Newsletter article - May

Jesus, I need to touch you.

“But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So 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.’ 26 A 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.’ 27 Then 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.’ 28 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” (John 20:24-29)

After having walked through the wilderness in Lent, we now have come to the season of Easter. In the season of Easter we celebrate the angel’s announcement at the empty tomb, that “Christ is Risen!” During this season of Easter our gospel lessons have featured Christ’s post-resurrection appearances to his disciples. In John’s Gospel, Jesus appeared to the disciples when they were locked in by their fear of those who killed Jesus, and then when Jesus appeared he filled them with life and hope and empowered them to go out and share the good news. But there was one disciple missing…Thomas. This story gets a lot of play I think because there is something that resonates inside of us with Thomas. He wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples, so I can imagine them saying to him: “Dude, Tommy man, you missed it! We had the doors locked, but Jesus appeared and said ‘peace be with you’! It was awesome!” So, Thomas feels like the odd one out, and even though he hears that Jesus appears, he says unless he sees Jesus for himself, and touches him, he won’t believe. Of course, this is what earns him the label, “Doubting Thomas.”
Have you ever felt like Thomas? Even though you’ve heard the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, have you ever wanted to see it for yourself? How can it be so? How can someone rise from the dead? It defies all reason. It also defies our experience. Our lives are often clouded by death, despair, suffering and disappointment.
Thomas didn’t doubt because he was a bad disciple, but he doubted because he was so immersed in the struggle, fearing for his life, that he couldn’t see outside of it. There was so much darkness, that when the light came, he couldn’t even recognize it.
Imagine if you’ve never seen light before, what would it look like if one day you saw it? Would you be able to recognize it? What about you had been trapped on a desert island, and all of a sudden someone comes to the rescue? Could you believe it was true?
It’s like a flower that immerges from the rocks, or a baby that is born of a woman who the doctors said could never bare children.
The truth of the resurrection in the midst of our struggle is “too good to be true,” it doesn’t make any sense, it comes to us like a language we can’t understand. That’s why Thomas cried, “Jesus, I need to touch you!” Unless I feel your wounds, I cannot believe. We can think about times in our lives when we, like the disciples, thought that all hope was gone, that God had abandoned us. We are so immersed in our struggle, that we doubt that we can ever get out of it. We too cry out, “Jesus, I need to touch you!”
But the good news is when Thomas had doubts, Jesus did not reject him. But Jesus invited him to touch his wounds, to see for himself, that he might believe!
Like Thomas, when we cry “Jesus, I need to touch you,” he allows us to touch him. When we are in the midst of a struggle, having doubts, having forgotten what the light looks like; that is when Jesus shows us his wounds, and allows us to touch him so we would believe. The wounded Christ comforts us when we are wounded, and walks in solidarity with us in our struggle. Thus, Christ gives us reminders in our everyday lives that he has Risen. We have moments of resurrection. These moments remind us that suffering and death are not the end of the story; that in Christ, we have life everlasting.
After Thomas touched Jesus and confessed “My Lord and my God,” he was transformed. This apostle that we know as “doubting Thomas” then went on to be one of the most faithful missionaries, traveling even as far as India to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and then he was even martyred for the faith. Thus, an encounter with the Risen Christ can restore us with new faith, enough to give us hope to endure our ongoing struggle, and to go out into the world and share it.