Marked by Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nkYCSqPfnE

Gospel

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

ACCORDING TO JOHN

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "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." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said 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!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

JOHN 20:19-31

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

This past Monday, we made some deliveries for our Lent Project. Butterfly, Grande Prairie’s therapeutic clown who joined us for worship before Easter, dropped by the church and was overjoyed with what we collected. You might have seen her kind post on Facebook, or noticed it on the bulletin boards as you came in.

Among the items we gave her were beads—bravery beads—that will go to children who are in hospital. Each bead represents a part of their treatment—each needle, each procedure, each difficult step along the way. The beads are not just pieces of plastic, instead they act like a visible story, representing what a child has endured.

Today, on this first Sunday after Easter, our Gospel connects so deeply with this idea—that something physical, like beads or scars, can carry meaning far deeper than what we see on the surface.

When Jesus appears to the disciples, the Gospel tells us that he says, “Peace be with you.” And after he says this, he shows them his hands and his side.

Notice what Jesus is doing. Before the disciples have even spoken—before they ask anything about who he is or how this could be possible—the very first thing he does is show them the marks on his body.

He doesn’t begin with explanation or teaching. He begins with his wounds. The marks that tell his story...that show he had been crucified…has endured the worst the world could do to him…and still, somehow, stands on the other side of it.

But Thomas isn’t there. And when he hears the others say, “We have seen the Lord,” he responds, “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.”

Thomas isn’t asking for something extra—only for what the others have already received. To see the marks, to see the signs that show that the person in front of them was truly crucified, and somehow lives...and must, then, be Jesus. So, when Jesus comes again, he offers Thomas exactly this. He shows him the wounds—still there, still visible, still real.

In the Gospel, the marks on Jesus’ post-resurrection body are more than just scars—they represent something deeper. They point to the reality of his suffering, that he really was crucified. And for us, this matters. Because at its core, what the Gospel is doing is making a theological statement that we often need to be reminded of: that God is not distant, abstract, or removed from the realities of our lives, but that God, in all of God’s power, chooses not to avoid our suffering—but to enter into it fully.

The marks on Jesus’ body shows us that God bears on God’s own self the marks of pain…of violence…of loss. God is not a God who watches suffering from afar, but God is present within it. And so the resurrection is not about leaving suffering behind as though it never happened, but about God loving so much that God suffers too, and is physically marked by it.

And this means that when we endure any hardship in our lives, we do not do that alone, God is with us. When our hearts break, God’s heart breaks too. When our bodies are worn down or hurting, God knows that reality from the inside. When we feel overwhelmed or afraid, God is not standing at a distance—but is present within it, being affected by it. There is no pain… no grief… no suffering… that God does not recognize.

And when we struggle to believe this—when it becomes too difficult to imagine that God is with us, being impacted by our pain...when we, like Thomas, need something more to believe in any of this—that’s okay.

Because when Thomas asks for proof, to see for himself, Jesus doesn’t shame him. Jesus doesn’t turn him away, but Jesus meets him exactly where he is. “Put your finger here. See my hands.” Jesus gives him an invitation—not to stand back and struggle in doubt—but to come closer and find faith.

And that same invitation is given to us. We are not cast aside when we doubt, but Jesus calls us to come closer. To look honestly at the wounded body of Christ… and to find there the truth about God. To seek, to ask, to do whatever we need to do in our lives to remember that our suffering is not done in isolation from God, but with God right by our side.

And this is where we come back to those beads. Because those bravery beads are more than just objects. They are a story—a visible record of suffering, yes, but also of courage and endurance. You can look at them and see something of what a child has carried. They are physical marks of a journey.

And the marks on Jesus’ body are like that too. They are signs that he has suffered—but more than that, they show us that God has not stood apart from pain, but has entered into it fully. They are the promise that God is with us—and that our suffering does not get the final word. Because the risen Christ still bears those wounds, showing us that God’s love has gone all the way into suffering… all the way into death… and has come out the other side. And that same love holds us—in every wound, every fear, every story our bodies carry.

Amen.