Blessed are Those Who Believe
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
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Scripture John 20:19-31
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.” Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
I have a really awful long-term memory. (My short-term memory isn’t great either, but today I’m telling you about my long-term memory.) My brother and sisters love this about me. They can tell me anything about our childhood and I’ll believe them because I can’t remember. Sometime what they’re telling me sounds ridiculous and I think they must be making it up. And sometimes they are making it up. But sometimes the ridiculous things are completely true. The other day my sister told me that when we were kids, we were playing a game where I was an elephant, so she stuffed a peanut up my nose. You’d think I’d remember something like that. But I don’t.
Sometimes, my lack of memory is funny. But sometimes I really hate it. I hate it the most when I run into someone I’m supposed to know, and I have no memory of them. It must seem, from their perspective, like they didn’t matter to me. But that’s not true. This has happened with people who mattered a great deal to me. It’s not them; it’s me. It’s my pathetic excuse for a memory.
I was thinking about all this because I was reading the story from John 20 in which Jesus suddenly appears in the room where the disciples were hiding. I know it had only been a matter of days since they’d seen him, but they also knew he was dead. And I wonder what that must have been like to see someone standing in front of you who should be in a tomb. I wonder if the impossibility of it made it so their brains couldn’t place him – if they didn’t know him or even recognize him because of the impossibility of it. It wasn’t until he spoke to them and showed them his hands and his side that they knew him.
This wasn’t the only time people didn’t recognize Jesus after the resurrection. There’s a story in Luke 24 in which Jesus met up with a couple of his disciples on their way out of the city. He spent a bunch of time with them, talking and teaching them, and it wasn’t until they were all around the dinner table and Jesus broke and blessed bread that they realized who he was. I don’t think there was anything wrong with these disciples. I think we don’t expect someone dead to show up, so we can’t recognize him when he does.
In both those stories, at some point, Jesus’ disciples recognized him. In the Upper Room, it was when Jesus showed them his hands and side. With the disciples on the road, it was when he broke and blessed bread. I wonder, if Jesus showed up in our lives – if he showed up on the subway or in our apartment lobby or in our living room, would we recognize him? I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be expecting him. It would make sense for it to take a bit. But do we know him well enough that if he showed up, we’d eventually recognize him? Maybe he’d have to speak first or show us something, but even then, would we recognize him?
Since the beginning of January, I’ve been talking about Spiritual Disciplines and encouraging all of us to practice them throughout the week. I keep repeating that Spiritual Disciplines put us in a position to know God and to know God better than we did. On Sunday I’m going to talk again about this whole idea of knowing God. We’ll be considering the story from John 20:19-31, and we’ll be asked the question: Would we know Jesus [who we understand to be the incarnation of God] if he showed up where we are?
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend a bit of time reflecting on that question: If Jesus showed up where you are, would you know him? What might stand in the way of you knowing or recognizing him? What might help you know or recognize him? Do you want to know him?