19th April, 2020

My dear friends,                                                                                                                                               
           
In order to support St John folk during the present Coronavirus pandemic, the Priory of England and the Islands has set up an ‘On Call Chaplaincy’: a telephone helpline staffed by county chaplains who are available to talk and to listen on a rota between 10.30-11.30 a.m. and 4.00-5.30 p.m. every day. The telephone number is 03330 154414. Anyone ringing this number will be connected to the duty chaplain. I am on call one day next week. It is our privilege to be of service.
 
Easter Day this year was a little odd – but in another way, in its simplicity, perhaps the message of Easter was especially clear: whatever happens, God is ultimately in charge – and God loves us.
 
With kindest regards,
 
The Rev. Dr  ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain.
EASTER 2 – 19th APRIL 2020

Gospel reading: St John, chapter 20, verses 19 – end.
In the immediate shock of a bereavement, one of the hardest things for any of us to bear is the dawning realisation that we can no longer see or speak with whoever has died; or at least, not until we meet up in Heaven. It is very difficult.
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            It was the same for Jesus Christ’s surviving disciples in today’s Gospel reading. They had all run away from Jesus at Gethsemane, and doubtless they were racked with guilt as well as grief. It is true that Mary Magdalen said she had seen Jesus; but the disciples had not seen him. Ten of the disciples (Judas Iscariot was dead and Thomas wasn’t there) were in a locked room shortly after the Resurrection, afraid that the Jewish authorities would raid the building and arrest the lot of them. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in their midst out of nowhere, and said to them twice ‘Peace be with you’: this was a lovely ancient Jewish greeting and means ‘May you be entirely whole.’ Jesus showed them the wounds in his hands and side: clearly he wasn’t a ghost, but he had a real body, a resurrection body capable of suddenly appearing in a locked room. The disciples were filled with rejoicing. I don’t suppose they could really take it all in. Then Jesus breathed upon them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ In other words, he was giving the disciples authority to forgive repentant Christians their sins as part of their spiritual equipment to spread the Gospel. This, incidentally, is where a priest’s authority to absolve sinners comes from, conveyed at ordination.

            But, as I have said, St Thomas was missing that day. The New Testament doesn’t say where he was. Thomas has become known to us as ‘Doubting Thomas.’ The reason is that when he got back from wherever he had been, he found the other ten disciples terribly excited. ‘We’ve seen the Lord,’ they exclaimed! Thomas was perhaps depressed. He was certainly distressed. He was unable to share in their joy. ‘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’ he replied, gloomily.

            A week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples again, and this time Thomas was with them. ‘Peace be with you’ said Jesus once more, then he turned 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.’ ‘Have you believed because you have seen me’ asked Jesus? ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.’

            How are we to understand this? We must start with Thomas himself. He was depressed. Remember, he had had a special love for Jesus and when the Lord said on one occasion that he was going to Jerusalem to be killed, it was Thomas who said to the other disciples ‘Let us go up to Jerusalem, that we may die with him.’ Not the remark of someone who doubted Jesus. But after the crucifixion, Thomas was in a terrible state and he knew, as we all know, that when you’re dead, you’re dead. Dead men do not normally rise from the grave.

I think it is very unfair that Thomas has come to have the nickname ‘Doubting Thomas.’ The reason he refused to believe the others was not because of what we might call wilful doubt, but rather because it seemed unlikely and too good to be true. And then Jesus appeared. How did Thomas feel now? A bit silly? Possibly for the first few moments, but then he was surely overjoyed to see Jesus once again, and he didn’t need to reach out and touch the marks of the nails and the wound in Christ’s side.

Jesus’ words to Thomas, ‘Do not doubt but believe’, have been thought to be a rebuke; but when you come to think about them they might just as easily have been said gently, ‘Do not doubt,’ i.e. don’t be crushed by doubt and grief, ‘But believe,’ i.e. let your belief liberate you from grief and fear, and set you free.

            What happened to Thomas after this? Well, he set off proclaiming the Good News of Jesus and converting people to Christianity. He even got as far as the south of India, where he was martyred, and he is said to be buried at Mylapore near Madras. When English missionaries arrived in India in the eighteenth century they encountered Christians who were the descendants of the converts made by St Thomas.

            It was the great St Augustine who once said ‘Christians are an Easter people and alleluia is our song.’ We must follow the example of Thomas. The Resurrection is wonderfully Good News. We are each here because in our lives we have encountered the risen Jesus Christ and welcomed him into our hearts. Using Thomas’s words, we too can say to Jesus that he is ‘My Lord and My God.’ Faith in the risen Christ is the most wonderful and exciting thing any human being can have. But faith is like ‘flu (perhaps not a congenial image just now – please forgive me for using it – but it is still a true one): faith, like ‘flu, is contagious. You get faith by mixing with other Christians. It rubs off on you, until you start to think differently, reflect, and pray for yourself.

If as we believe the Easter story is true, then we must share this Good News with a needy world. The message of Easter is so important, of such eternal significance, that we dare not keep it amongst ourselves. Now, I know there are no easy solutions when it comes to spreading the Gospel. We must all pray and reflect. But God will give us opportunities if we look for them.
I rather suspect that the last words addressed by Jesus to Thomas are also addressed to us, and they make clear the duty of all who love and follow him: ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet come to believe.’