Narrative Lectionary for Second Sunday of Easter, 27 April 2014

Narrative Lectionary for Second Sunday of Easter, 27 April 2014

Lectionary Scriptures:

John 20: 19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even 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 anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,[a] you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Footnotes:

a. John 20:29 TR adds “Thomas,”

Psalm 145:13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

    Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Yahweh is faithful in all his words,

    and loving in all his deeds.[a]

14 Yahweh upholds all who fall,

    and raises up all those who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all wait for you.

    You give them their food in due season.

16 You open your hand,

    and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways,

    and gracious in all his works.

18 Yahweh is near to all those who call on him,

    to all who call on him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him.

    He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

20 Yahweh preserves all those who love him,

    but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh.

    Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 145:13 Some manuscripts omit these last two lines.

Commentary on John 20:19-31 by Thomas B. Slater

The disciples were in seclusion because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities.

They were fearful of being arrested and suffering the same fate as Jesus. They still did not believe Mary’s story that Jesus was alive. The doors were locked and Jesus appeared before them.

Reflections on John 20:20

Jesus showed them his wounds and then they rejoiced. It is noteworthy that like so many of us the disciples had to see Jesus for themselves. For them, the movement ended with the crucifixion of Jesus. They were totally unprepared for the resurrection. The words of John 16:16-24 which foretold of Jesus’ death and return to the Father had not take root in their lives. They did not believe Mary’s report. They only believed when they saw Jesus for themselves.

Reflections on John 20:21

Jesus now sends them out just as God the Father has sent them. This is a recurring pattern in John’s Gospel: the connection between heaven and earth, God and the Johannine community. God the Father has sent Jesus to Earth to proclaim God’s message of love for humankind. Jesus now sends out his disciples to continue that ministry. This established an unbroken tradition from God to Christ to the Beloved Disciple to the Johannine community. This verse helps to validate the witness of Johannine Christianity.

Reflections on John 20:22

This verse further substantiates the connection between the heavenly community and the earthly communion through the activity of the Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is the first paraclete who connects heaven and earth. The Holy Spirit is the second paraclete who serves this same purpose. The Holy Spirit will replace Jesus in the community, remind the community of all that Jesus has taught and will guide the community as Jesus would have in the future. The Holy Spirit represents the ongoing presence of God and Christ within Johannine Christianity (16:5-15).

Reflections on John 20:23

Jesus then empowers his disciples to forgive sins or not to forgive them in his stead. The preceding two verses have established the right of the community to re-present the Godhead. This verse empowers the community to act. It appears that we have here an attempt to substantiate the legitimacy of the Johannine tradition within the wider Christian community. It is clear that the Johannine tradition is significantly different than the Synoptic tradition and also the Pauline tradition. We know from church history that these differences led some to question the authenticity of this tradition over against others. It may be that Johannine Christianity held a more developed Christianity from the start that might have distinguished them from other Christians.

Reflections on John 20:24-25

However, Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared. The others tell him that they have seen the Lord. Thomas is not impressed. He declared that he would not believe unless he saw Jesus for himself. Through the centuries Thomas has taken a theological beating for doubting, but his position is essentially the same as the other disciples who had not believed until they saw Jesus for themselves. Mary gave her report. The tomb was empty, but they did not believe her testimony until they saw Jesus themselves.

The doubt of Thomas and the other disciples as well as Mary Magdalene initially was not unreasonable. People are not resurrected every day. That was as true in the first century as it is in the twenty first century. It was incredible, unbelievable. However, the God of Israel majors in the incredible and the unbelievable.

In the last half of the twentieth century, a lady named Anna lived in Charlottesville, VA, and she said she was Anastasia, the lone surviving child of the last czar of Russia. Many persons believed her claim and supported her attempt to gain the late czar’s inheritance. After she died, an American network did a DNA test on some of her post-operation tissue being stored in a local hospital.

They compared her DNA with that of a member of the British royal family who was a close relative of the czar. The results showed that Anna was not the czar’s daughter. When the network told one of her staunch supporters the findings, without missing a beat he said, “I don’t believe.” If sane people can find it difficult to accept scientific proof, can we blame someone for not believing the unbelievable? Indeed, which one of us would have believed the fantastic without seeing it for ourselves?

