We Must Obey God

The high priest questioned [the apostles], saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in [Jesus’] name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than any human authority.

What a glorious Easter we’ve just had!  It was certainly one of the most beautiful Easters of my recent memory – and then, I learned the Pope had died. What an amazing holy man and humanitarian.  Defying his doctor’s orders to rest, he made it through Easter, holding on until that great feast of joy concluded. Then, the very next morning, he quietly went home to God.  He knew Peter’s words, but more than that, he lived them. "We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

It’s far beyond the ken of the high priest and his minions that these outspoken, heretical men might indeed be the followers of the long-awaited Messiah.  The popularity they enjoy does nothing to endear them to the temple leaders, and so, action is taken to silence them.  Throwing them in prison will certainly, as we would say, put a lid on their activities.  It would certainly do that to us, but prison does not have the effect on the apostles that the high priest had hoped for.

Surprisingly, the men are treated fairly well as they’re dragged off, but the gentle treatment is due, not to any recognition of the Truth of what they are saying.  The high priest is simply a practical fellow who wants to avoid being stoned by an angry mob, and since the apostles are currently popular with the general Jewish public, he sees to it that the apostles are not injured or maltreated in any way.  

In all of this, the high priest sees a nuisance, but has not recognized the Truth of what the apostles are teaching, and he isn’t at all interested in their “heresy”.  What he is concerned with is his reputation and his personal safety as he says, “You are determined to bring this man's blood on us". 

Though he totally misses the fact that the apostles have indeed found the Messiah, in everyday terms the high priest isn’t a fool.  He’s an average individual.  He isn’t into the mystical and mysterious ways of the Spirit or with whatever these followers of the executed Jesus are talking about.  Rather, he is preoccupied with myriad responsibilities and normal human concerns. 

He is, in fact, someone much like us.  But sadly for him, he is also someone who happens to have missed the most important thing that will ever happen in his life. 

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. . . 

What has happened to the disciples since the resurrection?  We have several Gospels that give us different glimpses into their lives.  Peter, James, and John went back to fishing.  It was the Risen Jesus they encountered.  Some of the disciples left town.  It was only in the breaking of the bread along a dusty road that led them to recognize that the storyteller was Jesus, and that they were walking in the wrong direction.  And in John’s Gospel, the one we heard this morning, there was Thomas.

After Jesus crucifixion, Thomas went into hiding, somewhere in the city.  Like all the disciples, he is terrified of the Jewish establishment, which he, like the others, assumes will next be after him.  All the disciples are dealing with the same raging emotions: fear, scorn, ridicule, anxiety, a sense of failure and its ugly cousin, shame.  Except for Thomas and Judas, they have all locked themselves in an upper room, shutting out the world, and locking themselves in.  It’s the way many of us cope when life and death overwhelm us.  Forget mystical truths.  We shut out everyone and lock our hearts and ourselves in and try to keep the world at bay.

But then, for the disciples: Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."…Then they 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.  And immediately after that, Jesus says, "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."   In John’s Gospel there is no waiting for Pentecost – the gift of the Spirit comes on this day when the disciples finally see the risen Lord.

But, because he is not there, Thomas misses this first meeting.  Plagued by guilt for having deserted Jesus and fearful of further persecution, filled with grief over Jesus’ death, Thomas has locked himself away from everyone.  While the other disciples have gathered together in the upper room, Thomas has been somewhere on his own, despairing.  He must have found a really safe place to hide, but in so doing, he has missed the first appearance of Jesus in the upper room.

Finally, Thomas joins the other disciples.  Perhaps, one or more of them went after him to bring him back into the group.  We don’t know for sure if that happened, but we do know he joins them now only to be told he has missed seeing Jesus, who has risen from the dead.  As it has been for the other disciples, seeing Jesus again would be the cure for all that ails Thomas, it would wipe away everything he is suffering, but how can such a thing be true?  With a mixture of hope and disbelief he blurts out:

"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, the disciples were gathered together again in the same house where they had last seen Jesus.  Only this time, Thomas is with them. During the last encounter, the doors of the house were locked, but this time the doors are only shut.  Perhaps this small detail offers us a clue that, while the disciples still desired safety, their first encounter with the risen Lord had caused them to become men less defined by fear, less defined by a desire for self-survival.

Once again, Jesus came and stood in the midst of His disciples. He greeted them again, saying, “Peace be with you,” before addressing Thomas directly.  Then He turned to Thomas and said, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

Interesting, that word “doubt, ἄπιστος (apistos) in Greek, because in the Greek it means unfaithful, faithless, or unbelieving, without trust in God.  Jesus is speaking of something deeper than Thomas simply doubting that the person of Jesus was no longer dead and had resurrected.  Jesus is speaking about Thomas’ belief or lack of belief in God, Who had sent Jesus into the world and Who was capable of resurrecting not only Jesus, but all of creation.

With the deepest reverence and awe, Thomas responds, “My Lord and my God!”

How do these readings apply to us?

We are the high priest, who attempts to keep himself safe from disapproval and danger, who monitors the crowd, keeps his finger on the pulse of the Jewish people, and makes decisions he feels will keep things calm and under control – and keep him safe as well. 

We are Thomas – a person who cares deeply for Jesus, but really wants things spelled out clearly.  Despite any indication we have given in the past that we are willing to give our all for Jesus, in our lives, when true danger arises, we, like Thomas, may make a run for it.  We are people who hear about resurrection of the body and wonder if that’s really possible.  After all – we haven’t seen it – not yet.

We are the ones who in all we do truly attempt, no matter the personal cost, to live up to the words of the apostles, "We must obey God rather than any human authority”.

We are the Baptized, called to live in faith in the power of the Spirit, to kneel at the Name of Jesus, to say and to believe, “My Lord and my God!”

“Peace be with you”.  Jesus has conquered death, kicked in the doors of Hell and has opened the doors of Heaven. 

And Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, give us courage to leave our locked rooms and open our locked hearts. Give us grace to manifest the Holy Spirit that burns within us.  Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our souls.  This we ask for Your love and mercy’s sake.  Amen.