CONDITIONS OF GRACE (19 OF 52)
Scripture: John 20:19-31
This content is part of a series.
Conditions of Grace (19 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
John 20:19-31
We are really good at placing conditions on people. We want life to be transactional in so many ways. If you are good enough or do what we want, then you will be rewarded with the basics for your survival. If you do not toe the line, we treat you as expendable. That is so often the way our societies operate. We create castes of people, whether due to race, ethnicity, social class, language, appearance, zip code, education, or economic status. When it comes to issues of faith and grace, we want to utilize those same social constructs and force them to rule over considerations of acceptance, generosity, and love. What are the conditions of grace?
We like to give the disciples a hard time. We pick on them for their failure to measure up. After all, if we had been in their shoes, we would have obviously recognized Jesus as God, understood that he would die on a cross, and have fully expected the resurrection. At least, that is what we like to tell ourselves. We look back on a few selected Scriptures that we have interpreted through two millennia of tradition to underscore just how obvious it is that Jesus is the human face of God and the prophets foretold his birth, death, and resurrection. Then we overlook what the gospels tell us regarding just how hard it was for any Jew of the day to grasp those notions.
Peter is normally the one who gets the bad rap for foot and mouth disease. In today's passage, it just happens that Thomas was the one missing when Jesus appeared after his resurrection. Rather than his being able to sit back while Peter did the talking, he spoke for himself like any one of the others would have done in his situation. Just that morning, Peter and Mary had been unable to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. John had only believed after arriving at the empty tomb and seeing the burial cloths set aside. When Jesus later appeared to the b ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
John 20:19-31
We are really good at placing conditions on people. We want life to be transactional in so many ways. If you are good enough or do what we want, then you will be rewarded with the basics for your survival. If you do not toe the line, we treat you as expendable. That is so often the way our societies operate. We create castes of people, whether due to race, ethnicity, social class, language, appearance, zip code, education, or economic status. When it comes to issues of faith and grace, we want to utilize those same social constructs and force them to rule over considerations of acceptance, generosity, and love. What are the conditions of grace?
We like to give the disciples a hard time. We pick on them for their failure to measure up. After all, if we had been in their shoes, we would have obviously recognized Jesus as God, understood that he would die on a cross, and have fully expected the resurrection. At least, that is what we like to tell ourselves. We look back on a few selected Scriptures that we have interpreted through two millennia of tradition to underscore just how obvious it is that Jesus is the human face of God and the prophets foretold his birth, death, and resurrection. Then we overlook what the gospels tell us regarding just how hard it was for any Jew of the day to grasp those notions.
Peter is normally the one who gets the bad rap for foot and mouth disease. In today's passage, it just happens that Thomas was the one missing when Jesus appeared after his resurrection. Rather than his being able to sit back while Peter did the talking, he spoke for himself like any one of the others would have done in his situation. Just that morning, Peter and Mary had been unable to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. John had only believed after arriving at the empty tomb and seeing the burial cloths set aside. When Jesus later appeared to the b ...
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