The Resurrected Jesus: Peter, Do You Love Me?

Donnell Wyche — April 18, 2021

Hey Church!

I’m wrapping up our “The Resurrected Jesus” sermon series. We are coming grips with the resurrected Jesus and his followers post resurrection so that we can learn a little along with them about what Jesus being alive is all about.

Pastor Marissa launched this series by taking us on a journey down the road to Emmaus as Jesus heard from his followers what they really thought, then he spent time with them explaining again what he was up to in the incarnation. Last week, we joined Jesus and Peter on a beach as they shared a meal and got reacquainted.

Today, I want to wrap up in John 20, with the story of the disciples, in particular, the story of Thomas.

So, our text for today is John 20, we will start with verses 19-23:

¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

It is still the first day of the week, the disciples are locked together in an upper room. They have just watched as their friend was arrested, beaten, and killed by state-sponsored violence. They are in this locked upper room because there are 600 soldiers on standby to round-up, arrest, and eventually kill anyone who was in league with Jesus.

This week, a pastor friend of mine from Minnesota reached out and asked for prayer. He is new in his appointment and he’s serving, leading, and pastoring a community that has had so much taken from them. The disruptions of peace caused by the murder of George Floyd has his entire community on edge. In his note, he said, he has congregants, who have national guard tanks parked in front of their house. These congregants are afraid. And lots of us join them in this fear. We are all waiting on edge about the outcome of this trial. Will the convicted ex-police officer be convicted for his crimes or will he be acquitted.

Thomas was afraid that the state would

We have a lot in common today with Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples than we realized. He was on edge just having experience the crushing wheel of empire just snatch Jesus and kill Jesus because the state could. Thomas realized in that moment that if God had not intervened to save his own Son, as Jesus claimed he was, how much more would God intervene to protect him.

It is understandable that the disciples are fearful. Because dood news does not erase fear. In my friend’s community, the police officer who kill George Floyd was fired, removing the threat that he could use state-sanction violence against another resident. It was good news that the prosecutor brought charges, and it was good news that other police officer testified that he actions were unacceptable. And while good news, incredible news, can ignite hope, but even hope does not eliminate genuine fear.

These disciples like the rest of us, are in familiar places, but they and us [or is it just, “we”] are desperate with unfamiliar fear. Whether that fear is this ex-police officer will be acquitted, or that after avoid COVID for the past year, we might actually be infected as the vaccine becomes available to all of us.

Thomas puts into words what hides out in our heart, good news, doesn’t erase our fears. In Thomas’ case, an empty tomb wasn’t enough to confirm all that Jesus promised was true. So too, an arrested ex-police officer, doesn’t mean that justice will be served.

Thomas in his exchange with Jesus ultimately, “What does the resurrection mean?” Let’s continue in John 20:24,

²⁴Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” ²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” ²⁸Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John, the gospel writer, has an answer of Thomas. The resurrection means that God still shows up, even in the midst of our fears and in our unbelief.

So Jesus shows up. Let’s pause and consider what it means to have someone who was dead show up again, not as a shared delusion, in the midst of our grief, but in corporal form, wounds and all?

And that’s what Jesus does. He showed up and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

There’s a bit to consider here because the peace that Jesus is offering doesn’t erase the fear that’s hiding in our hearts. It doesn’t erase the forces of state-sponsored violence lying in wait. The peace that Jesus offers here doesn’t become a shield, a cloack, or even a protection for a world that is bend on violence and destruction.

It’s a peace that says, you are not alone.

No doubt it was Jesus. They recognized the scars. They see the stripes on his back and the hole in his side. And in recognition, John says they rejoiced. Astonished, ashamed, afraid, the intruder into their hidden place asserts must-needed peace. God is (still) with us! And Jesus, like God breathing life into the first human, breathed on the disciples.

The prospect of insight comes with the intrusion of Jesus—for the Spirit of God proceeds from him and in so doing, opens the eyes of the disciples.

²⁴Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

When Thomas says, “I will not believe until see the marks,” he is just requesting what the other disciples experienced when he was missing. And I love what Jesus does. Pastor Marissa has asked us to consider that Jesus is human. I can imagine what toll all of  these experiences has had on Jesus, his well-being, and his emotions. Remember, he was abandon, betrayed, and killed by state-sponsored violence, and resurrected. That’s a mouth-full. And those he has trusted the most, still are afraid, they are still stuck. But I love what Jesus does.

Jesus is willing to meet Thomas exactly where Thomas names he needs meeting.

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas names what Jesus knew his disciples needed. The doors are shut. Jesus appears, nail scars and all. His offering of peace is followed by a demonstration of forgiveness—no condemnation for Thomas’ request—a simple invitation. The disciples rejoiced, but Thomas’ response is praise. There is a difference.

I love the change in Thomas’ testimony. He moves from “the” Lord to “my” Lord.

⁸Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus sends his followers out with the mission of forgiving the sins Jesus’ death has taken away. When our worlds are up-ended. When our communities are decimated by state-sponsored violence, when we are distraught by a vehement denial of what was once confidently promised, when we are compromised by the betrayal of a loved one, when we are disenfranchised by the state, persecuted and tormented by systems that should sustain us, and we are demoralized by the loss of hope for a future.

Jesus says, I am alive.

I am here with you.

Then he breathes on us the breathe of life, the Holy Spirit.

This partnering with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is our way to showing up and telling of a world when the divine shows up in midst of disaster. It is how we tell of a world when forgiveness seems impossible. It is how we tell of a world when a woman’s witness welcomes wonder and new belief. It is how we tell of a world when life is to know the God whose mission is to forgive sins and reconcile communities scattered by oppression.  There are many stories to be told, but these stories confirm Jesus’ identity as the one who has the divine prerogative to give life and exercise God’s rule.

Fear can be paralyzing, and it can crush our hope. But in the resurrection, Jesus is willing to meet us exactly where we are. This is the hope of the resurrection. In the resurrection, God is saying, whatever your inevitable is, this isn’t the end of the story. God is still writing the story. God is still at work even in the face of what seems impossible, death. God defeated death, so we don’t have to be afraid of death anymore.

Resurrected Jesus meets us where we are. He walked along the road, he had breakfast with his those who betrayed him. There isn’t a place that you “should” be to meet Jesus, there is only the place you are, and the way Jesus is present for you in that moment. There is nothing about you, your family, your relationship status, your education, your finances, your appearance, your lifestyle, that puts you off limits to Jesus showing up and asking,  “do you love me?”

Are you willing to follow me into the unknown and trust that the God that I completely trust, and who makes me secure in his love?

If so, then following me into life, resurrected life.

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