Acts 2:14a, 22–32 / Psalm 16 / I Peter 1:3–9 / John 20:19–31
This is the written version of the
homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 12, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION: SEEKING (AND FINDING) THE PROOF WE
NEED”
(Homily text: John 20:19–31)
Each
year, on the Second Sunday of Easter, we hear the account of our Lord Jesus
Christ’s appearance to Thomas (yes, he who has come to be known as “Doubting
Thomas”). In a very real sense, it is highly appropriate that we hear this
account on this day, for it was on this day, the eighth day[1] after the Lord’s resurrection, that Jesus granted Thomas’ demands to be able to
put his finger into the wounds on Jesus’ hands, and to thrust his hand into the
Lord’s side.
The
importance of this event underscores Thomas’ need, and ours, to know that the
Lord really, truly, and in fact, was raised from the dead on Easter Sunday
morning. Put another way, Jesus’ resurrected life was – and is – an actual
fact, not the product of an ancient people’s religious imaginations, and not a
fable promulgated by some highly fanatical followers of a dynamic teacher and
leader. (I mention these two possibilities because – as many people contemplate
the resurrection event - those who cannot accept it as an actual reality or
fact often maintain those two possibilities to explain the biblical accounts.)
The
Lord’s gift to Thomas underscores an essential outline of God’s ways of working
with human beings. That plan unfolds in this way[2]: 1.
A person comes to faith in God’s love, God’s power to change, and, perhaps most
importantly, God’s ability to create and to re-create; 2. An encounter with God
changes the person, fitting them out for God’s intentions, God’s call and God’s
plan for their lives; and 3. The called/changed/outfitted person pursues God’s
call and God’s will, putting faith into action.
The
truth of this progression, when we think about Thomas’ situation, discloses the
truth that, absent an encounter with the risen Lord, Thomas wasn’t
prepared/outfitted/ready to do God’s will for his life. If Thomas had tried to
do God’s work and will without that life-changing encounter, then he would be
trying to do so on his own steam, not on God’s power.
What
we’ve just said about Thomas state before his encounter with Jesus is the same
truth we can apply to our own lives and our own situations: None of us is truly
and completely ready and able to do God’s will for our lives, absent an
encounter with the risen Lord, an encounter which leads us to faith in the
reality of the Easter event as Holy Scripture informs us.
Thomas
got the proof he demanded. Don’t most of us wish that we, too, had the same
proof, the same encounter with the risen Lord? I think we do. No wonder that
the Lord says to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe”. (Personally
speaking, I’d like to think there’s an imaginary blank in that statement, one
into which my name can be inserted…maybe you feel the same way.)
Absent
that sort of physical proof, the demands that Thomas made to be able not only
to see the risen Christ, but to touch Him, aren’t available to us today.
How
then, do we get the proof we need? After all, faith needs some sort of a
foundation in order for us to have something to work with as we come to believe
in the reality of God’s power to change, to create, and to make all things new
again.
Perhaps
the proof is in Thomas’ life, post-Easter, and, as well, in the lives of the
others who’d encountered the risen Lord.
Each
one of them went out into the known world, carrying the Good News (Gospel) of
God’s intervention in human history, made known in the sending of the person of
Jesus Christ. In Thomas’ case, tradition tells us that he went as far as the
subcontinent of India, carrying the Good News with him.
Each
one of the original band of twelve Disciples who would soon become Apostles met
a martyr’s death[3].
But even that possibility couldn’t shake their steadfast adherence to the truth
that they had witnessed God’s power to preserve them for an eternity in God’s
presence.
Today,
proof of the reality of the resurrection event can be seen in altered and
changed lives, lives which exhibit in some way or another that God’s power to
make all things new has taken up residence in someone’s heart and mind.
So
then, we pray for the Holy Spirit’s assistance, in order that we may come to
believe and to know that Christ truly rose from the grave, a reality that
continues to changes lives today.
AMEN.
[1] Remember that, in the Bible, the number eight represents a new
beginning. So the event that took place on this day was, for Thomas, a new
beginning.
[2] God’s way of working with people is much the same plan we can see elsewhere
in life. For example, a person feels called to pursue some calling in life. The
process of being able to fulfill that calling begins with an encounter with the
reality of the calling, some way of knowing what the calling involves. Then,
the person assesses their own ability to fulfill the calling. Then, the person
receives the training and the skills needed (a new chapter in life, if you
will).
[3] Absent one, traditionally John.
