This homily was preached at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service on April 16, 2023.

Lectionary Readings:

John 20:19-31

On 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!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So 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.”

A 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!” 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 said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Ps 118:1-4, 13-15, 22-24

Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, his love is everlasting.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just:
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.

The disciples first ran away and forsook Jesus as he was being arrested, and now they have their doors locked for fear the same will be done to them. But locked doors are no problem for Jesus. The psalmist describes fear of the LORD—I think that Jesus, whom I forsook, appearing before me would certainly instill the fear of the LORD within me, personally.

Yet the first thing Jesus says upon seeing them is “Peace be with you.” And the disciples rejoiced.
And then there’s good ole Thomas who doesn’t trust his friends. He not only forsakes Jesus, but doubts that He has appeared again. Then Jesus materializes a second time and entertains Thomas’s doubt, allowing him to believe, but blessing those who do not have to see to believe.

I don’t know about y’all, but I think that if I saw the Lord after all of that I would be filled with guilt. But Jesus does not rebuke them; he simply gives them a job to do and the Spirit as a divine helper.

As Christians, it is easy to say that we should not fear human beings. Yet it is often still a problem for us. We keep the Good News to ourselves because people may not accept it—they may become angry, defensive, or uncomfortable. And while that’s true, we can say that being silent and avoiding confrontation is not the right way to love those people.

But how can we be bold in loving others if not for God first loving us? God, through Jesus, is willing to barge in on us as we are hiding from the world and proclaim peace in His steadfast love. I think we should be willing to barge in to share this truth, too.

A strange dichotomy in the Bible that has long attracted my attention ever since I was in Sunday school as a tiny Christian is the positive connotation of fearing the LORD, which contrasts verses like “perfect love drives out fear” in 1 John 4:18. If perfect love drives out fear, then why do “those who fear the LORD” proclaim “His Love endures forever?” If these folks are confident enough to proclaim the LORD’s love, they must know it for themselves somehow. Maybe they were terribly afraid, and the LORD had mercy on them. They hold these two feelings together, love and fear—they both know his affection and feel his mighty power.

One interpretation I came up with is that while we are on earth, we cannot “perfectly love” God. Because God is Almighty, our mortal selves must fear the one above us until He brings us into full communion with Himself.

The more common interpretation is that fear is used in a different context in the phrase “fear the LORD”—it means to regard with reverence and awe rather than a sense of danger, dread, or anxiety.

Despite my remaining uncertainty as to the exact meaning of fearing the LORD, one thing has become clearer to me upon reflecting on these passages: God can barge in on us, proclaiming peace in the midst of our shame, fear, grief, and dread. His love is not dependent on our power, but instead He gives power to us.

A God Who Barges In: Jamie Palmer

POWERED BY SQUARESPACE