Touch My Wounds!

"Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe" (John 20:29)

The gospel of John was the last of the four gospels, written not until the final decade of the first century at the earliest; some 60 - 70 years after Jesus.  Almost all of the stories that appear in John's gospel do not appear in the Matthew, Mark or Luke.  Most biblical scholars feel that John's gospel is the product of John's faith community and tradition - not actual literal history.  But that doesn't diminish it at all.  John’s gospel reveals what Jesus had come to mean for John's faith community more than a half-century after Jesus.

Obviously a big issue that existed for John's community was the issue of the resurrection, and what did it mean to have faith in the resurrection.  There were many who were questioning and doubting the resurrection, and this was not exclusive to John's community.  It was also an issue for  Matthew's community.  Matthew writing 15-20 years earlier than John includes these words in the concluding verses of his gospel: "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  When they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted." 

Doubt was a real issue in these early Christian communities living 6 or 7 decades after Jesus, as well as for us living 200 decades after Jesus. 

But let's move back to John and more specifically the character of Thomas. I think John wants his readers to see Thomas as a representative character; a symbolic character of anyone in a posture of doubt - and I would dare say that is probably most of us.   Thomas was a hard core realist!  He called a spade a spade! He didn't believe in fairy tales, and if something came up he couldn't believe or didn't understand, his questions were penetrating and direct.  This wasn't the only time.

John tells of another time when Jesus was talking about dying and leaving them.  But he told the disciples to not despair because when he got to where he was going he would prepare a place for them.  Nobody breathed a word of response, not daring to admit they were clueless as to Jesus’ meaning – everyone, that is, except Thomas!  Not holding back, Thomas said he personally had no idea where Jesus was going and no idea how he was supposed to get there.

Thomas missed out the first time the other disciples experienced the presence of the risen Christ.  His friends told him all about it, but he said there was no way he would accept this as anything more than a product of their vivid imaginations unless he put his own hands on the wounds of Jesus himself.  Maybe Thomas' descendants eventually settled in Missouri, you know the "Show Me State."  "Show me and then I will have faith - maybe!"

John says sometime later Jesus appeared again when Thomas was there, and he got his wish.  Jesus invited Thomas to touch his wounds, resulting in Thomas' faith affirmation, "My Lord and my God!"

But I issue a caution here.  I really think it is easy for us to miss the point of this whole story - in fact there are two points. 

There are those who make this story into an indictment of doubt.  What a tragic misunderstanding.   When we make this story into a condemnation of doubt, we grossly misrepresent and misunderstand the story.  The story is not an indictment of doubt - not in the least.  Nowhere in the story is Thomas criticized or condemned for doubting.  The disciples didn’t criticize him nor did Jesus.  In fact, it is almost as if Jesus welcomed Thomas' doubt. He embraced Thomas' doubt head-on with respect and dignity. 

I think faith and doubt go together like a hand in a glove or heads and tails of a coin.  One of my favorite quotes on doubt is by a Frederick Buechner: "Whether your faith is there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don't have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.  Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.  Doubt keeps faith awake and moving."  What a profound statement, for Buechner is saying that doubt is not the enemy of faith nor the enemy of God, but in actuality an ally of faith.

Doubt ?  For sure I do!  I have a lot of doubts; a lot of Thomas in me; and most of us do.  We live in that no-man's-land between "yes" and "No." That place where we see, but we don't see; place where we understand, but we don't understand.   Doubt rises up out of this middle ground upon which we live our days, where we wonder and ask, “So what?”  You see, that's the question?  That's the question I hear people asking and the question behind all of our questions. It comes out of the quiet desperation of our lives; our disappointment; our grief; our disillusionment.  So what God is?  So what difference does it make? That's the underlying  Thomas question we ask.

I said the story has two points and neither point is the indictment of doubt. 

Point 1:  When we allow ourselves to read this story more-than-literally and read it metaphorically, that's when it bursts open and gushes with meaning.  John is clear about one thing.  Thomas' confession of faith didn't come until he touched the wounds of Jesus. 

