Sermon Seeds: So I Send You

Sunday, April 12, 2026
Second Sunday of Easter | Year A
(Liturgical Color: White)

Lectionary Citations
Acts 2:14a, 22-32 • Psalm 16 • 1 Peter 1:3-9 • John 20:19-31
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=s&d=44&y=17134

Focus Scripture: John 20:19-31
Focus Theme: “So I Send You”
Series: That Message Spread (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Messengers have an important role. They transmit information and other deliveries. Sometimes, the messenger has been strictly engaged for the transfer and has no knowledge or other connection to the content. A package sent through a mail or local messenger service is not the property or gift of the person charged, temporarily, with its care. There are other times when the messenger has been involved with the creation and development of the package or information.

The biblical narrative is full of messengers. Angels deliver instruction and revelation to those the Holy One wants to communicate a special assignment. Prophets are charged with speaking truth to power, conveying the heart of God, and pleading on behalf of the people. Jesus enters creation as the full embodiment of the Holy One, the Message made flesh and dwelling among us. Preparing, equipping, and empowering his disciples to continue as messengers of the good news was central to Jesus’ ministry. How else would that message spread?

The second Sunday of Easter always invites us to reflect on that first night, after the resurrection had been reported and Jesus made his appearance to the disciples who responded to his passion by hiding. After the focus on the various accounts of the female disciples encounters with the empty tomb, the focus shifts to those overcome with uncertainty and doubt despite all the preparation they received. This passage historically has labeled Thomas the doubting disciple, but why do the others who barricaded themselves not receive a similar label? After all, when Jesus appeared to them, he freely offered to them what Thomas would later request. Jesus provided the physical evidence left on his body by the crucifixion. Thomas only wanted the same consideration before making a decision.

Both the hands and his side of Jesus bear the healed marks of suffering. The revelation is not only proof, it’s promise. They aren’t open wounds, they are scars that testify to his strength and power. Despite the glorification of his resurrected body, the scars remain to tell the story and bear witness. Jesus does not avoid his recent pain, but he radiates the power of pain overcome and a body made well.

Still, it was another week before Jesus appeared before Thomas. One might imagine how much suspicion would have germinated in Thomas after hearing an improbable tale and going seven more days without any evidence. Further, the disciples seemed to remain in limbo. They have not left their central gathering place for any significant time from the time of the trial. It has now been approximately ten days since Jesus died, seven since his stunning after-death visitation, and the disciples have not changed their new routine since his arrest.

Perhaps, if the other disciples had demonstrated a shift in circumstances—through their behavior—Thomas would have believed their testimony. It is not reasonable to expect Thomas to embrace the unbelievable when the ones who tell the story do not act like they believe it.

That evening, Jesus materializes in the room in which the disciples are hiding from the Jews and announces his presence with a traditional greeting: “Peace be with you” (20:19; cf. Tob. 12:17). He identifies himself by showing his hands and side, commissions them to carry on his work (20:21), and, emulating God’s act of creating Adam (Gen. 2:7), he breathes the Holy Spirit onto them. One disciple, who has come to be known as “Doubting” Thomas because of this scene, was absent and refuses to believe, “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” (2:25). The following week, Jesus reappears. Whereas Mary was forbidden from touching Jesus, Thomas is now invited to do so, raising the question of Jesus’ post crucifixion corporeality. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus’ crucifixion has been described as an exaltation (e.g., 3:14), suggesting that his death is simultaneously his return to the Father. If the ascension is a return to the same preexistent state that the Word had before it (or he) was made flesh (1:14), then it is reasonable to think that it also marks a return to a noncorporeal existence. His ability to enter the room despite the locked doors also implies incorporeality. And yet, he invites Thomas to touch him. The inconsistency with regard to the status of Jesus’ body has suggested to some scholars that the Thomas story is a secondary addition (R. E. Brown 1970, 1032). This is certainly plausible, particularly in light of 20:29, which is obviously addressed to the Gospel’s audiences. The narrative is silent as to whether Thomas does touch Jesus, but he immediately confesses his faith: “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). Jesus gently chides him: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (20:29). This passage brings to fruition the pattern that began with the call of the first disciples: the emphasis on believing through the testimony of others. In chiding Thomas, Jesus is addressing later readers who cannot see Jesus directly but who have access to the reliable testimony of the Gospel (see 19:35) as a basis for faith. The story therefore reinforces the authority of the Gospel as a source for its readers’ christological understanding and therefore also their salvation.
Adele Reinhartz

Whether Jesus actually chided Thomas or simply made a statement about the difference between evidence and faith is a matter of interpretive debate. I tend to consider the latter more likely. Jesus had already given the other disciples proof beyond his presence, it does not seem plausible that he would have been offended by Thomas’ need for the same. The fact that Jesus praises those who will come to believe without the same evidence does not mean he condemns the early disciples, including the consistently curious and questioning Thomas, for desiring it.

With all the attention on the response of Thomas, the failure of the other disciples to heed Jesus’ directive has been overlooked. After Jesus offers them the greeting and blessing of peace, provides physical evidence, and receives confirmation that they accept his resurrected presence, his first words are, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” This encounter did, as Reinhartz notes, echo the call stories of the disciples, when Jesus invited them to enter into his movement. Now, he commands them to continue. Despite that directive, the disciples remain in the room.

It is important to distinguish this account with the Luke-Act narrative. When these versions are conflated, we do not question why the disciples do not immediately begin to spread the good news in word and deed, as they had been doing as apprentices of Jesus. In the Johannine account, however, Jesus told them to “receive the Holy Spirit” as he breathed on them immediately after he declared his commissioning. Would Thomas have been more inspired to take the word of his companions if their actions reflected the good news they were so eager to share?

Does the witness of the church in the world today demonstrate in word and deed what we claim to believe? Do we sing “Alleluia” on Sunday and then continue about our week as if the truth of the Risen Christ has no impact on our daily living? What would it be like if the church—each of us—fully embraced the power of the Resurrection and the ongoing power of the resurrected life and Spirit in us to continue the miraculous, transforming, and salvific work of Christ in a world in need of new life, hope, love, and peace? Do we claim the story of the resurrection without the tangible force of resurrection power in the same way the disciples remained bound by their fears and uncertainty. We too have been commissioned—sent—to move past comfort, complacency, and self-imposed confines into the redemptive and restorative ministry of Jesus Christ in the world.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“The wind of freedom, which was blowing throughout the world for all people, turned and flowed into the room. As they breathed in the fresh, clear air their humanity awakened. They examined their condition. There was the foetid air, the excreta and the horror of being an oddity of the human race, with half the head of a man and half the body of a donkey. They laughed in an embarrassed way, scratching their heads. How had they fallen into this condition when, indeed, they were as human as everyone else? They started to run out into the sunlight, then they turned and looked at the dark, small room. They said: “We are not going back there.”
― Bessie Head

For Further Reflection
“If you want to go to a far and difficult place, firstly send your mind to that far place, then your mind will meet with your body over there!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
“Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” – William Carey
“The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” –Carl F.H. Henry

Works Cited
Reinhartz, Adele. “John.” Gale A. Yee, Ed. Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During the Season of Easter, commit to spreading the good news of God’s liberating, redeeming, and reconciling love through consistent communication. Consider the tangible ways your faith community has been positioned to demonstrate the power of new life.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/easter-2a-april-12/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.