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Sermon, Second Sunday of Easter; John 20:19-31; April 12, 2026
Today’s passage from John picks up the Easter story immediately after last week’s gospel
reading. Mary found the tomb empty, told Peter and the beloved disciple, then they all
three ran to the tomb. The men went home, then Mary saw the Lord and delivered the
Good news to them all, “I have seen the Lord!” And today’s passage is still narrating that
first day.
All this has happened, the Easter morning story, and today the Easter evening story, the
one that earns Thomas the moniker, “Doubting Thomas.” But all of the disciples are in
hiding, so it’s not just Thomas who’s so fearful. Thomas just misses the first encounter
and has a healthy skepticism about it all. So most of us can understand thinking all the
other disciples have lost their minds. At least I can. But ages-long monikers don’t always
tell the whole story, do they? That’s just the way of it.
Just as Mary saw Jesus in that early time between night and day, the space between dark
and light, so now too, the disciples encounter Jesus as the light wanes and day gives way
to night.
Listen for the Word of the Lord from John 20:19-31: When it was evening on that day,
the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were
locked 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, which are not written
in this book. 31  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the

Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Friends, this is the Word of the Lord; thanks be to God.
When we talk about the call of God on our lives, we often remember the words of Jesus
to those early disciples when he says, “Come and see.” Come and see. See for yourself
what this kingdom talk is all about.
And I think of the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and her invitation to others after her
encounter with Jesus. She says, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever
done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 1 And then they come and see for themselves.
Come and see is such a familiar refrain. And yet in today’s passage, we hear Jesus saying
to the disciples, “Touch and see.” “Put your finger here…reach out your hand and put it
in my side.” Touch and believe. Let these hands bring to you a change in perspective. A
new worldview.
What we know is that what we believe or don’t believe is most easily affected by what
we experience. It’s a basic fact of human nature—experience is the best teacher.
It reminds me of an old Happy Days episode—and I know that’s a bit of a throwback, so
hang with me. There was an episode in which Fonzie was asked to teach a class for auto
mechanics about how to rebuild a carburetor. Do you remember that one?
Fonzie gathers the students around the engine that’s on an engine stand in the middle of
the shop. And as fast as it could be done, Fonzie takes apart the carburetor, narrating as
he goes, and then puts it back together. And then he looks at the class and says, “Who’s
first?” And those guys are dumbfounded. Nobody steps up.
And Fonzie is flabbergasted that these guys don’t inherently understand 1) how a
carburetor works, how it comes apart, and how to put it back together. But they have no
experience. And Fonzie has had so much experience with mechanics, he can’t remember
what it was like NOT to know how to take apart a carburetor. He could probably do it
blindfolded.
And I feel like Jesus is doing just that very sort of thing here in this room with the
disciples. They are confused and disoriented, traumatized by the events of Good Friday.
They’re all locked in for fear of the Jews. And Jesus is giving them experiences, not
really to reorient them, but to give them that new orientation that comes with this new,
completely new worldview. Jesus is risen. Here’s what that looks like. And then Jesus
goes about showing them.

1 John 4:29, NRSV.

It’s not like anything you’ve known before. And the best way for Jesus to communicate
this to them is by giving them the opportunity to use their very senses. We sometimes call
it “bringing someone back to their senses.” But Jesus is actually bringing them to a
completely new set of senses.
Because these things are out of this world. He comes to them and appears through locked
doors. They’ve seen him brutally murdered before their eyes on Friday, and yet he’s
standing here and talking with them in this locked room. These things alone are enough
to throw someone into a panic. Am I hallucinating? How can this be real?
And Jesus knows, they have to feel him. They have to touch him. Without that sensory
experience, they’ll just think they’ve lost their minds. Evidently Thomas thinks the rest of
them have lost their minds because he won’t believe any of it just based on their account.
And Thomas doesn’t believe it until he can experience it for himself.
John Stendhall writes, “Jesus appears in the locked room of fear and speaks his word of
peace.” 2 Three times in this passage. Three times, he says to the disciples, “Peace be
with you.” And he breathes on them. A sensory experience. Feel the Spirit. Receive it.
He says, “Here’s the proof. Believe. And peace be with you.”
Jesus is calling them to conquer fear with faith and peace. And he calls us to do the same.
And though our lives are much different, our fears, our anxieties are different, than the
lives of the disciples in the year 33AD, the difference between fearful following and
courageous following then and now is pretty much the same. It’s not easy. But it’s what
we’re called to do.
And what a comfort and a strength to know that even in stressful times, even dangerous
times, as they certainly were for the disciples, you can’t lock out grace. You can’t lock
out Jesus. Jesus appears before them, says, “Peace be with you,” and breathes on them
all.
That word “breathes” is the same word used in Genesis when God breathed into the form
of Adam. The same word used in Ezekiel that breathes life into the dry bones. 3 Jesus
breathes on them, and sends them out. And once they have wrapped their heads around
this new reality, they go out boldly. May the same One who breathed life and
strength and courage into the disciples, breathe life and strength and courage into us this
day, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2 Stendahl, John K. “Pastoral Perspective.” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word
– Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide.
3 Robbins, Gregory. “Exegetical Perspective.” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the

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