’, they are open, they are fresh, even on the second occasion, seven days after the first, the wounds are still fresh enough that Thomas can ‘put his hand in Jesus’ side’. They are probably also still painful, but that signals real life. It speaks of real pain. It speaks of real engagement, and it speaks the words all of us hunger to hear ‘I am with you, I am with you where it hurts’. The Christian story is not just one that is ‘sanitised’, that is ‘done and dusted’ and ‘all sewn up’, some wounds remain, even after resurrection, some hurts are ‘for keeps’. And that is okay, it is okay to celebrate Jesus rising – and grieve our catastrophic losses at the same time. It is okay to hear other people’s uplifting faith stories, acknowledging you are ‘happy for them’ but also acknowledging that your pain remains. It is okay to ache for Jesus and, at the same time, hold our ache in tension with the joys of Easter.
As we celebrate the joy of the Easter resurrection, we also remember that, across the globe people are hurting, people are displaced, people are fearful of their future, people are grieving the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties of war in so many places. The world is wounded. Jesus’ scarred body speaks with great power, tenderness, mercy, and truth. Allow it to speak to you.
The Fourth Evangelist is providing us with the same ‘proof’ that Thomas received, so that, we too, may believe. Faith is not easy, in a world that demands ‘proof’ for almost everything we do and say, believing something you have not seen is not easy. And when we look at Thomas’ response to seeing Jesus, he goes from doubt and disbelief to making the most profound statement of faith we find in our Gospels – ‘my Lord and my God’, echoing the confession found in the opening verses of this Gospel.
So what is it that would prompt a confession of faith similar to Thomas’ today. Do we look to see Jesus like Thomas did? Do we look for a loving and accepting community of believers? Do we hope to see the mercy of God found in the service and witness of our community? Do we look for someone to hold on to us when we struggle in faith or life? Do we simply need to hear John’s acknowledgement that faith is not easy and receive Jesus’ invitation to faith and promise of blessing?
Our answers to these will probably change from day to day, and maybe even multiple times during the one day. Jesus honours the desire to see more, experience more, encounter more. He blesses those who struggle to believe, but stick around anyway. He leans toward those who year for more of him. Jesus leads with brokenness so that we might follow him into glory. During this week, and beyond, may we find solace, hope and courage in the wounded, risen Christ.