Showing Up

John 20:24-29

During my junior year of college, my high school had been making a run in the boys’ state basketball tournament. After winning their quarterfinal game on a Wednesday, they were playing in the semi-finals on Friday. I had made the decision that if they won, I would skip my Friday classes and meet my family in Ann Arbor, MI. This was something I didn’t want to miss. I had to be there. I had to show up.

Showing up. Sometimes we do it out of love for something or someone; like basketball and my former high school. That weekend in March 1980, I didn’t want to just listen to the games. I wanted to experience them for myself. Hearing about something is different than being there. So, I showed up.

Sometimes we show up out of obligation. We have to be there, so we are. Maybe we show up because our friends are there (wouldn’t that be nice). Maybe it’s something we’ve always done. Even though we don’t know why anymore, we show up anyway. Always done this, so here we are again. Or maybe there just isn’t anything better for us to do. No place better for us to be.

I wonder if that’s how Thomas the Apostle felt, when he showed up. The one labeled the doubter, he isn’t given the credit he deserves for hanging around. He didn’t believe what the disciples told him after they had seen Jesus. In fact, he said, “Unless I stick my hand in his side and my fingers in his hand, I will not believe!” But for some reason while not believing, Thomas showed up anyway.

Why? I wonder if deep down they were remembering, wondering, and hoping against fear and despair. I’m not surprised Jesus showed up; Jesus always does. I’m not surprised Jesus came to where they were; Jesus always does that too. Jesus always shows up. I’m not surprised by that at all. What I am surprised by, is that the Apostles did. Their dreams had been crushed as they watched Jesus die. Hope was gone. So why were they hiding together in the room? Did they think they were next? And if they did, why didn’t they just go home? Why didn’t they go back to work?  What are they doing now?

I wonder? Maybe they were remembering; remembering how Jesus showed up for the man born blind after he was kicked out of the synagogue. Remembering how Jesus showed up, eventually, for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Remembering how Jesus showed up; cleansing the temple, reclaiming the worship space for the Gentile, the unclean, the outsider. Remembering what had taken place for the last three years and wondering in hope, if Jesus would show up one more time. So, they showed up, hoping Jesus would show up again, too. Hiding in homes to protect themselves from what was “out there.”  Afraid for their safety. Wondering if they were going to be next, if Jesus would show up here too, maybe even today. And we all know what the answer to their wondering was.

And if Jesus showed up for them, He will for us, too. As we hang out behind closed doors, protecting ourselves from what is “out there,” wondering when this will end, if Jesus will show up for us, I think we can listen with hope to what John is saying. This letter was written during a time that the church was still hiding, being beaten, imprisoned, and even murdered for their faith. Not much had changed the first 40 years for the church, and John is reminding them, as he is us, that as we hang out, just like Jesus showed up for them, Jesus will show up for us too. It might not look like it did for Mary, or Peter, or John, or Thomas.  It might feel like fear and despair now, but in hope we believe, as they did, that Jesus will show up for us, when we need it, right on time, answering our questions right when we need them answered.