Sunday 30 March 2008

Background

Jesus had been crucified, and now the disciples were saying thatJesus was alive and had visited them. But Thomas refused tobelieve. He actually needed to touch the wounds on Jesus' hands andin his side.

What was going through Thomas' mind? Jesus coming back from thedead was not something he could believe after hearing itsecond-hand. This seems fair enough. After all, the rest of thedisciples refused to believe Mary Magdelene who (in John's Gospel)had been the first to see the risen Jesus (John 20:14).

But perhaps there were other things going on in Thomas' mind?Perhaps there was a part of him that didn't want Jesus to come backat all.

After all, isn't it hard to face our friends after we have betrayedthem? Even small betrayals make us uneasy, and Thomas had said hewould be loyal to the end, promising to die with Jesus (John 11:16). Butwhen Jesus was arrested, Thomas ran away with the rest of thedisciples and Jesus died in torment, abandoned by hisfriends.

A week after his first appearance to the disciples Jesus appearedagain, this time with Thomas present. Straightaway he invitedThomas to put his hands on his wounds. Surely these wounds shouldcondemn Thomas for his betrayal? But he is not condemned.

"Peace be with you" says Jesus. "Do not doubt but believe." Intouching Jesus' wounds Thomas confronts the very place of hurt anddamage. He confronts his own human failing and weakness and knowsin the most direct and visceral way the depths of God'sforgiveness. He finally believes.

Perhaps we often doubt that we really are forgiven, like JohnWesley did before his Aldersgate experience. But here, through Thomas' eyes, we seethat Christ is alive and with us, and that we are not judged butforgiven, whatever our sins may be.

In our own lives we inevitably wound each other every time we donot love fully and every time we belittle, limit or excludeanother. In wounding others we wound Christ. Only by facing up tothe wounds that we inflict, in the presence of Christ, are we ableto accept forgiveness for them and fully believe and trust inGod.

To Ponder

What things in your life do you find it hard toface up to?

How do you respond when, like Thomas, Jesus sayshe forgives you?

Do you know people who live with guilt and findit hard to be forgiven? How do you think you could help them?