St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes, Vicar
Second Sunday of Easter/Year B: John 20:19-31
April 16, 2023
Lord, take our minds and think through them; take our lips and speak through them; take our hearts and set them on fire—Amen.
Welcome to the other side of the cross! After experiencing Holy Week, pregnant with the anticipation of Jesus’ passion; the emotional heaviness of his death on a cross; the waiting in silence on Holy Saturday; and finally—after holding our breath—we collectively exhale. We rejoice that the tomb is empty; bring the “alleluia” back and sing the joyful Easter hymns—exhaling as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The tomb is empty, and we can breathe again.
But, our Gospel lesson urges us to pause and remember that this Easter joy that we feel, on the other side of the cross, was not experienced by Jesus’ disciples. Replace our resurrection Sunday joy with the disciples’ terror that what happened to Jesus, could happen to them. Imagine the oppressive sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Such fear, anxiety and uncertainty—drove the leader-less disciples to run for their lives, to hide and to wait, collectively, holding their breath.
How were Jesus’ disciples able to, locked behind closed doors and fearing the Jewish leaders, move from fearfulness to fearlessness? From helplessness to empowerment? From Despair to hope? From doubt to faith?
I am reminded of the now-famous theatre play, “Hamilton,” which many have either experienced in person or streaming on Disney+. There is a song called, “In the Room Where It Happens,” which “refers to a historical closed-door dinner where Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison reach an unprecedented political compromise to move the nation’s capital in exchange for the support of Hamilton’s financial plan.”[1] Throughout the song, the refrain is “No one else was in the room where it happened; the room where it happened; the room where it happened.” “No one else was in the room where it happened; the room where it happened; the room where it happened.”[2]
In our gospel passage in John, no one else was in the room where it happened. No one else was in the room when the resurrected Jesus came through the locked doors of the disciples’ usual meeting place, stood among them and spoke to them. Assuming the disciples were stunned, they did not speak back, not even to ask for proof of Jesus’ identity. Jesus understood the human connection between seeing and believing.
Think about the signs Jesus did which helped people come to believe that he was the Messiah and the Son of God. Jesus knew how important it was for the human senses to be engaged. This resurrection appearance helped the disciples to deepen their existing belief in Jesus as the Messiah, as Jesus voluntarily showed his wounded hands, and his pierced side.
In response, the disciples rejoiced and recognized the risen Christ in their midst. Well, all of them, except Thomas, who had not been in the room where it happened that first time. The other disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord.” Thomas replied, “Okay, you’ve seen him, but until I see him and touch him, I will not believe.” The disciples could never duplicate such an experience; but they did testify to it.
One week later, all of the disciples were again gathered in a room behind closed doors. Jesus, for the second time, came and stood among them. Jesus knew about Thomas’ unbelief, and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, see my hand, put your hand in my side.” Thomas did both. On Easter Sunday, we heard about Jesus’ first resurrection appearance to Mary in the garden, where she recognized him only when he called her by name. I wonder how the very sound of Jesus’ voice, along with seeing and touching Jesus’ wounds, caused Thomas to recognize him, and powerfully exclaim, “My Lord and My God!”
The intimate encounter between Jesus and Thomas took place with the other disciples witnessing it because they were right there in the room where it was happening. Jesus could have appeared to Thomas alone to get him caught up with the other disciples’ experience, but that would have left the others out. What is so powerful about Jesus’ second appearance to the disciples, with all of them gathered, is that all of them experienced the risen Christ at the same time—no disciple left behind.
Those gathered disciples had become owners of that supernatural encounter with Jesus and it would be, forever, something that all of them shared and held in common. It is this shared experience that would give them the foundation to be sent out into the world, as apostles, to boldly proclaim the truth of the risen Lord.
In our Nicene Creed, we state what is known as the four notes, or characteristics, of the Church: “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church” (BCP, p. 359). Our apostolic tradition means that we hold in common the faith that Jesus’ chosen apostles received through his teaching, his death and resurrection—a faith which has been preserved and delivered to us in the present day.
When we say that the Episcopal Church has ancient roots, we mean that we are rooted in the foundational faith and witness of Jesus’ own disciples, whom he sent as his apostles, to the ends of the earth, to deliver the message of his resurrection.[3]
This gathered body of believers co-owns a precious, shared experience with Christ, held in common through the Church. Week by week, we get to be in the room where it happens! Where in the breaking of the bread—we see, touch and taste the sacraments of Christ’s body and blood.
And, it is in our shared experience of Holy Communion that the real presence of Christ penetrates the “locked doors” inside our hearts to come among us and to stand with us in times of darkness, fear, anxiety and uncertainty.
And, although we have not seen him, we love him. We believe in him and rejoice with what Peter calls in our epistle lesson, “An indescribable and glorious joy, for [we] are receiving the outcome of [our] faith, the salvation of our souls.”[4]
Shortly we will gather to share in the sacraments of Christ’s body and blood. In the presence of the risen Christ, we, like the disciples, are strengthened by the Holy Spirit to move from fearfulness to fearlessness; from helplessness to empowerment; from despair to hope; and from doubt to deeper faith.
So, here we are…standing on the other side of the cross. We are not so different from the gathered disciples whom, Jesus knew, needed to see him. And, we are not so different from the so-called, Doubting Thomas, whom Jesus knew needed to touch him.
As we journey through this Eastertide may we see the Christ among us; touch the Christ who stands before us; and hear Jesus calling us by name in the depths of our souls, compelling us to cry out as Thomas did, “My Lord and My God!”
Brothers and sisters, the tomb is empty!!! And…we-can-breathe-again. Amen.
[1] summary of hamilton’s in the room where it happens – Google Search, Accessed April 16, 2023.
[2] hamilton in the room where it happens lyrics – Google Search, Accessed April 16, 2023.
[3] Acts 1:8
[4] 1 Peter 1:8-9
