Sermon from the Second Sunday of Easter by Pr. Sharai Jacob
Hallelujah, Christ is Risen! I know that in the weeks following Easter, we are meant to be joyful, but our Gospel reading today happens before the celebrations start. Jesus’ body is gone - but no one knows what happened to it. I imagine the room where the disciples were hidden: a small wooden door, shuttered windows, or maybe even barricaded. Dust floating in the beams of moonlight that peak through the boarded-up windows. The disciples would be mourning in this place where the air is still, but their minds are rushing with terrifying thoughts. Thinking of the dangers they will face now that they have no leader to guide them. Thinking about the communities they left behind when they chose to follow Jesus. The savior that God sent them is defeated and there may never be hope again. They are shut off from the world.
The disciples’ reaction to this terrifying experience is actually a really smart one. They don’t split up, like characters in a scary movie. They stay together - they lean on one another. But the experience of seeing their leader, teacher, and friend arrested, beaten, and crucified. The realization that their one hope for overcoming the oppression of their people, for a safe and just world, was gone. These things left them with more than fear. The disciples are dealing with trauma. Many things can cause trauma including experiences of emotional abuse, physical abuse, experiences with racism, sexism, homophobia and many many more experiences we could come across. When the initial traumatic experience has ended, trauma remains with survivors, and it may take many years for them to heal.
This is what the disciples are dealing with when Jesus arrives. He doesn’t break down the door, or pick the lock. He didn’t enter the room, but there He is, in the room with the disciples - it’s as if he had been there the whole time. Jesus meets the disciples with gentleness and understanding. Jesus offers them peace. And then he breathes on them, the Holy Spirit - just like God breathed the breath of life into the first people made of mud. Jesus breathed into them, new life! This is a new creation! Their savior was not defeated, Jesus won! Jesus is victorious and present and is making all things new! Hallelujah!
But is that really all we need to get over trauma? Or even to get over any regular trouble we face. We just need to return to our faith, remember our Baptism, and look for Jesus’ presence in our lives. And then poof! We’re cured. That doesn’t sound quite right. And thankfully Thomas is here to make it make sense.
Thomas, who wasn’t there the day that Jesus appeared to the other disciples, hears this and says, “I can’t believe that!” People talk about Thomas like he’s a spoilsport, a party pooper. Thomas hears everyone rejoicing like the whole world is fixed, but he’s looking around at the world, and he just can’t get on board with them. Maybe you’ve felt like Thomas before, or even this week! You’re supposed to feel joyful, but how can we rejoice while the world is in pain?
It’s interesting that Thomas asks for more than just to see Jesus. He wants to touch the scars on Jesus’ hands and side. There are many reasons he might have needed this. Maybe to know that this isn’t an imposter. Or maybe Thomas needed to touch Jesus’ wounds to know that those wounds can be healed — or to know that new life can still grow even in a body scarred by trauma.
Thomas cries, “My Lord, and my God.” This Jesus, who defeated death but continues to wear his scars. This was Jesus who knows him, who walks with him towards healing. There is no expectation for Thomas to rejoice. He cries out because he sees God who knit him together in his mother’s womb embodied, present, and active in his life. Not just passively watching and guiding, but also actively nurturing and caring.
Jesus didn’t appear and fix the world in a day. Jesus appeared and called forth the disciples’ courage, sending them out to do as He did. To be broken bread and poured out wine. To be a beacon of hope, sharing God’s Grace with the world. Jesus is risen and present and acting to provide faith, hope, and courage. And He sends us all, just the way that he was sent. We may not always feel joyful in this work - Jesus wasn’t always joyful either. There is a lot of hurt to be healed, there are many wrongs to be set right. But we can find peace in the hope Easter brings because we know and experience God at work in our hearts, God at work in the things we do for our own healing, and God at work in the world through the words we say and the way we live.