Easter 2, 2026
Acts 2:14a,22-32
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Psalm 16
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is the second Sunday of Easter. And every year on this day we get the same gospel reading. The story of Thomas and Jesus and the other disciples. Every year. So why is that? I think the answer might be that it is the best follow-up to the resurrection of Jesus. Like, last Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. And the first question we should ask ourselves is, “What now?” Jesus has risen from the grave, and this good news should be shouted from the rooftops, and the disciples are doing what? Hiding behind a locked door.
And Thomas—who notably was not hiding behind a locked door that first Sunday—missed the whole thing. We don’t know where Thomas was, but we know that he was not there hiding with the others. And when Thomas sees the other disciples, they exclaim to him, “We have seen the Lord!” So . . . why are they still hiding? Everyone heard Jesus had been raised, and now the hiding disciples have had a personal encounter with Jesus, and . . . they’re still hiding. There’s a part of me that totally understands why Thomas couldn’t believe unless he saw Jesus with his own eyes. Because seeing Jesus sure doesn’t seem to have made a difference to the other disciples. “We have seen the Lord!” So . . . why are you still hiding?
And so Thomas lays out the terms of what it will take for him to believe. "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.” I don’t take this as defiance or doubt. I take it as a simple statement of reality. Not “I refuse to believe,” but more like, “Given the lack of change in all of you, I cannot believe.” And after this statement from Thomas, we move to the next Sunday and the disciples are—surprise!—hiding in a locked room. And what does Jesus do?
He comes to them anyway. And he gives Thomas exactly what he says he needs. He meets Thomas where he is, and provides him with the very things he says he needs to have faith. To see the mark of the nails and put his hand in his side. It’s as if Thomas had prayed for the gift of faith, and Jesus shows up in person to give it to him. And Thomas makes a decisive statement of faith: My Lord and my God. Jesus gives him what he personally needs in order to believe.
But let’s go back to what the disciples say to Thomas when he arrives in the locked room. “We have seen the Lord!” And, again . . . why are you still hiding? You have experienced the resurrected Jesus in person. He spoke to you and said “Peace be with you.” Twice. He breathed on you and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He specifically said, "I send you," so why are you still hiding a week later? And I think it’s a question we can ask ourselves after Easter as well.
We too have seen the risen Lord. We too have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything has changed for us. So why are we still hiding in ways that suggests nothing has changed? And I don’t mean you; I mean all of us. We continue on with our petty squabbles and imagined slights. We nurture our political divides and partisan sensitivities. We keep forming our little clubs and cliques that exclude others. We increase our attachment to lifeless traditions and an aging building. We give in to the fear of scarcity and put ourselves ahead of others. We too have seen the Lord, and everything has changed. So . . . why are we still hiding.
Thomas says aloud what he needs in order to be changed by Jesus. He knows what he lacks and he speaks it in front of the assembly. Unless I can see what I need to see, to experience what I need to experience, without Jesus coming to me, I will not believe.
What is it that we need in order to be transformed? What are our doubts? What are the obstacles to our faith? What stands in the way of each of us saying, “My Lord and my God?” Or, put another way, how would we finish Thomas’ statement, “I will not believe unless I see . . . ”
We too have seen the Lord. We too have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything has changed for us. So why are we still hiding in ways that suggest nothing has changed? Jesus met Thomas where he was and gave him exactly what he needed in order to be transformed. I ask you to pray that Jesus will meet us where we are and give us exactly what we need in order to be transformed. Jesus is risen, and this changes everything. May this good news change us as well, so that we might change the world in his name. We have seen the Lord, so let’s unlock the door, together.
Amen
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