Sermon for April 12, 2025: Unless I See based upon John 20:19-31

4/14/2026

John 20:19-31 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Jesus Appears to the Disciples
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, 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.”

Jesus and Thomas
But Thomas (who was called the Twin[a]), 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.”

The Purpose of This Book
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue[b] to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

“The first launch attempt for Artemis II is today!” This excited text message came through mine and Tasha’s group chat on April 1st. It was not a prank. It was from our friend Cherie, who has worked as part of the science team on the mission. Knowing people who have fun space- and space-adjacent jobs is one of the perks of being married to a geologist who studies meteorites. Cherie, who has sat at our dinner table and played with our dog, is also Cherie who helps astronauts practice moonwalks here on earth to prepare for future landings in space.

Our friend Juli, who has been to this church, is the curation lead for the science team, making plans for the on-going care and handling of future lunar samples and teaching the astronauts geology. Sarah is a painter whose work adorns our office wall. She also happens to be the lunar science lead. Barbara, who I’ve done amazing and terrible karaoke with, is the sample integrity lead for Artemis. My wife, who has loved space since she was a child, usually pays close attention to NASA missions. This one has been particularly special because some of our dearest friends and Tasha’s long-respected colleagues have been a part of making it happen.

From planning the mission to constructing the ship to the 9 day, 1 hour, and 32 minutes that Artemis II was in space, it has been clear to me from just about every piece of communication that I heard and read that this giant team of people, in ways both practical and poignant, respected each other and loved their jobs. Just a few minutes of observation of the live feed from Houston made it clear that we were watching thoughtful professionals, who did their jobs consistently and competently, but also with an intimacy born of many, many hours of shared labor. It was so lovely to hear the gratitude and appreciation this team had for each other and for the missions that came before them.

I can’t speak to the science. But, I can speak to some moments of love and care that I witnessed. The flight crew hid dehydrated scrambled eggs around the cabin for each other on Easter. Everyone in space and on Earth cried together when the crew in Integrity asked that a “bright spot on the moon” be named for Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife Carroll. The astronauts spoke regularly of the spiritual traditions and ethics that grounded their work, as well as the curiosity and care that carried them into space on behalf of all of humanity. Astronaut Christina Koch said, “With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.” The four people in space, who ate maple cookies on the literal far side of moon, and the crew on Earth, who played them wake up songs each day, were one team, and told us that all people on Earth are one team, too. With the world watching, they showed up for each other again and again and again. It is no wonder that many of us who witnessed this competent, capable, and kind group of professionals do extraordinary things together were deeply moved.

On social media, I saw people who generally don’t care much about space exploration call them “our emotional support astronauts.” Artists and poets have been writing about, drawing, painting, and embroidering moments from the Artemis mission, moments that were transmitted hundreds of thousands of miles through space into our hands and hearts. I’ve seen pilot Victor Glover’s words about this era of world-wide division repeated countless times, “...trust us, you look amazing. You look beautiful. And from up here, you also look like one thing. Homo sapiens is all of us, no matter where you’re from or what you look like. We’re all one people.” This is a word so many people have been longing for a leader, especially from our country, to say.

I have also seen far too many people, at least on social media, spreading conspiracy theories about this mission. In a world where people use AI to craft all manner of false images, it is easy for some to dismiss the new images from Artemis as fake. Some people even see this mission as one in a long line of cons going back to an original staged moon landing. This is one of the dangers of the destruction of a shared sense of reality that many politicians have used to prop up their careers. Suspicion of the government, both reasonable and unreasonable, has created a void that people will fill with all manner of ideas and explanations.

It is disheartening for me to see this twisting of healthy doubt into something destructive and alienating. It is not the doubt of our friend Thomas, who just needed to hear and see the same thing as the other disciples so that he, too, could believe in the Resurrection. It is a mix of contrarian antagonism and opportunistic fearmongering that treats paranoia like a game. For those whose brains cannot help fearing the missions to space, I have a lot of grace. For those who manipulate that fear and misunderstanding for their own gain, I have much less.

You might have been surprised that I would speak so kindly of Thomas’ doubt. I have been persuaded by the scholar Karoline Lewis’ argument that, in John, the Gospel where “seeing is believing,” that is it not inherently problematic for Thomas to ask for proof of the Resurrection. His friends had a pretty wild story, after all. All of them together had seen Jesus killed. All of them, aside from Thomas, had seen him after he had risen. Even with the recent memory of Lazarus being raised from the dead, Thomas, in his grief, was not prepared to believe that Jesus had also risen based only on what he heard. The disciples believed because they saw. Thomas will need to do the same.

Jesus’ first words to the disciples and to Thomas is the same: “Peace be with you.” Lewis notes that in John, a primary gift of the Spirit is comfort and presence in challenging times. There is a quiet intimacy in receiving the Spirit in this Gospel. This post-resurrection appearance hinges on the intimacy of the relationship between Thomas and Jesus, an intimacy born of hours of shared labor. When we remember that intimacy, we really understand the power of the moment when Jesus invites Thomas to see, and feel, that he is real. “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not be unbelieving but believe.”

When the astronauts came close enough to the moon to make out features with their naked eyes, they described being mesmerized. Wiseman said of that moment, “it's just everything from the training, but in three dimensions and absolutely unbelievable. This is incredible.” They never stepped foot on the moon, but they were in awe of it when they saw it close up. Scripture doesn’t actually tell us that Thomas touches Jesus. It does tell us that, in seeing Christ in close proximity, he believed.

Lewis argues in her commentary that the word “belief” in the book of John is primarily a word about relationship. Thomas’ belief is restored based on the power of his relationship with Jesus. Lewis argues that this story really isn’t even about doubt as we understand that word in modern English. She says that the word that gets translated for us as “doubt” is probably better read as “be unbelieving,” which here, means be disconnected or out of relationship. Artemis II has shown us a present-day example of healthy, aligned, and gracious relationships, relationships that enable a group of people to do something extraordinary that not one of them could have done alone. In helping Thomas believe, Jesus is restoring that kind of relationship. None of the disciples will be able to carry on after the Resurrection alone. They need Thomas and Thomas needed them. Faith in Christ is a team effort. Thomas needed to be restored to the team.

Karoline Lewis writes of the Resurrection appearance to Thomas: “Life, especially abundant life, is dependent on the reality of multiple expressions of connectivity and belonging... Even God was not alone in the beginning, because the Word was with God.” I am carrying these words into the next week with me. I’m also carrying the words of NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, “If you can’t take love to the stars, then what are we doing? That’s why we send humans instead of robots sometimes. That’s why we have that firsthand witness.” Our scripture for today ends with a note that the Resurrections signs were collected and shared to help the next generation of believers come to know Christ. Let us give thanks to the ones who have born witness and shared their testimonies so that we, too, may believe. May we remember that our actions can be signs of Christ’s love, too. We don’t even have to go to the moon to do it. We can start right here with the relationships that we have inherited from Christ, building out the Body of Christ into a future that we can’t yet imagine. Let us remember that we cannot see what the future holds unless we take the risk of working together in the present. In the coming weeks, may we be confident that we do brave and impossible things together out of love.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon
It was challenging to round up sources for all the things I read this week from Artemis II. Here is a good list of resources for the things I mentioned in the sermon: