[Propertalk] Sermon tidbits for 2 Easter - John 20:19-29 - Part 4

[Joe Parrish]

    Thomas might in later life say that he was set up for the purpose of the story, which was    to assure those that had not been alive at the time of the resurrection that doubt and    suspicion existed in Apostolic times. Would Thomas have said later that he never doubted    again? Probably not. Doubt is part of the human condition. Rather he would have more    likely said, doubt or no doubt, I never stopped believing.

http://www.agreeley.com/hom03/april27.htm

 
Andrew Greeley, 2003
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Doubting Thomas. Of course, the word is not "doubt" but a very Johannine word, "unbelieving" (apistos). While that doesn't have the same ring to it as the usual moniker, it is certainly more true to what it means to believe in John's Gospel. 

Always a verb, never a noun, believing for John is a statement of abiding in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is not an assertion of certain doctrinal commitments, nor is it something that is strong one day but wavering the next. To believe in Jesus is the same thing as saying "I abide in you and you abide in me." It is a creedal assertion only insofar as it affirms the existing relationship between Jesus and the believer. Believing in John's Gospel is certainly a confession that Jesus is the Word made flesh, but the existential, ontological reality of the incarnation intimates that a confession of faith is more so a confession of a relationship. 
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This is a full sensory Gospel. Sometimes it's tasting (John 6), sometimes it's smelling (John 11), sometimes it's hearing (John 10), sometimes it's touching (John 13:23), and sometimes it is seeing [John 20:20-27].

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=5/1/2011

Karoline Lewis
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That is, they can either forgive the sins
of those who have killed Jesus and who have persecuted them or they can hold onto
them. Jesus' wish for peace means that they cannot hold onto them. This line is often
heard as the church's authority to forgive sins or to hold onto them, and is understood as
giving the church authority to send people to heaven or to send them to hell. I don't think
that's what is going on here. I think instead what is happening is simply that Jesus is
describing the reality of the situation. In the aftermath of his death, his disciples can
either forgive the sins of those who have attacked him and killed him and who will
continue to persecute the followers of Jesus, or they can "hold onto" these sins,
maintaining their anger and their fear and be paralyzed by it.

http://www.gotell.org/pdf/commentary/John/Jn20_19-31_commentary.pdf

Thomas E. Boomershine
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...ask, "Ifthe blessed faith is not based on seeing, then what is it based on?"I think the answer given in the text (and throughout John) isthat faith is to be based on the word. Thomas should have believed the word fromthe other disciples: "We have seen the Lord" (v. 25). Similarly theother disciples should have believed the word from Mary: "I have seen theLord" (v. 18). 

http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/john20x19e2.htm

Brian Stoffregen
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