This Week’s Reading: John 20:19–29
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
—John 20:19–29
Introduction and Ice Breaker
What music, books or other art has been meaningful to you during these days of quarantine?
Try to write a short poem as a group. Get a theme suggestion and then each person go in order and give one line each. Don't put any pressure on yourself to be profound or to rhyme. Just see what comes out.
Themes to Consider
Redemption: God is committed to the healing, repair, and redemption of the world
New Creation: God is the primary mover in creation and new creation
Peace: In the midst of failure and anxiety God speaks “Peace”
Sent: We are called to represent Jesus which must at least mean offering grace and forgiveness and living as much as we can with a non-anxious presence in our city
Discussion Questions
What comes up for you when you hear the idea of new creation? Is it similar or different from what you have imagined when you think of heaven?
Can you identify with the feelings of the disciples at the beginning of the passage, locked away in fear? Have there been times like that in your life, where you felt such visceral regret or despair? Sharing these times can be very challenging so be kind and patient with one another.
Have you ever had a time in your life where God brought peace to you that was beyond even your rational understanding?
Does Jesus' instruction about forgiveness cause confusion or raise questions for you? Do N.T. Wright’s comments help?
Thomas is the first person in John’s account of the Gospel to call Jesus God. What does that bring up for you when you think of Jesus revealing God to us?
Guided Prayer
Take two minutes of silence and meditate on the words Jesus speaks… “Peace be with you.” Say it over again a few times to settle your mind on this blessing.
Pray through Phil 4:4-9:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Take a moment to consider the things for which we can be grateful and thank God for them. Health, provision, community, faith, eternal hope, salvation.
“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Thank God for his presence and work, even when we fail to notice.
Consider the things that cause anxiety right now. Name them / write them down and confess them to God and one another.
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus… And the God of peace will be with you.”
Ask God to show you where he is at work in your current circumstances.
Thank him for his securing and unchanging presence.
Quotes
“With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always--
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.”
—T.S. Eliot, last stanzas of Little Gidding
———
“It takes tremendous energy to keep functioning while carrying the memory of terror, and the shame of utter weakness and vulnerability. While we all want to move beyond trauma, the part of our brain that is devoted to ensuring our survival (deep below our rational brain) is not very good at denial. Long after a traumatic experience is over, it may reactivate at the slightest hint of danger and mobilize disturbed brain circuits and secrete massive amounts of stress hormones. This precipitates unpleasant emotions, intense physical sensations, and aggressive actions.”
—Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score
———
“There is all the difference in the world between something being achieved and something being implemented. The composer achieves the writing of the music; the performers implement it. The clockmaker designs and builds the wonderful clock. The owner now has to set it to the right time and keep it wound up. Jesus has accomplished the defeat of death, and has begun the work of new creation…His followers don’t have to do that all over again. (This, by the way, is why the early church didn’t say exactly the same things that he said. That confuses people who think that Jesus was just a great moral or spiritual teacher. They then wonder why his followers kept talking about him instead of simply repeating what he had said. The answer is that they were implementing his achievement, not trying to duplicate it. That would have been the real disloyalty.)”
—N.T. Wright
