A Ministry of Sending: John 20:19-31 - Second Sunday of Easter

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and 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.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

  ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So 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.”
  ²⁶A 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.” ²⁷Then 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.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

  ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (NRSV)

I’ve never liked the term “shut-in” as a descriptor of those persons who are unable to attend worship. To be more polite, we say “homebound member,” but to me, that’s still a label—and labels are condescending.

I have yet to think of a better term—but if there is one, I’d prefer it to describe the relationship between we have with such persons, because they are part of the Body of Christ, every bit as much as someone who’s here for something every single day. There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.

That being said, we are all “shut-ins” now, thanks to Covid-19. Due to the quarantine, you and the community are “shut out” of this church building. Meanwhile, a number of businesses, factories, and community organizations have been “shut down.”

So once again, we are experiencing daily life in ways similar to Jesus and his disciples, even though the hardships and dangers we face pale in comparison to what they faced.

Jesus’s disciples were sheltering in place—but not in fear of the germs, like we are… They had barricaded themselves behind locked doors in fear of the very same people who handed Jesus over to be crucified. (I wish John had said that instead of “fear of the Jews,” which has been used for millennia to justify all kinds of Anti-Semitism).

But there’s a different kind of fear here, too: the fear that Jesus’s promises will not come true. Think about it: the one upon whom they pinned their faith, their hopes, and their very lives was crucified. But suddenly, Jesus shows up, in the flesh! He shows them his hands and side—and they rejoice because they’d seen the Lord. But still, they remain behind locked doors. Still, they are afraid to go out. And Thomas was absent. We don’t know why; he just is.

And history is quite unkind toward Thomas because he doesn’t believe the disciples—even though the disciples didn’t really believe the women! Thomas wasn’t asking for power or glory, like those other disciples did (Mark 10:35-37). All he wants is to experience the presence of the risen Lord, like the others had done. Thomas should be commended; not condemned.

Has there never been a time in your life, when you wished you could experience Jesus as strongly and as powerfully as others have? Many people are experiencing a Thomas moment right now—because their lives are in pieces; their security is gone; their hopes have been dashed—all thanks to Covid-19. They don’t need Christians, whose only hardship is the shelter-in-place order, hurling slogans and clichés at them. How can you have faith if you don’t have food? What’s the point of shouting, “Jesus is risen!” to someone who’s afraid? How can faith grow when you’re losing everything?

In a time of Coronavirus, talk is cheap. Even livestreamed worship services, as much as we’ve come to depend on them now, aren’t enough to satisfy the longing for the presence of Jesus that exists inside every human heart. Like Thomas, every child of God needs something more.

Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” So how can we be a sent people, obeying orders to shelter-in-place?

The answer: we undertake a ministry of sending.

Who doesn’t enjoy getting something in the mail that’s not a bill or an advertisement—like a card or a hand-written note? (You’d think Geico was my biggest fan, given the amount of mail they send me!) Who doesn’t smile when you pick up the phone and it’s not some stranger asking about your electric bill, but someone who has you on their mind? What child doesn’t smile at a plate of cookies of a bag of candy? You can still be a presence for someone without being in the room.

It’s frustrating because we are still so limited in doing everything we want to do. But you can’t give up on God’s call just because it’s difficult and requires more thought, time, or creativity than you’re used to. When the going gets tough, you call upon the Holy Spirit. You persist in doing what is in your power to do

And I truly believe that in this time, the Holy Spirit will be teaching us how we can embody the presence of Christ to our neighbors when the quarantine is lifted.

Love cannot be shut in, shut out, or shut down, because Jesus will not shut in, shut out, or shut down, by a cross or by the coronavirus. Fear isolates, but Jesus’s resurrection calls you up out of yourself to bear life and love to the world. Because there is God, there is good. However the Spirit may be calling you to send your compassion and concern, you and the people you bless will join with Thomas in crying out, “My Lord and My God!” When life and love meet fear and death, Jesus Christ is praised.