On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors 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 side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.” A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:19-31)

= = = = = = = = = =

     What does it mean to be a Christian? In the light of the mystery of Easter, we do well to ask that question. For two thousand years, our faith has proclaimed that to be a Christian means to proclaim that “Jesus is Lord.” Everything about our faith begins and emerges from that beginning. And to say that presupposes one essential fact: that Jesus Christ is today alive. Christian faith quite properly begins with the resurrection, because it’s through the power of that mysterious event of so long ago that Christ is with us now. As we move into the season of Easter, I wonder: what impact does the risen Christ have on us, standing as we do almost 2000 years removed from the event of the resurrection and tempted sometimes to either take the resurrection for granted or to dismiss it as a cute story? I’d like to share a few thoughts with you about the power of the risen Christ.

     I’d like to suggest that the risen Christ grants us perfect peace. John’s Gospel tells us that when Jesus first appeared to His disciples, they were huddled behind closed doors, because they were afraid - and for good reason. Jesus represents a threat to the status quo which serves those who possess power so well – and so do those who walk in His way. For all the mistakes Christians have made – and they have been legion – Christians have also done a lot right. Christians were leaders in the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. South; Christians were leaders in the struggle against communism in Eastern Europe; Christians were leaders in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. God knows (and so do we) that Christians aren’t perfect – but Christians are often on the centre stage when oppression needs to be confronted. Doing that entails risk – which is one reason at least why Christians often fail. In a world that doesn’t know Christ, to confront the powers and authorities and stand for the gospel means that we’re sometimes  going to become lightning rods for anger from those who possess the power and authority. But in response to that resistance, Jesus gives us peace. In the face of resistance to our message, Christians must remember that “the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1Jn 4:4) The resurrection is a trumpet blaring the message that whatever challenges or opposition we’re facing, we need not fear, because God will triumph. The power of the risen Christ gives us peace.

     I’d like to suggest that the risen Christ fills us with pure joy. The goal of the Christian life is misunderstood by many people. It’s not happiness, but joy. Happiness the world seeks after, and, because happiness is by its very nature a temporary state of being, it proves to be both elusive and unsatisfying, and yet, people spend entire lifetimes seeking after this ultimately unsatisfying emotion. Christ, however, offers not happiness, but joy. Joy comes from the understanding (that flows from the resurrection) that through all things God is with us. Christians may not always be happy, since we face the same challenges as anyone else, but we should always be joyful, because we know that whatever challenges we’re facing, we’re not facing them alone. The key to feeling this joy is to be open to the ongoing companionship and friendship of the risen Christ. The power of the risen Christ gives us not only peace but also joy.

     I’d like to suggest that the risen Christ gives us inexhaustible strength – a strength we often miss out on because we make the terrible mistake of continuing to walk in the flesh  rather than living by the Spirit. Too many Christians lead weak and struggling spiritual lives; Christian spirituality is hard to maintain with the pressures and competing interests we have all around us, and because we so often fail to live in the Spirit, there are experiences we never find, heights of joy we never reach, dimensions of love we never touch. But we aren’t doomed to fail. It’s the risen Christ, after all, Who sends God’s Spirit to us as our source of strength, and to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit is to accept the gift of life lived in the company of God, and in God’s company, we find the strength we need. The risen Christ offers us that strength, and asks us to claim it as our own. It’s no surprise (and history bears this out)  that the Christian faith is at its strongest when it faces persecution, because only when we face what seem to be insurmountable odds do we have to rely not on our own strength, but on God’s. And so, the power of the risen Christ gives us not only peace and joy but also strength.

     I’d like to suggest that the risen Christ gives us a mission. We’re to direct people to the way laid out by Jesus – not because we don’t respect the choices people make to follow other paths, but because we know from experience that Jesus is a path that leads to God. My brother in law from Georgia once got off a plane in Buffalo and into his rental car. He was going to drive across the border to visit us. He took out his GPS and put our address in. The GPS for some reason wanted to send him east from Buffalo, around Lake Ontario to the border crossing at Gananoque, and then down the 401, 403, QEW and 406. Fortunately, he was wise enough to know that he shouldn’t follow that route. True, it would have brought him to our house, but it would have taken him a while to get there. In the end, he crossed the Peace Bridge and traveled Highway 3 right to Port Colborne. There’s a common assumption today that there are a variety of roads that lead to God and that Christ is merely one among those many. It’s not for me to judge what’s going to happen to those on the other roads.  It is, however, for me and for all Christians to proclaim Jesus as the way to be taken. Can people choose other routes in their attempts to reach God? Of course they can, and many do. But would I recommend those routes? No, because the risen Christ has given me my mission: “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Jesus doesn’t tell us to hold out an option for people to consider; he tells us to show them the way He laid out for us. And so the power of the risen Christ gives us not only peace, joy and strength but also a mission.

     It’s an irony of the gospel that the strongest expression of faith we hear comes not from Peter (the rock) or John (the one whom Jesus loved) but rather from Thomas (the doubter.) After encountering the risen Christ, Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God!” Christianity, you see, is a faith for cynics and doubters and unbelievers, because it’s those who recognize and lament their cynicism and doubt and unbelief who have the wisdom to be open to possibilities, and the greatest possibilities in life come from encountering the risen Christ.