Welcome, Easter is over and the resurrection has occurred. I hope you had a nice Easter as I did. I was at my parent’s house on the farm by Montevideo with my sister’s family and we had a good time. A highlight for all of us was learning how to drive my dad’s bobcat. We each had a turn learning and doing circles in the yard. I guess for us farm implements are toys. Our text continues from last Sunday in John.
V19 It is evening on that first Sunday. Jesus appeared to Mary at the tomb that morning and sent her to tell the disciples what he has told her. The disciples are in a locked room, probably the upper room where they had eaten the Last Supper, because of their fear of the Jewish leaders. Usually when a Messianic figure was killed his followers were killed too, to get rid of the entire problem. In this case Jesus had requested that his followers be let go in John 18:8 but they still feared they would be killed too. All of the sudden Jesus is among them and said “Peace be with you”. He would have used the Hebrew word “Shalom” which means peace/wholeness/wellbeing. Remember these are the men who deserted him and instead of being angry with them and rebuking them he says “Shalom”. Where did he come from? Nowhere, he is amongst them and us at all times. He didn’t come from anywhere and when he disappeared he didn’t leave. He is invisibly present at all times.
V20 He showed them his wounds from the crucifixion to verify it was really him. The disciples start to celebrate this news.
V21 For a second time Jesus says “Shalom”. Then he commissions them by telling them “as he was sent by God to complete a mission so he is sending them on a mission”.
V22 After stating to them their mission he breaths on them. This reflects Genesis 2:7 when God breathed life into man who was made from the dust of the ground. Adams life came from God, theirs comes from Jesus. After doing this he says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit will actually come in the first chapters of Acts.
V23 He then gives the disciples the authority to forgive sins. Just as he had the authority from God to forgive sins while on his mission he now passes on that authority to the disciples as they carry on his work.
V24-25 Thomas isn’t present at this time so he misses seeing Jesus. When he arrives the disciples who were there tell him what occurred but he doesn’t believe them. He says that he needs physical proof to believe Jesus is alive. Thomas’s unbelief is reflective of the disciple Nathanael’s in 1:46. Nathanael didn’t believe at first that anything good could come from Nazareth when was told about the Messiah.
V26 A week later is the following Sunday and the disciples are again in the same room except this time Thomas is present. Again the doors are shut and somehow Jesus came and stood among them. For a third time Jesus says “Shalom”. Why say this three times to the disciples? Three times this is repeated for authority/validity. Jesus really meant for them to have peace. He wasn’t there to scold and shame. He wanted them to believe and understand what the resurrection meant.
V27 Jesus focuses on Thomas who had previously doubted that he had really been there and tells Thomas to do just what he had said he would need to do in order to believe.
V28 Instead of Thomas touching and feeling him Thomas makes a great confession “My Lord and my God”. The one who had doubted the most makes the greatest confession. He ties together Lord and God. He didn’t touch him. This statement is tied together with John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus was with God in the beginning and is now Lord and God. (This is also a literary feature called bookending. Something said or implied in the beginning is repeated at the end.)
V29 Jesus questions Thomas. Is the reason you believe because you have actually seen me? Was this the proof you needed to believe? Jesus then states a beatitude. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Blessed are those who don’t need physical proof to believe, but believe by faith.
V30-31 John now explains that Jesus did many miracles other than those mentioned in his gospel but John used specific miracles to have us come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the Son of God and that in believing this we may have eternal life with Jesus.
John used his miracles and stories as signs to point to something. Just as a road sign points us in the right direction, John’s signs point us to Jesus being the waited for Messiah and sharing God’s divinity.
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