Quasimodo Geniti

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

Quasimodo Geniti

St. John 20:19-31

April 11, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Easter is not a one-day event. It isn’t only an event or an occurrence that happened in the past or something that we only celebrate and remember once a year, only after the 40 days of Lent. Easter is a present and ongoing reality. Every Sunday that we gather to worship, to hear God’s Word, to receive His Sacrament, we are receiving the Lord who was crucified but who was raised from the dead. If we didn’t have Easter, none of this would matter.

But Easter is an ongoing and ever-present reality and celebration for Christians. Death is still defeated. Death has still lost its sting. The grave has still lost its victory. Always and forever. In the end, we too, will come out of death and step out of our own graves. For Jesus is still our risen Lord.

And that is partly why the Gospel reading for this, the first Sunday after Easter, or the second Sunday of Easter describes the events that occurred right on the heels of the Resurrection, that first Easter morning. It’s been a full week for us. A full 8 day turn around since we celebrated Easter. But the Gospel reading pulls us back to that glorious day—to the evening of that miraculous day. And John describes what happened in that upper room so that we too might undergo some personal reflection.

Here, John gives us a glimpse of what is happening in that upper room with the disciples. The doors were closed and locked because the disciples feared the Jews. They feared that what happened to Jesus could and might happen to them. The disciples who had made claims that they too would gladly go and die with Jesus, are now fearful that they might actually be hunted down to die like their teacher.

Those who were numbered among the Twelve—the Twelve being the twelve disciples, who were included in Jesus’ inner circle and would later be sent out as Apostles were: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, who is also sometimes called Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

All in all, there were twelve disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, another James, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas Iscariot. Except now, there aren’t twelve. We know what happened to Judas. He betrayed the Lord unto death and He himself is now dead. So there aren’t twelve disciples, and neither are there even eleven in the upper room. There are currently ten disciples in the upper room. Thomas was not there. Why wasn’t Thomas with them? Why wasn’t he gathered together with his brothers in the faith and fellow disciples?

Well, we don’t know. We are given the reason as to why Thomas was not there with them. Perhaps the reason why Thomas wasn’t there with them in the first place, even though the doors were locked and the other disciples were safe behind closed doors, was because Thomas wanted to be extra sure, extra careful that he wouldn’t get into trouble. Maybe Thomas had secluded himself even further—making sure he had no contact with the outside world, locked away in his own house. In fact, this seems to be the position held by many pastors, preachers, and Christians throughout history. And it’s easy to understand why.

We’re all familiar with the disciple named Thomas because of his nickname that history has given him. We all know “Doubting Thomas.” This nickname is given to Thomas because of what Jesus would later say to him, “Thomas, do not disbelieve, but believe.” So most often, it’s “Doubting Thomas,” or “Disbelieving Thomas,” or “Unbelieving Thomas.” This is the reason why many have claimed that the reason why Thomas was not initially present with the other disciples, is because after Jesus was crucified, he lost all faith and hope. So much so, that he despaired and neglected his brothers in the faith and refused to be with them.

But I have come to think it wasn’t this way at all.

In writing his Gospel, John says that in the evening of that day, the doors were locked, where the disciples were, because they feared the Jews. Then Jesus came and appeared to them. He spoke “Peace” to them. He showed them His hands and feet. But then, immediately after this, John tells us that “Thomas, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.” The other disciples were locked behind closed doors because they feared the Jews, but not Thomas! John specifically makes note of Thomas’s absence.

Earlier in John’s Gospel, Thomas doesn’t seem fearful of death. He’s not afraid to die. When Lazarus died in John, chapter 11, Jesus spoke to the disciples and told them that He was going to wake Lazarus up. This was to be a sign foreshadowing Jesus’ own resurrection. But to be able to go and do that, Jesus and His disciples needed to go back to Judea where the Jews had recently tried to kill Him. But Thomas is not fearful. Thomas is ready to face death. For he’s the one who says to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go [to Judea], that we may die with Him.” He does not fear death. He is ready. Thomas is ready to give up everything, even life itself, and follow Jesus.

Now one chapter later in John’s Gospel, in chapter 12, Jesus predicts His death, “And I, when I am lifted up out of the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” When He is lifted out of the earth—this is resurrection language that Jesus speaks in the presence of His disciples. When Jesus is lifted up out of the grave, He will draw all people to Himself. And Thomas got it. He understood. Thomas knew that this Jesus is His Lord, who would be crucified, whose mission is to die, but who would also be raised from the dead.

Perhaps we’ve all been a little too hard on Thomas. Maybe he actually had it right all along. Because eight days later, one week later, on a Sunday, Thomas was with the disciples. They told him that they saw Jesus. They actually saw Him raised from the dead. Thus, Thomas says, “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hands into His side, I will never believe.”

We must not be so hard on Thomas. For Thomas believed the word that Jesus had spoken earlier in John, chapter 12—that He will be lifted out from the earth. Thus, we ought to believe that Thomas is saying, “Unless I see the marks of the cross and His crucifixion, unless I see those trophies, which have won salvation for me and appeased the Father’s wrath, I will never believe that this person, who appeared to you, who you saw, is, in fact, my Lord Jesus Christ. And unless I see Him as well, I’m really not part of your group. Because I believe that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, that He, the Son of God, is my Lord and my God. And unless I can grab onto the One who I know to be crucified and resurrected and see Him, what am I to believe?” Thomas is not doubting the Resurrection. The story of Thomas is a story of his insistence of grabbing onto and beholding the One who goes to ascend to the Father.

And Jesus does this for him. He appears again to the disciples, Thomas now with them, and allows Thomas to behold Him as He is. The Resurrected one comes to Thomas as the Crucified One. And Thomas’s reaction is arguably the greatest confession in the Bible, “My Lord and my God! Yes, this is He who I know to be crucified and risen. This is Him, in whom I put my faith!” And Jesus speaks not only to Thomas, but He speaks of us, of you and me when He says “You [Thomas], you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

The accounts, written down for us and the testimony of Holy Scripture have been written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, we may have life in His name. We did not have to be present for our belief and our faith to mean something. John describes what happened for us in the upper room on the evening of Easter for a bit of personal reflection. We weren’t there in the upper room, physically or in the flesh. So also, we were not there when they crucified our Lord. But it doesn’t matter. All that is passed. Easter is renewed each Sunday. Jesus is the Resurrected One who comes to us, in our worship, as the Crucified One.

Thus, the purpose of Holy Scripture. It gives us an account as if we were truly present during these historic events. Though we weren’t actually there, Scripture’s testimony is true. We have not seen. But we are still blessed. From all this, from the words of Jesus, recorded in the Bible, we draw our faith. And this is a faith that saves us. We are blessed because we continue to hear John’s testimony, which is infallible. We trust it as Divine Truth. How is one to be saved? Well, we don’t have to see with our eyeballs! We simply receive John’s testimony. He wrote Holy Scripture and Scripture cannot fail. Thomas saw and believed. We have not seen, but we believe. Our faith is Thomas’s faith. Thomas’s confession is our confession. Jesus is Lord and God. Jesus is our Lord and our God.

In +Jesus’ name.