John’s point is: to know and experience the living presence of Jesus in the kind of world we live in, is discovered in touching the wounds of Jesus.  You see, I employ this idea that the stories in the gospels are invitations.  They are invitations for me to enter the stories and make them my stories and our stories as a community.  These stories are not ancient history, but they become portals through which I experience the very presence and power of God when I make them my stories; when we make them our stories. 

Thomas experienced the living presence of Jesus when he touched Jesus' wounds.  It's an invitation for me to experience the living presence of Jesus in April 2009 when I touch and embrace the wounds of Jesus.  The promise that comes with the invitation is that’s where the living presence of Jesus can be experienced.  But how do I do that?  How do I touch his wounds?  Jesus is not around - or is he? 

This takes us to Point 2.  The story concludes with a beatitude rolling off the lips of Jesus:  "Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet have come to believe."  That beatitude is a description of the experience of John’s community 70 years after Jesus; after he was gone; after they could not see him anymore.  John’s community was a community that had not seen, but yet were people of faith.  But how?  What does it mean to be people of faith, when we have not seen?  

Friday evening Marcia and I huddled at a friend's house in Georgetown, due to the closure of I-70 and the fact that we got caught on I-70 near Georgetown when the road closed.   We watched a movie that came out about 6 years ago or so entitled, "What The Bleep Do We Know?"  The movie is a kind of a practical, everyday guide to Quantum Physics.  It applied some of the concepts of quantum physics to the everyday life of a commercial photographer.  There was much in the movie that I only scarcely grasped, and I need to watch it about ten more times to deepen my understanding, but one thing came through loud and clear, and it applies to this gospel story and this beatitude,  "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 

The point was made that humans get so totally locked into perceiving reality in one way and only in one way, so much so, that we cannot begin even to entertain the idea that there is more to reality and  other ways to see, perceive and experience reality. One of the tenants of quantum physics is that reality is infinitely greater than what we perceive, and we mistake our narrow perception of reality for the totality of reality. 

"Reach out your hand and touch my wounds," Jesus invited Thomas.  That is the acknowledgement of Thomas' seeing only in a conventional and narrow way.  Thomas said, "I won't believe until I can touch his wounds for myself."   We also say things like that out of our narrow perception of reality, but the problem is, like John’s community, we are not in that position; we can't do that - and that's John's point.  We cannot touch the wounds of Jesus and see for ourselves - unless - unless - unless - we entertain the possibility that there is another way of seeing; another way of perceiving; another way of touching; another way of experiencing the wounds of Jesus.

For me, to have faith in the resurrection is not about believing the diverse biblical accounts literally and blindly, but faith in the living, risen Jesus is about discovering where it is Jesus can be experienced now – and that's John’s point. 

"Touch my wounds!"  invited Jesus.   One thing we know for sure is that this is a wounded, broken, and suffering world; a world full of pain and injustice.  

“Touch my wounds!”  invited Jesus.  When you see the wounds of others what do you see?  When we see the pain of others what do you perceive?  When you see the suffering of others, what do you observe?  When you see the needs of others who do you see?

"Touch my wounds!" invited Jesus.    Well, we can't - or can we?   

Jesus touched the sores and sickness wounds of the lepers and infirmed - so can we. 
Jesus comforted the grieving - so can we.
Jesus feed the hungry - so can we.
Jesus ministered to the poor - so can we.
Jesus took on the suffering caused by political and economic oppression - so can we.
Jesus embraced the rejected and scorned - so can we.
Jesus reached through all sorts of forbidden boundaries that had entrapped people in various forms             of dehumanizing stigmas to affirm their dignity - so can we. 
Jesus spoke truth to power - so can we. 

The first step of faith is being open to the possibility of seeing reality in new ways.  Faith is entertaining the possibility that Jesus is present, but present in ways outside our conventional perceptions of reality that we get so narrowly locked into.  John’s story of Thomas and Jesus is the recognition of something John’s community was discovering and experiencing; that in touching and embracing the wounds of Jesus through embracing one another’s wounds and the wounds of a wounded world, they experienced the living Jesus. 

"Touch my wounds!" invited Jesus.  We can't - or can we?

The faith in John's community considered the possibility that the endless manifestations of the wounds of others are the wounds of Jesus; and in ministering to them we may see and experience the living Christ.

"Touch my wounds!" invited Jesus.  We can't - or can we?