JOHN 20:19-31
ONE SUMMER DURING MY
COLLEGE YEARS I HAD A JOB WITH THE MONTANA STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT.
THIS INVOLVED WORKING IN A LAB TAKING SAMPLES OF PAVEMENT AND
BREAKING THEM DOWN TO SEE IF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SELLING THE STUFF TO
THE STATE WERE HONEST. IT WAS PRETTY DULL. SO I AND THE OTHER LAB
TECH, ANOTHER COLLEGE STUDENT, PASSED THE TIME DEBATING ABOUT THINGS.
RELIGION WAS ONE OF THEM. I WAS A HARD-CORE CATHOLIC GOING TO A
CATHOLIC COLLEGE AND I HAD ALL THE ANSWERS. HE WAS A NOMINAL
EPISCOPALIAN WHO WAS AGNOSTIC, AND HE HAD ALL THE ANSWERS. SO THE
SUMMER PASSED, AND AT THE END, NEITHER OF US HAD BEEN SWAYED FROM OUR
BASIC POSITION. YEARS WENT BY AND I RAN INTO HIM AGAIN, BOTH OF US
WELL INTO OUR CAREERS, ME MARRIED WITH CHILDREN AND HIM ON HIS SECOND
MARRIAGE. AND HE WAS A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN, VERY ACTIVE IN HIS
CHURCH, AND APPARENTLY HAD MET HIS SECOND WIFE THROUGH THEIR CHURCH.
I REMINDED HIM OF THOSE HOURS IN THE LAB WHERE HE HAD PRETTY MUCH
BEEN A CONVINCED AGNOSTIC, AND ASKED WHAT HAD CHANGED? AROUND THE
TIME OF THE END OF HIS FIRST MARRIAGE HE HAD GONE THROUGH SOME PRETTY
SEVERE DEPRESSION, GOTTEN INTO ALCOHOL IN A BIG WAY, LOST HIS JOB AS
A LAWYER, AND HIT A DEAD END. AROUND THAT TIME HIS LANDLORD TOOK HIM
UNDER HIS WING; ALLOWED HIM TO STAY WITHOUT PAYING THE RENT; SAW THAT
HE GOT A FEW GOOD MEALS, AND TOOK HIM TO A FEW EVENTS AT HIS CHURCH.
THERE HE HAD A CONVERSION EXPERIENCE, AND THE REST WAS HISTORY.
THOMAS, LIKE THE OTHER
APOSTLES, HAD WALKED THE HILLS OF GALILEE AND THE STREETS OF
JERUSALEM WITH JESUS. HE HAD HEARD JESUS PREACH, HE HAD HEARD HIM
PREDICT HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION. LIKE THE OTHERS, HE HAD
WITNESSED MIRACLES; LIKE THE OTHERS, HE HAD WATCHED FROM AFAR WHILE
JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED. AND WHEN THE OTHERS TOLD HIM THEY HAD SEEN THE
LORD, HE REFUSED TO BELIEVE. WORDS, EVEN FROM THOSE YOU LOVE AND
TRUST, ARE NEVER ENOUGH TO REALLY CHANGE YOUR HEART. THE MOST WORDS
CAN DO IS RAISE POSSIBILITIES, OPEN DOORS, CAST A LITTLE LIGHT ON
THINGS. WE HAD SPENT A SUMMER TOSSING WORDS BACK AND FORTH, AND
OTHER THAN SHARPENING OUR DEBATING SKILLS, MADE NO IMPACT ON EACH
OTHER.
BUT THOMAS ENCOUNTERED
THE RISEN LORD, AND SUDDENLY FAITH RUSHED IN TO FILL THE EMPTY VOID.
SUDDENLY HE DID CHANGE, AND SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE PREACHING THE
GOSPEL IN LANDS FAR FROM HOME. IT WASN'T LOGIC, IT WASN'T THEOLOGY,
IT WASN'T RULES AND REGULATIONS THAT CHANGED HIS HEART. IT WASN'T
EVEN THE WORDS OF HIS DEAREST FRIENDS. IT WAS THE ENCOUNTER WITH
JESUS.
YOU MAY THINK THAT IF THE
RISEN LORD APPEARED TO ANYONE, THEY WOULD RECOGNIZE HIM AND BE
CONVERTED. BUT I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S THE CASE. SOMETHING ELSE WAS
NEEDED; IN ALL THE APPEARANCES AFTER THE RESURRECTION, THERE IS AN
ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, AN ELEMENT OF MYSTERY. FOR MARY MAGDALINE, HE
MUST CALL HER NAME; FOR THE APOSTLES IN THE UPPER ROOM, THEY MUST BE
GIVE HIS PEACE, FOR THEY BELIEVED THEY SAW A GHOST. FOR THE
DISCIPLES ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS, IT WAS THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD THAT
GAVE HIM AWAY; AND FOR THE APOSTLES FISHING IN GALILEE, IT WAS THE
MIRACLE OF CATCHING ALL THOSE FISH AFTER A NIGHT OF NOT CATCHING
ANYTHING.
