Scripture: John 20:19-31
What the resurrection of Jesus means is not easy to understand or accept. It invites believing and living towards things we can not imagine nor create ourselves, and can only receive with open hearts as gift of God. This story begins in the evening of the day when Mary Magdalene first went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, found the tomb empty, and was met by him alive right beside her in the garden. At least, that’s what she tells the others. That day, all that the others know is that the emptied tomb probably means trouble for them from the authorities.
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 The Twin), 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.
Meditation
When Jesus died, he died as a scapegoat. That’s what people made of him – or tried to.
Earlier in the Gospel of John, Caiaphas the high priest says very pointedly that it’s better one man should die, rather than the whole nation. In other words, when things start going really wrong, pin the blame and put the guilt on Jesus, kill him, and the problem will be over.
That’s how Pilate saw it, too. It seemed a Passover riot against Rome was beginning to take shape. Jesus was put forward by the leaders of his own people as the problem. And as the solution. Rather than call in the troops and start a bloodbath against all the people, why not kill just him? Rightly or wrongly let him be the scapegoat, the fall guy. And when he’s out of the way and the dust settles and he’s out of the way, we can all get back to regular business.
It's what societies do, with religious and political institutions often working holy hand in government glove to make it happen. When things aren’t going well, when problems in a society are big and overwhelming, rather than look into the mirror at what really needs to change, the easy answer is to find a scapegoat … load the blame on it or them … project the communal darkness on to them … make them suffer … and either drive them into the wilderness, never to be seen again, taking all the evil away with them … or, sacrifice them to the gods, thus earning the favour of the gods towards you by satisfying the gods’ need for redress … so you can once again be free and clear and blessed to carry on as before, with all the bad and evil taken away for good on the back of the scapegoat.
Like Nazi Germany did with the Jews. Like ultra-conservative Christians did with gays and lesbians and “leftist radicals”, when AIDS hit the American heartland.
And those are only two of the big stories. There are all kinds of little ones as well – as little as a neighbourhood, as intimate as a family, in which someone – the deviant, the troublemaker, the black sheep – rightly or wrongly, is made to bear the burden of all. Easier to point a finger at someone else and drive them away, than to hold up a mirror to yourself and to others around you.
One of the things that makes this work, of course, is that the scapegoat goes away and is not seen again. Whether driven into the wilderness where it dies alone, or sacrificed and burned up on an altar to a god, it’s essential that the scapegoat disappear for the problem to disappear with it.
But what if the scapegoat refuses to be a scapegoat – and doesn’t go away? If the fall guy refuses to stay fallen, and comes back?
Especially if, like Jesus, he never really bought the whole scapegoat theology and practice in the first place? Was known for preaching and practicing a very different way of making the world good and the way God intends it to be?
Jesus lived and moved and acted in the spirit of the Old Testament prophets, who in their time saw through the scapegoating going on in the Temple religion, and how it so often kept the people from really engaging in the kind of spiritual transformation of their own lives that was needed of any real people of God in the world.
When things went wrongly enough for the kingdom that even the elite realized something had to be done to get right again, the answer was usually religious revival. More often than not, that meant restoring the fallen-down temple, re-investing in the priestly order, and re-establishing the offering of all the traditional sacrifices. As though that would make the people holy and the kingdom right again.
But what did the prophets say about that?
It was something like, “I don’t want your solemn Temple assemblies, God says. I don’t want your animal sacrifices, and the rivers of blood that flow from your altars to me, as though that will cleanse you and set you free from sin. What I want is for you to learn the meaning of self-sacrifice for others, and the flowing of justice, and love and compassion as a river from your hearts and from your homes to those who are oppressed and for the sake of those around you who are in need. That’s what will help you all – and I really mean all, as one regathered people, to make a new good start. That – not the way of ritual sacrifice, but the way of inner transformation and outer compassion is my way of making the world good.”
Is this one reason why Jesus overturned the tables of the money-changers and sacrifice-sellers on Palm Sunday? Because they made the Temple into a place designed for scapegoating others for the salvation of those who could afford to be there, and were accepted there, rather than a place where all can come and be one in new and healing ways in the presence of God?
Is this also maybe why Jesus throughout his ministry made a point of reaching out to, being with, and gathering in precisely those people in his society who were the most likely to be scapegoated by others in some way, and have the spiritual ill-health of others projected on to them at some time in their lives? People like the poor. The lepers and the lame and the demon-possessed. Women. Tax collectors and other sinners. Children. Samaritans. Even the occasional centurion. Until Jesus himself became, like them, in the eyes of the pious, a deviant, a black sheep who could easily be made – and was made, to play a scapegoat.
Just get rid of him, the logic was, and we can relax again. Get rid of him – it must be God’s will, and at least for a while we can put away the mirror he was trying to get us to look into.
And is this one reason why Thomas needs to know: is it really Jesus, the one they put to death, the one they nailed to the cross and cut to the heart, the one who was made to disappear so we can be okay – is it really this Jesus who has come back?
Because if it is … if it’s really the nail-scarred, sword-wounded Jesus who has come back … who refuses to be a scapegoat, who refuses to take on himself and take away from us all the guilt and evil of our society and of our selves … then doesn’t that change everything?
Doesn’t that mean that the answer to our ills is not to be found in scapegoating others … in sacrificing some for the well-being of the whole … in winning our well-being by getting rid of the deviants, the troublemakers and the black sheep who interfere with our goodness?
Won’t it mean that the answer really is instead what Jesus lived, and the way he shows and invites us to live as well – which is to reach out to those who are on and beyond the edge of the circle … to seek solidarity with, rather than judgement over those who struggle and are different … to invite all and to exclude none from the table and the feast of God’s goodness … to create communities where forgiving acceptance is an inclusive beginning-point for all rather than an exclusive benefit for some … and to make temples, spaces and holy places wherever we are in the world, where all can come together and be one in the presence, and to the delight of God?
Is this maybe why Jesus says what he does to the disciples in this story: As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then, breathing on them, he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. It is you who know and follow me – and not just the temple priests, who are vested with the reconciling and rebuilding authority of God in the world. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Because it is not by temple sacrifice and the deaths of scapegoated victims that the kingdom and the world are made well, but by the way you – in imitation of me, reach out to, gather in, and let yourself become one in community with those around you who are the most likely to be scapegoated by others.
In other words, the blood that heals our wounds and the wounds of the world is not the blood of a sacrifice that flows religiously from altar to God, but the blood of lives poured out in love for the lost and the least around us, like a river that catches us up in its flow.
So, Thomas needs to see the wounds … because if the one who died as a scapegoat, has now come back … has not left … and refuses to go away … doesn’t that change everything? And how can we not choosing the other way – his way – of being healed, being good, being well, and being one together?
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