The Work of the Community
Easter 2, Year C – 2007, (April 15, 2007)
St. Stephen Episcopal
Rev. Rachel K. Taber-Hamilton
John’s Gospel depicts a version of the resurrection day that is full of important action for
the life of the community. The opening scene of today's passage shares some similarity
with Luke’s Gospel (24:36-43). In Luke Jesus appears before fearful disciples gathered
behind closed doors and greets them with the words, 'Peace be with you!' and the
disciples fear they are seeing a ghost. Jesus proves his materiality by showing them his
hands and feet, suggesting they feel him and then; he even eats some fish.
The writer of John’s Gospel is aware of the story we have from Luke’s version. John’s
passage is an innovation of that tradition. Now the words of peace are repeated and
followed by the Johannine portrait of Jesus giving the Spirit and commissioning the
disciples. The matter of proof has been attached to the figure Thomas who insists on
materiality. The power of the event and its experience in the life of the community create
new ways of understanding and celebrating its meaning. Therefore, this passage has
much to say about the nature of faith as well as the nature of tradition.
In this version is a renewed vision of how to understand the meaning of the resurrection
through three important actions; 1) the giving of peace, 2) the giving of the Spirit and 3)
the giving of the Great Commission. The 'Peace' given echoes the promise of peace in 14:
27. Then the giving of the Spirit recalls the promise of the Spirit/Paraklete on 14:16. The
sending out evokes the promise of mission in 14:12-15. John has woven the great
commission and Pentecost into a single scene with a third theme of peace in the
community.
Peace
Three times in our text, Jesus uses the greeting, "Peace to you" (vv. 19, 21, 26). On one
hand, it is a normal Hebrew greeting: "Shalom" -- which can mean nothing more than our
"Hello". However, its other uses in John (14:27; 16:33) indicate something more
substantial than just a greeting, just as the events to follow recall the promise of the Spirit
given in the same chapter.
Generally when a verb is absent, the indicative form of "to be" is used, i.e., "Peace is with
you" rather than subjunctive, "[May] Peace be with you" -- although the NRSV and NIV use
the latter. However, the indicative "is" with the dative can indicate a possessive: "Peace
is to you" = "Peace is yours". The promise of peace given in the other references is used
in Jesus’ greeting.
The nature of the "peace" given is a description of a type of relationship between people
rather than a personal inner tranquility. The verbal form [eireneuo] always refers to
relationships between people in the NT (Mk 9:50; Ro 12:18; 2C 13:11; 1Th 5:13). Given
John's emphasis on the disciples' love for one another (13:35), this peace has a communal
meaning. It is clear in 16:33 that peace does not mean "not having troubles in the world" --
which would tend to rule out the meanings eirene adopted from the Hebrew shalom. A
third meaning of eirene is synonymous with messianic salvation, since "peace" is an
essential quality of the messianic kingdom; it is not a personal, inner tranquility, but the
way people and all creation and God will relate to each another -- a harmonious existence.
Thomas’s constant questioning and uncertainty is a challenge to the peace of the
community. They try to convince Thomas about what they have seen, but Thomas refuses
to believe them. However, it wasn't just God's word he didn’t believe, but the word and
experience of his friends. So, how does the community keep a harmonious, peaceful
relationship with a non-trusting, even antagonistic, friend? Well, they didn't kick Thomas
out of the fellowship, and Thomas didn’t walk out in disgust; the disciples were able to
coexist in a spirit of peace with one another even given major differences in experiences
and beliefs. Eventually, within an environment of continuing mutual commitment, Thomas
had his own experience with the risen Jesus. This story, then, isn’t about Thomas as
much as it is about the commitment it takes to be an authentic community in authentic
relationship with God.
Spirit
Breathing belongs to the image of the spirit which in biblical languages means wind and
breath and spirit, and John’s story intentionally evokes the image of God's breathing life
into the nostrils of a human who becomes a living being (Gn 2:7). It is also used in Ez 37:9
where the breath breaths on the slain [the dry bones], so that they may live. And it is used
in Wisdom 15:11c where God "breathed a living spirit into them." Therefore, the action of
Jesus breathing on the disciples constitutes a new beginning for the faith community, a
new way of living and being on the earth.
Jesus' words are addressed to the entire faith community, not to its apostolic leaders; this
then requires an understanding of forgiveness of sins as the work of the entire
community, not just of its leadership. The forgiveness of sins must be understood as the
mission of continuing Jesus' work in the world. Jesus' teaching and actions about sin for
John’s Gospel (3:19-21; 8:21-24; 9:39-41; and 15:22-24) draws an understanding of sin as a
theological failing, not a moral or behavioral transgression (in contrast to Matt 18:18). To
have sin (hamartia) is to be blind to the revelation of God in Jesus, which is to say blind to
God’s presence in the world, to not respond with love to love given.
Commission
Jesus sends the disciples, just as he was sent. This is the premise for discipleship. It sets
our agenda by directing us to what Jesus did, especially as he is portrayed in John. Jesus
offered healing, compassion, restoration and liberation for new life through relationship
with himself, through relationship with God. Our role is also to offer healing, compassion,
restoration and liberation for new life through relationship with one another. This does
not equate us and Jesus, but the task is the same. As he was God's representative, so his
disciples are to be the experience of renewed life for others. If we take John 3:17
seriously: "Indeed, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved through him," then our job and the church's job is not
to condemn the world but to offer salvation to it.
