"Seeing and Believing" (John 20: 19-29)

Our scripture reading describes what took place on Sunday night, but first, let me remind you what

happened Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been pushed aside. Jesus’s body was nowhere to be seen. Confused and upset, she wept there at the tomb.

A man she did not recognize approached and asked, “Why are you weeping?”

She thought he was the gardener; she said, “Please, sir, if you have taken his body, tell me where you have laid him.”

The man called her by name: “Mary.” She then recognized him as Jesus, come back to life.

Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” and she told them all about it.

But it wasn’t enough to comfort them or ease their fears. After all, she was just a woman.

In all four gospels, the first people to bear witness to the resurrection are women. Unfortunately, in the Roman Empire, women were not considered reliable witnesses.

Luke’s gospel even says that after Mary Magdalene and some other women tell the male disciples about the resurrection, their words seemed to the men an

idle tale, and the men did not believe them.

And yet, the women were right, of course. All four gospels describe them as the first witnesses to the resurrection, the first preachers of that good. This is just the beginning of the radical role women would play in the early church, providing leadership in so many ways. It was so radical, in fact, that even some scripture writers found it hard to accept women in positions of leadership. The apostle Paul accepted it and even spoke to women as equals, but other writers, some writing in Paul’s name, could not accept this, and it was they who wrote things like “women should keep silent.” They were still too attached to the way of the world to accept that, in Christ, both male and female are equal.

Evidently Jesus’s own disciples had a hard time accepting it as well. They had heard from Mary Magdalene that Jesus was alive, but they themselves had not yet seen him. They had not seen him since the soldiers led him away to be crucified, and they had fled in fear, not even staying by the side of their leader, their brother, their friend, as he was nailed to the cross.

So, having not seen Jesus with their own eyes, but only hearing it from her, they remained afraid.

Which is why, on Sunday night, they were hiding inside behind locked doors. They wanted to put as much of a barrier between them and those they were afraid of as they could. Those who got Jesus might be after them. They wanted a wall, a barrier, between themselves and those they were afraid of.

What they didn’t realize is that when you build a wall or lock a door – I’m not just talking about the disciples now! – when you build a wall or lock a door, to keep out those whom you are afraid of… you really need to stop and ask yourself: on which side of that wall or locked door is Jesus? You build a wall to keep “them” out, but what if Jesus is on the other side, among “them”?

In this case, Jesus was on the outside, but he passed through the walls and locked doors to come in and stand among the disciples. It’s interesting that in some of the Bible stories, the resurrected Jesus has a flesh and blood human body; a body which, obviously, is not capable of passing through walls and locked doors. Here, it seems his body is more of a spiritual presence, which can pass through solid material.

Jesus appeared among the disciples. They saw him with their own eyes; with their own eyes they saw that what Mary Magdalene had said was true. And they rejoiced.

There is no mention of them rejoicing when Mary Magdalene told them he was alive. Hearing about it, I guess, wasn’t enough. They needed to see.

But on Sunday night, Thomas wasn’t there with them to see. He arrived later. They told him about it, but he still didn’t believe. He needed to see.

Did they give him a hard time about it? Or did they remember that they, too, didn’t believe when told about the resurrection, that they, too, needed to see? Did they give Thomas a hard time, or did they remember their own disbelieving? And if they remembered their own disbelieving, do you think they went to Mary Magdalene and apologized for doubting her? Do you think they went to her and said, “You were right. You were the first to know, the first to bear witness. Why don’t you be our leader?”

Hmm, maybe not.

A week later, they were all still in the same place, including Thomas this time. And Jesus once again appeared to them. Thomas rejoiced with the other disciples, and Jesus said “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

You should know that John – more than any of the other gospel writers – goes beyond just reporting the events of Jesus’s life. John interprets these events, draws meaning out of them, and expands on that. He says, “this is what happened … and here’s what it means…”

Actually, he tells you what it means first. John isn’t even really all that concerned with what actually happened. He just wants you to know what it means. Right at the beginning, he doesn’t tell you how Jesus was born, he just tells you what his birth means. He tells you that Jesus was the Word, the light and life of all people, shining in the darkness, and so on and so forth. He never actually gets around to talking about Bethlehem and Joseph and Mary and all that…

And John was writing his gospel to people who had not seen, people who lived many decades after Jesus. He describes to them the significance of the resurrection, and then he writes, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.”

So: Mary tells the disciples, but they do not believe because they haven’t seen. Not until they see, do they believe. Then the disciples tell Thomas, but he does not believe because he hasn’t seen. Then Thomas sees, and believes, and then the gospel writer writes to the reader: I have told you all these things so that you may believe.

Which leaves one last question unanswered: Will you believe? The disciples didn’t believe Mary; Thomas didn’t believe the disciples. Not until they saw with their own eyes did they believe. What about you? Do you need to see? Can you believe without seeing? Because “blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.”

Unfortunately, more and more people today are choosing not to believe. And why is that? Because they are looking for Jesus, but do not see him. They want to see Jesus, but Jesus cannot be found.

They do not see Jesus in a church that denies the leadership of women. Obviously. Women were the first to proclaim the resurrection, and yet their leadership is still not affirmed in many parts of the church today.

They do not see Jesus in a church that refuses to affirm and embrace racial and sexual minorities. The early church welcomed people like the Ethiopian eunuch, a man who was sexually different, racially different, and from a foreign land, but many parts of the church today would not welcome him as a member or affirm him as a leader.

They do not see Jesus in a church whose believers rally behind a political candidate who is rude and foul-mouthed, and who frequently makes fun of others, when the way of Jesus is to love one’s enemies and to bless those who curse you.

They do not see Jesus in a church whose members go to worship on Sunday, then trash talk people on social media the rest of the week.

They do not see Jesus in a church that says God demands punishment for sin, that God demanded the death of his own son. It wasn’t God who killed Jesus; it was a sinful world that did that, a world that could not stand to hear about the kingdom of God.

They do not see Jesus among believers who are pro-war, pro-guns, pro-capital punishment, or pro- anything that is violent or destructive, since Jesus himself was nonviolent and confronted oppression armed only with the power of love.

They do not see Jesus among individualistic Christians who care more about their own individual rights and privileges than the rights of oppressed people around the world….

And so on.

Our task is clear:

We need to make Jesus visible in our world today.

We are, after all, the body of Christ. We are the church. We are the gospel to the world.

What does the world see in us?

What does the world see in you?

At work.

At school.

Online.

In how you treat people.

In how you treat your enemies.

In your effort (or lack thereof) to live a meaningful, productive life.

In your priorities, as seen in how you spend your money and your time….

Too many of us look just like everyone else. We gripe about the same things everyone else gripes about, we prioritize our life the same way everyone else prioritizes their life, we’re kind to people who are kind to us, but we complain about those who aren’t. Nothing sets us apart. Nothing allows others to look at us and see Jesus.

Do me a favor: Think of someone in whom you have seen Jesus, someone who – like Jesus – allows God’s love to flow through them…  What is it about that person that allows you to see Jesus in them? Is it their kindness? Their generosity? Their compassion? How is it that God’s love flows through them? Picture that person in your mind – that person in whom the light of Christ shines so brightly.

Can you be a person like that? Can you let Christ’s light shine through you? When others look at you, will they say, “Now, I’ve seen Jesus!” ?

It’s so hard to believe without seeing. So let the world see Jesus… in you.