Reflections on John 20:26-29

In New Testament times, eight days later would have been a week later in our terms since first century persons began counting not 24 hours later but now.

Thomas was present and the narrator makes it clear that the doors are locked. Jesus appears and asks Thomas to place his hands in his wounds. He tells Thomas not to

be faithless (apistos) but faithful (pistos). Thomas touches Jesus’ wounds. Thomas then utters the highest Christological statement in the New Testament: “My Lord and my God!” These are not mere titles which Thomas has spoken. They are words of adoration and reverence. Thomas has come full circle from total unbelief to total devotion. Thomas represents all of us who are reasonable men and women who find it difficult to believe in the incredible. On the other hand, Thomas also represents those persons whose new beliefs take them where no one has gone before.

Jesus then makes a statement that is often slightly misinterpreted. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the ones who have not seen but believe.” Traditionally, this statement has been seen as a chastisement of Thomas and at the same time praise of the others. However, our earlier analysis has shown that none of the persons in the room had believed in the resurrection without first seeing Jesus. This statement by Jesus is not directed to the people in the story but to those reading the story.

This word would have been a powerful exhortation to the original readers who were not eyewitnesses still believed in Jesus. They probably regularly encountered people who questioned their beliefs and also their motives. Passages like this would have encouraged them to keep the faith.

Reflections on John 20:30-31

These verses constitute the original ending of the fourth gospel. They assert that Jesus performed many more miracles that could not be included but what has been included should be sufficient for people to believe in him. We note here two themes which recur throughout the Gospel of John: miracles/signs and belief.

The book contains a sufficient number of signs to engender belief if people allow themselves to believe. Belief sometimes requires us to rely on the testimony of others.

-------

John Wesley’s Notes-Commentary for:

John 20:19-31

Verse 19

[19] Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36.

Verse 21

[21] Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Peace be unto you — This is the foundation of the mission of a true Gospel minister, peace in his own soul, 2 Corinthians 4:1.

As the Father hath sent me, so send I you — Christ was the apostle of the Father, Hebrews 3:1. Peter and the rest, the apostles of Christ.

Verse 22

[22] And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

He breathed on them — New life and vigour, and saith, as ye receive this breath out of my mouth, so receive ye the Spirit out of my fulness: the Holy Ghost influencing you in a peculiar manner, to fit you for your great embassy. This was an earnest of pentecost.

Verse 23

[23] Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Whose soever sins ye remit — (According to the tenor of the Gospel, that is, supposing them to repent and believe) they are remitted, and whose soever sins ye retain (supposing them to remain impenitent) they are retained. So far is plain. But here arises a difficulty. Are not the sins of one who truly repents, and unfeignedly believes in Christ, remitted, without sacerdotal absolution? And are not the sins of one who does not repent or believe, retained even with it? What then does this commission imply? Can it imply any more than, 1. A power of declaring with authority the Christian terms of pardon; whose sins are remitted and whose retained? As in our daily form of absolution; and 2. A power of inflicting and remitting ecclesiastical censures? That is, of excluding from, and re-admitting into, a Christian congregation.

Verse 26

[26] And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

After eight days — On the next Sunday.

Verse 28

[28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

And Thomas said, My Lord and my God — The disciples had said, We have seen the Lord. Thomas now not only acknowledges him to be the Lord, as he had done before, and to be risen, as his fellow disciples had affirmed, but also confesses his Godhead, and that more explicitly than any other had yet done. And all this he did without putting his hand upon his side.

Verse 30

[30] And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

Jesus wrought many miracles, which are not written in this book — Of St. John, nor indeed of the other evangelists.

Verse 31

[31] But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

But these things are written that ye may believe — That ye may be confirmed in believing. Faith cometh sometimes by reading; though ordinarily by hearing.

Psalm 145:13-21

Verse 14

[14] The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

All — All that look up to him for help.

Verse 15

[15] The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

All — Of all living creatures.

Wait — Expect their supplies wholly from thy bounty. Expectation is here figuratively ascribed to brute creatures.

Verse 18

[18] The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Nigh — To answer their prayers.

In truth — With an upright heart.

-------