CONVERSION SEEMS TO
REQUIRE NOT ONLY THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE RISEN LORD, BUT SOMETHING
ELSE, SOMETHING THAT CAN ONLY COME FROM GOD.
MY FRIEND WAS OFFERED
LOVE BY HIS LANDLORD AND BY THE CONGREGATION OF A LITTLE CHURCH IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, WHERE HE LIVED AT THAT TIME. IN THAT, HE
ENCOUNTERED THE RISEN LORD, THE LORD WHO OFFERS PEACE, WHO SHOWS THE
WAY, WHO SPEAKS THE TRUTH, WHO CAUSES OUR HEARTS TO BURN WITHIN US.
THE REST WAS UP TO GOD, WHO GIVES THE GIFT OF FAITH.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM
THE STORY OF THOMAS? I DON'T THINK WE CAN FEEL SUPERIOR BECAUSE WE
BELIEVE AND HE DIDN'T. ONCE THOMAS BELIEVED, HE WAS ON FIRE; HE
COULDN'T WAIT TO SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN. WE
BELIEVE BUT WE DON'T SEEM TO BE ON FIRE.
I DO THINK WE CAN LEARN
FROM THE STORY THAT WHAT WE CAN DO IS MAKE SURE THAT WHEN PEOPLE
ENCOUNTER US, THEY MEET JESUS. BECAUSE, AFTER ALL, GOD IS LOVE, AND
WHEN WE LOVE, WHEN LOVE JESUS IN THE PEOPLE WE MEET, WE CAN BE THE
WAY THEY ENCOUNTER JESUS. THAT'S WHAT SEEMS TO HAVE HAPPENED WITH MY
FRIEND. AT A TIME WHEN HE DESPERATELY NEEDED LOVE, HE FOUND IT
BECAUSE OF THE LANDLORD AND A SMALL GROUP OF CHRISTIANS WHO TOOK
JESUS AT HIS WORD.
I GUESS WE WILL NEVER
KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE MET THE RISEN LORD AND WERE NOT CHANGED. SAINT
PAUL TELLS US THAT THERE WERE ABOUT 500 EYEWITNESSES TO THE
RESURRECTION, AND WHEN HE WROTE THIS, HE ADDED THAT MANY WERE STILL
ALIVE. BUT DID THEY ALL HAVE A CONVERSION LIKE THOMAS? PROBABLY
NOT; WE KNOW THAT VERY EARLY IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH THERE WERE
PEOPLE WHO BECAME CHRISTIAN, BUT UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE GOVERNMENT
OR THEIR FAMILIES, THEY LEFT THE CHURCH. ALL THOSE WONDERFUL MARTYRS
WHO DID NOT GIVE IN TO THE PRESSURE SIMPLY TELL US THAT THOSE KINDS
OF PRESSURES MUST HAVE WORKED OFTEN ENOUGH FOR THE ROMAN RULERS TO
KEEP USING THEM.
MY FRIEND ENCOUNTERED THE
RISEN LORD AMONG SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS 20 CENTURIES LATER. AND GOD
ADDED WHAT HE NEEDED TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN, A CHRISTIAN WHO WHEN I
LAST SAW HIM, HAD BEEN ONE FOR ELEVEN YEARS, AND LIVED HIS LIFE BY
HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPEL – AN UNDERSTANDING NOT THAT
DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN, I MIGHT ADD.
THE ONLY WAY PEOPLE WILL
ENCOUNTER THE RISEN LORD IS THROUGH YOU AND I. WE ARE, AFTER ALL,
THE BODY OF CHRIST, WE ARE HIS MEMBERS, WE ARE HIS HANDS AND FEET AND
VOICE; AND WE CAN CHOOSE TO LIVE SO THAT EVERYONE WHO MEETS US WILL
BE TOUCHED BY HIS LOVE, WHICH EACH OF US CAN GIVE. AND HOW WONDERFUL
TO BE INSTRUMENTS OF GOD, TO BE SHARERS IN HIS WORK! MAY HE USE US
TO SHOW HIMSELF TO THOSE WHO WE LOVE, OUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, OUR
CHILDREN, OUR CO-WORKERS – AND WE CAN HOPE THAT IF WE DO OUR PART,
GOD WILL DO HIS, AND BRING THESE ONES WE LOVE INTO HIS KINGDOM.
SO LET US BE CONSCIOUS OF
THIS WONDERFUL BURDEN GOD GIVES US – TO SHOW THE WORLD THROUGH HOW
WE LIVE AND LOVE THE RISEN LORD.
