Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Today we feature an excellent, provocative teaching by Rev. Douglas Avilesbernal, Executive Minister of the Evergreen Association, the region of the ABC-USA CrossWalk calls home. Enjoy!
Be Like Thomas (John20:19-31)
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.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.”
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.” 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.”
Growing up. I was taught that Thomas doubted Jesus and therefore no one should be like Thomas. First, let me be clear that this is not a sermon against Jesus' treatment of doubt in this passage. I think there's a whole lot to explore there. “Those who have not seen yet believed,” that is powerful. However, what I would like us to focus on today is the conditional Thomas at the start of this passage versus the late transformed Thomas, Scriptures give us about a week’s time in that transformation.
The birth of this question for me is in how largely doubting Thomas loomed during my faith formation years. I couldn't even see the conditional way of his “if/then” reaction to the disciples who saw Jesus. Thomas seems to have been saying that the work of his own believing without seeing was entirely on Jesus. Sounds familiar?
All your expertise and education does not matter as much as what I think after reading articles for a couple of hours, days, weeks. I’ve done my research!
How could I not see this? I never thought about the transactional aspect of early Thomas. Especially since I do it all the time? If you get me through this… If you get me this job Jesus I will tithe, I mean at this time! I think we Americans tend to measure everything in this zero-sum calculation. If you do this for me, I will do that for you. And we see it in how fractured our world is now. “What's in it for me?” Is embedded in everything. It's so conditional that we now live in a world where refusing to come to reason even when wrong is praised, especially when one wins.
I saw a woman say: “doctors can line up around the block and I will still not vaccinate my children.” Because I read articles I agree with. Or, “it's just locker room talk.” Or, “Everyone makes mistakes everyone is entitled to a mulligan once in a while.” This is from Mike Lee of Utah on the former president’s insurrection speech in January 6th.
We have witnessed precedential candidates on national TV boldly say they have never been wrong. We have seen and heard one candidate even say that he has never asked God for forgiveness! We have all seen or even have fallen for believing a crazy conspiracy theory someone has told us about rather than believe a truth we disagree with. It is as if we want to be able to control all about our faith. If/then.
To me that is the problem, early Thomas wants to decide the conditions for believing. Jesus himself will need to come to my living room for me to consider changing my mind, doctors could line up around the block and I will still not vaccinate my children.
My faith is your job Jesus. But when we set the conditions, we're free to decide what those are right? We’re free to decide the rules of the game and we’re free to change them whenever we want. which might be the reason why there is endless forgiveness for me and mine yet very little change and much less transformation in our country. It’s as though we're saying I will not change my mind unless Jesus himself shows up and I get to decide if the one in front of me is actually Jesus.
That attitude, let's call it early Thomas, has us divided to the point that we refuse to entertain the possibility that I might be wrong or worse that the other side that I dislike might be right. Worst of all, it leaves us open to be manipulated, to be divided and to continuously agree to hurt each other, even if we have to go against our own interests. Voters do this all the time; we vote against our own interests just so that the other side will not win. legislators vote against their own proposal if it looks like it might benefit the other party. is that a way to live our faith? is early Thomas with his “if/then” a good way to live our faith?
Yes, in that sense I agree, don’t be like early Thomas.
If we begin in that space then Surrender to Jesus becomes a necessity. Because in this world there are winners and losers, someone has to win and therefore someone has to lose. Jesus is stronger than me so Jesus wins and I lose. I have to surrender to Jesus because there is always a winner and a loser. But can you remember a time when you were glad to have surrendered? Nobody surrenders willfully. Nobody is glad to be forced to surrender. Nobody's happy to lose, you only do that after bitter struggle where you give it all you can, kicking in and screaming and once you know there's nothing you could do so you are forced to surrender. can you think of anyone, ever, who when forced to surrender begins a process of deepening relationship with the one with the one who forced them to surrender?
Now, online and in our teaching, someone will always say, well the difference is that when Jesus makes you surrender it’s for your own good, your own interests. But I still don’t like it. Fortunately, there is a way out, let's call it, the late Thomas way out. That path is radically different that the normal way out. The late Thomas way asks that we be free from the winner and loser zero-sum transactional relationships we so love.
This path though is no easy path. Especially since we have always been taught we need to surrender to Jesus. I surrender all, as the hymn goes but is that what scriptures say? look it up search for it, living sacrifice that we must show ourselves to be living sacrifice (Romans 12) – is that to surrender? Galatians 2:20 says “It is no longer I who lives but God who lives in me.”
