Jesus Fills Up Half-Empty Thomas

Second Sunday of Easter

April 3, 2016

John 20:19-31

Jesus Fills Up Half-Empty Thomas*

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Thomas always expected the worst to happen. This is rather sensible, but often not not very helpful. When Jesus told His disciples that He was going to a town where many of His worst enemies lived, Thomas shrugged his shoulders and said, “I suppose we had better go along and get ourselves killed, too.” This is a worldly wisdom in that. Expect the worst, and you'll be prepared for it.

You know Thomas. You know someone like him. Maybe he is you. Are you the kind of person that sees someone else lying in bed with a broken leg and you say, “Well, it could have been worse.”

It has to be said that the other extreme isn't any better, always expecting sweetness and light and maybe year-round Cadburry Eggs. This is rather foolish, and after a childhood of hovering parents and adults, kids grow up to discover that life doesn't love them back.

Their boss doesn't appreciate their effort; they just want results.

Their spouse doesn't show affection like they used to; they just want you to remember what they told you to remember from ten minutes ago.

Their kids often are affectionate, but sometimes they scream and yell for no good reason.

And so it's tempting to become a glass-half-empty attitude. But if you go the way of glum Thomas, you won't be much better off. Expecting the worst really doesn't prepare you for the worst.

You'll expect your boss, spouse, kids to mistreat you and you'll come to enjoy self-pity. There's a certain story out there about the boy who is sick and home from school. He sits in bed miserable. He cheers himself up by thinking how sad everyone would be if he died. He imagines how sorry his mother would be for not giving him an extra dessert. He imagines how sorry his sister would be for yelling at him after he took apart her dollhouse, which he meant to put back together. They'll be sorry.

Hoping for the best and expecting the worst are not opposites; they are two sides of the same basic attitude. When we say, “It'll probably rain the whole week of our camping trip,” we don't want it to rain. We really want the sun to shine, but we are trying to protect ourselves against disappointment by expecting the worst.

This is perhaps what Thomas was trying to do. He was trying to protect himself from disappointment. And his sinful doubt lead him to give God some advice: “Well, I'll believe Jesus when see Jesus.” And wonder of wonders, Jesus took Thomas' advice. He met Thomas on that level, showing him His hands and the holes. And Jesus filled Thomas up with belief.

He does the same for us. He takes our efforts to protect ourselves that always fail and gives us Himself. We try to hope for the best on Monday and on Tuesday we are expecting the worst. Both of these attitudes are centered in ourselves. But Jesus drags us away from ourselves and draws us to Himself.

When you go home today, disconnect everything you see from yourself and see them as they really are: connected to Christ! Your home, your family, your work, your education, your laughter, your tears, all of it is from Him and for Him, the one not seen, yet believed! This is the way of faith under the cross.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

* Adapted from Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel