John 20:19-31 Jesus gives Spirit, appears to Thomas.
It’s still Easter. John makes sure we know that as we start this passage. It is a good reminder for an Easter people, who gather on the first day of the week to celebrate resurrection. It is still Easter when Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room.
Thomas wasn’t there. He doesn’t see the risen Christ, he isn’t breathed upon, he isn’t sent. He misses the experience of Easter. We often make Thomas out to be stubborn, or needing to see things for himself. We’ve branded him as doubting Thomas and held on to that for many years. Yet Thomas wants what the other disciples got – an experience of the Risen Christ. He wants to see what they saw, hear the voice of Christ, and have the Spirit breathed upon and into him.
That extends into today. We want to have the experience of God. We want to know why others believe deeply when we struggle with belief. We hear dramatic conversion stories and wonder why that didn’t happen to us. We hear stories of miraculous healing and long to see and experience those. We hear that God talks to people, clearly speaking to them God’s plan in their lives and what God wants them to do, and we wonder why we don’t have that.
What is it that we want as a part of our faith lives that others have? How would having it make our proclamation match Thomas’s – My Lord and my God?