Maybe Matthew 16 24 and 25 pick up your cross and follow me or mark 10:28 we left everything to follow you or mark 8:35 for whoever wishes to save their life will lose it –
are those surrender? These are the results I get when searching, what does it mean to surrender to Jesus? Is that what those Scripture passages are saying? Surrender. You can look it up yourselves. Pause this and look up, surrender to Jesus Bible verses. But I tell you that I do not see surrender in any of these verses nor do I see that in our passage for today. Far from it what I see there are bold leaps forward toward love a leap fully embraced and solidly rooted in love that the before then just doesn't matter because love is so much better. that is not surrender.
I know surrendering is so embedded in our faith formation that we might be tempted to argue that we are surrendering because we're saying no to other things, we are surrendering our previous life, we love the surrender language. But how often do we think about the fact that, by definition, to surrender is to recognize that the enemy is too strong for us to keep fighting? that's important because it points to an important question. Is surrendering to Jesus the only good kind of surrender there is? All other types of surrendering are bad.
The question needs to be asked because to surrender is not to be transformed To surrender is not to love. it's simply to know that the other side is stronger, and it makes no sense to keep fighting. I don't think Jesus wants us to surrender because if Jesus wanted us to surrender he would have come down from that cross when the when the priest asked them to and kicked the Romans out of the holy land we surrender to the stronger.
Fortunately, there is a way out of our divisiveness and lack of trust but it isn't to surrender at least not in the meaning of the word. The late Thomas Jesus encounter illustrates this very well. Seems clear to me that when Thomas comes to his Jesus moment there are no signs of surrendering. Scriptures don't show us frustration or pain or regret or anything other emotion or sign that comes with having to surrender. Thomas doesn't even bother to check the wounds as Jesus offers, that is completely different than surrender.
Thomas is so taken by love and his full embrace of Jesus that is conditions, the conditions he has set for believing, just don’t matter anymore. It isn’t that he can no longer enforce his conditions, Jesus gives him a chance to do that. But he just doesn’t care anymore. That is not surrender, that is love.
Still, our minds might still be wanting to find surrender in all of this. I know surrendering to Jesus is part of the core of our preaching our teaching and our learning of faith in our American Christian faith. I searched, what does it mean to surrender to Jesus here are some quotes,
“Answer: This world is a battleground. There are different levels of surrender, all of which affect our relationship with God. The act of surrendering is very difficult for those who realize that the battle is lost. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are duty-bound to him.”
It goes on like that for hundreds of pages. We love the surrender language because it fits our culture so very well. we like listening to the strong. we are attracted to strength we want leaders who are decisive. Leaders who worry less about being right or wrong and more about making a choice right now right here. We like that might makes right even if we cannot get ourselves to say it. But is that what Jesus taught us? is that what scripture say about our relationship with Jesus? yes saying yes to Jesus means saying no to a lot of other things but is it a surrendering or stepping forward in love? when we surrender, we are forced to say no to many things. we are forced to live under the thumb of the stronger.
When we step forward in love we want to say no to other things. when we know we are loved we want to not do other things. when we know we are loved we want to love back. but it doesn't mean others all other things are no longer appealing it also does not mean that we will be kept from doing them which is what will be the case in a surrender.
It is in our language; this is why hell is so important in our language because someone has to lose. Jesus says if you don’t surrender, I will punish you. The more I think about this the more embrace fits better than surrender. think about the beginning of falling in love. when we first fall in love nothing else matters. is that what we feel at the beginning when we have to surrender?
So, what if part of the message in this passage is don't be like conditional Thomas.
Conditional Thomas has to surrender because someone has to lose in that exchange. If/then. There must always be a winner and a loser. But instead, what if an important part of this passage is, aspire to be like embracing Thomas. love so deeply that who you were before with your conditions your mistrusts your disbelieves and more just doesn't matter anymore. That is the way out, that is our freedom. That is what Thomas sees in his Jesus moment. hallelujah Christ is risen! and he did but don't surrender to Jesus. Embrace him by boldly going forward to him in recognition of the love you see. do you best be like Thomas and love so deeply that being wrong is no longer embarrassing or to be feared or avoided or as the worst thing that could happen. Instead, the fear of being wrong is just forgotten because loving is so much better.
Step forward in love toward Jesus. Don’t be like conditional Thomas. Be like loving Thomas.