CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Enter Grace

The Second Sunday in Easter | April 28, 2019

By the Rev. Nita Byrd

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When 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 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 his side. Then the disciples 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.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘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.’

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘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 his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’”

- John 20:19-31

In speaking about prayer and communion with God, Rabbi Abraham Heschel notes that “prayer begins where our power ends.” This quote inspires me because it helps one to understand the difference between what we obtain by our own devices, and what we obtain through communion with God. I am reminded our human knowledge and power has limits. There is a certain awareness that comes when we release ourselves to the grace of God and the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

In the Gospel of John, where Jesus meets Thomas after the resurrection, Thomas must learn that humans have limited means for perceiving reality. We may ask, what was occurring between Jesus, Thomas and the disciples when they met a week after the resurrection in the Gospel of John? To get a better picture, we must revisit the first Sunday after the crucifixion, when all the disciples were present with Jesus, except for Thomas. 

On this first Sunday after the crucifixion, the disciples gathered as a fearful huddled mass in a room with locked doors. Suddenly the resurrected Jesus appears to them. Later, they tell Thomas with joy and excitement that Jesus has risen, and they have seen Jesus. When Thomas doesn’t believe the disciples, they may have criticized Thomas as many have done throughout Christian history. However, we must understand that Thomas witnessed Jesus crucified only a few days prior to this, so he wants someone he can touch and feel and see. Thomas wants to place his fingers in the marks of the nails in Jesus’ hands and see what the other disciples claimed to have seen as he reaches into Jesus’ pierced side. Thomas wants someone he can grab for himself with his own human abilities. In other words, he wants to be in control of the knowledge that is available to him. 

There are two kinds of knowledge. The first type of knowledge is something we gain from observation using our human senses. This knowledge makes us feel we can take credit for achievement. Then there is the other type of knowledge we obtain as a gift. When this gift of knowledge comes from God, it is called grace. Thomas desires to use his senses of sight and touch to put his finger in the holes from the nails in Jesus’ hands and pierced side. However, Thomas can’t do this because he and the other disciples are huddled in a room behind a locked door. 

Even so, Jesus extends grace to Thomas in that locked room. Jesus knows Thomas yearns for an answer to his faithful questions, and so Jesus shows up for Thomas. This is where grace enters Thomas’ life. Thomas may have been slow to acknowledge that his power of human understanding was limited. However, in the middle of Thomas’ struggle, Jesus shows up in the room with the disciples one week later. The Gospel of John reads, “Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them” [John 20:26]. At this point, Jesus approaches Thomas, inviting him to come close enough to feel the wounds in his hands and side. When Thomas’ power was at an end, Jesus enters the room and comes close to Thomas!

This is our assurance. When our power is at an end, Jesus enters the room of our lives with grace. Jesus loves us and will not forsake us. We may shut the doors and huddle in a place where we don’t want grace to enter, but Jesus shows up anyway. Jesus continues to show up in our lives so we are given the necessary grace to strengthen our faith and come closer to Jesus. Jesus will enter our lives with the words He offered to Thomas, “Peace be with you.” Therefore, let us all say, thanks be to God, because Jesus moves through the shut doors of our doubt with His grace and peace for our souls.

The Rev. Nita Byrd is the chaplain at Saint Augustine’s Chapel at Saint Augustine's University, Raleigh.