The faith community is to be a people shaped by Jesus' gift of the Spirit and that the mark
of that gift will be the power to forgive or retain sins. As the Commentary discussed,
however, forgiving sins does not involve forgiving moral transgressions (nor does
retaining sins involve retaining moral transgressions), but it involves bearing witness to
the identity of God as revealed in Jesus. If the interpreter combines vv. 22-23 with Jesus'
commandment to love one another in 13:34-35, a picture of the church's mission emerges.
By loving one another as Jesus loves, the faith community reveals God to the world; by
revealing God to the world, the church makes it possible for the world to choose to enter
into relationship with this God of limitless love. It is in choosing or rejecting this
relationship with God that sins are forgiven or retained. The faith community's mission,
therefore, is not to be the arbiter of right or wrong, but to bear unceasing witness to the
love of God in Jesus.
In his book, Hunting the Divine Fox: An Introduction to the Language of Theology (pp. 132-
3), Robert Capon writes:
The church is not in the morals business. The world is in the morals business… What the
world cannot get right, however, is the forgiveness business – and that, of course, is the
church's real job. She is in the world to deal with the Sin which the world can't turn off or
escape from. She is not in the business of telling the world what's right and wrong so that
it can do good and avoid evil. She is in the business of offering, to a world which knows
all about that tiresome subject, forgiveness for its chronic unwillingness to take its own
advice. But the minute she even hints that morals, and not forgiveness, is the name of
her game, she instantly corrupts the Gospel and runs headlong into blatant nonsense.
The church becomes, not Ms. Forgiven Sinner, but Ms. Right. Christianity becomes the
good guys in here versus the bad guys out there. Which, of course, is pure tripe. The
church is nothing but the world under the sign of baptism.
Faith
This single story from John defines salvation, the agenda of the Church’s mission and the
context for community life. Ultimately John's celebration in the narrative of the Easter
story points to life as its message. Before and after Easter it is still that same life. The
change is that now there are new bearers of that life and the Spirit given without measure
to Jesus (3:34) now operates without measure among the disciples, making Jesus'
presence real to them (14:22-26). Thomas needs to be there to help the community
understand that salvation is determined by the way one responds to the Word; not by
what one may or may not see [i.e. sin]. Even with his questions Thomas and the
community did not abandon one another, they did not condemn or abuse one another and
thereby create the necessity for departure, and they did not base their relationship of
conditions of uniformity of thought and experience. They were able to argue and love
one another, and all were ultimately a stronger community of faith for their commitment to
one another even as they were committed to Jesus’ teachings.
Although many translations include "doubt" in v. 27 -- and thus lead to the phrase
"Doubting Thomas", there is no Greek word for "doubt" in the verse! The contrast is
between apistos and pistos -- the only occurrence of both these words in John. The prefix
"a" as in apistos, means "not" or "without". Apistos" means "without pistos." Definitions
for the adjective pistos include: 1) trusting -- one who trusts in, trusting, 2) being trusted
-- faithful, trustworthy, dependable, reliable, and 3) being sure, with the implication of
being fully certain or sure. Therefore, apistos would mean "not having trust or faith or
certainty."
The biblical laments as well as the Book of Job show the faith community that questioning
God is an aspect – even a requirement – of faith. Questioning is presented as a part of
what it is to living from within authentic relationship with God. If one is asking God
questions or seeking answers from God, there is necessarily some kind of faith that God
exists and can respond; there’s a relationship and a mutual commitment between God and
the believer to engage in that relationship even when it is painful, uncertain or
infuriating.
Thomas' questioning, his desire to reconcile disparate experience and differing
perspectives is an essential quality of faith that separates the criteria of faith from the
criteria of knowledge. These are very different categories of human thought within the
area of philosophy. Asking questions informs both the development of faith and
knowledge. However, asking questions within the category of faith is commendable only
insofar as it finds its assurance without the need to make claims of being right or
becoming righteous. If we operate from a stance of being right, we cannot offer
forgiveness to others who do not agree with us; we will never reconcile the reality of the
diversity of human experience and perspective from the human failure to tolerate or
forgive that reality. The ultimate charge of Jesus to the community is to extend the Good
News of forgiveness; the greater the commitment to forgiveness, the greater the
communal love and peace.
Therefore, from John we understand that the work of the Spirit is not individual work but
the work of the community. In spite of his questions, Thomas remained with the disciples
as a disciple. There, within the safety of a co-committed community, he discovered the
answers to his questions. As people of faith, our task is to ask questions and allow others
to do the same; our task is not to make claims of right-ness or be righteous. We relate to
God by faith and to the world by forgiveness. These are both aspects of the same Peace
and Spirit of Love given to us by Christ. We are asked to be ambassadors of God’s Peace,
Acceptance and Love known as Salvation; this is the Great Commission, the Good News
we must be in the world such that when we greet one another we can make the
assurance, “Peace is with you.” Amen.