“My Lord and my God”

Easter Monday, April 5, 2021

Read John 20:19-31

Despite Mary’s news (20:18), the disciples were still afraid of the Jews. But that night Jesus appeared to them, turning their fear and grief to peace and joy (19-21; 14:27; 16:20-22,33). More than that, it was also a commissioning. Just as the Father had sent Jesus into the world (4:34; 6:29; 8:29), now he was sending them (21; 17:18). The disciples would work with Jesus as he continued to carry out his mission to the world through them (Acts 1:1). Through the Holy Spirit, they would have his presence in them (22; 7:38-39; 14:16,26) and be authorised to speak in his name (23; Matt.28:18-19).

Thomas was absent that night (24) and he wanted incontrovertible evidence before he would believe for himself (25). He got it a week later when Jesus appeared to them again (26). The fact that Jesus knew exactly what Thomas had said was itself a proof that Jesus was alive and present with them even when they could not see him (27). Thomas’s “My Lord and my God” (28) expresses his own faith and commitment, but it is also the climax to the whole gospel, with the deity of Jesus now openly declared (1:1; 5:18; 8:58; 10:30,33).

John wants his readers to respond in the same way. In this chapter he has repeatedly used the word see to affirm that Jesus is risen (20:8,18,20,25,27). But seeing is not essential to believing, as Jesus’s words to Thomas make clear (29; 1 Pet.1:8). Faith comes through hearing and listening to the message of Christ (8:47; 10:27; 18:37; Rom.10:17). This is the very reason why John wrote his gospel, so that those who never saw Jesus, either during his life or after his resurrection, might still be able to believe in him and so enter into the eternal life that he gives (30-31).