An Adventure with Your Name on it, Part 2

This post is the second in a series from a sermon.  It is continued on May 1, 2023

The scripture today is from John 20, verses 19-31. 

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ 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.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I think the structure of this passage is interesting.  It has two parallel stories with an interlude in the middle.  In the first one, the Disciples, without Thomas, are gathered in a locked room and Jesus joins them – it didn’t matter that the room was locked.  He shows them his hands and his side – the wounds.  The disciples rejoiced, and Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them and sent them out. 

 

They tell Thomas what has happened – “We have seen the Lord” - Did they say, “We have seen the Lord? Or did they say, “WE have seen the Lord!” (and you didn’t). Anyway, Thomas doesn’t believe them.

 

In the second, parallel half, almost the same thing happens – The Disciples are in a locked room, this time with Thomas, and Jesus comes in to the room.  He then responds to Thomas’s disbelief by providing what Thomas needs – to look at the wounds (just like before).  Thomas is convinced.

 

Thomas gets a new name – Doubting Thomas – or at least that’s what we call him.

 

Names are important, aren’t they? They identify us. My name is Kimberly Ann Brown Matthews.  Of course, I picked up the Matthews when I got married, but my name has not always been Kimberly Ann. For three days, after I was born, it was Terry Lee.  That was the name my parents decided to use – or maybe just my dad – because when I was three days old, Dad walked into the hospital room, and said, “Hi, Terry Lee.”  Mom told him that was not my name – she had changed it.  I wonder what I would have been like if my name had stayed Terry Lee.

 

Abram and Sarai received new names from God – Abraham, and Sarah.  Simon became Peter when Jesus renamed him, telling him he would be the rock on which the church would be built. If you remember the resurrection story from John, it was when Jesus said “Mary” that Mary Magdalene recognized him.  In some ways, we see Jesus with an additional name at his baptism – God’s spirit descended over the water, and a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved.”

 

We call Thomas “Doubting Thomas,” but Jesus didn’t. Jesus called him Beloved.  Jesus came back to the locked room, and provided what Thomas needed, and then, just like the other disciples, Thomas was called to faith.

 

I thought this Sunday after Easter – when the party is over and the trumpets are silent - would be a good time to talk about faith, and what difference it makes.

 

You do have a name in addition to the one your parents gave you. You are a follower of Christ – you are called a Christian.  What does that mean?