John 20 : 19 – 31/ You are my God, oh Lord.

Spring has come, but it still feels like winter, keeping your mind and life tight. The Lord has risen, but we have to share the news of the resurrection online. The irony is that the resurrection itself is an offline event, but it should only be delivered online due to coronavirus. I pray that you have the peace and joy of the resurrection wherever you are. The situation we are facing now is similar to the disciples went through in today’s scripture. In fear, the disciples were tightly locked and hiding. The disciples were afraid of the Jews as we are now afraid of coronavirus. We avoid physical contact and live at a physical distance between people.

There is one thing that I realized from the coronavirus pandemic. That is "encounter" is really dangerous. I never thought of encounters as dangerous. I was always looking forward to meeting new people, and I thought it was natural. However, Covid-19 reminds us that our encounter is a serious thing that comes and goes. I always liked the idea that the mere touch of the collar is a destiny, but now the mere touch of the collar is a dangerous thing. If encounter with others is dangerous, what choice should you make? There is a way to stop living at the mountain, wilderness, or private lodging after breaking the relationship with the world. But if you're not good enough to talk to birds and communicate with wolves like St. Francis, you'll probably become extremely lonely and die.

Another way is to live at risk. No matter how thorough prevention is, it is difficult to control 100%. If encountering is a dangerous thing, there is a way to live in a relationship worthy of your life. So COVID-19 reminds us if we have meetings that are worth it.

Meetings were so common that we didn't really appreciate its value. The meeting was considered as daily routine, like eating and breathing, and COVID-19 reminds us that the meeting is not trivial and frivolous, but that our existence is at stake. Are we taking the meetings we make in the church seriously? The value of “encounter” is too precious to face each other indifferently or face to face. And Jesus Christ wants that “encounter” to be a moment of life, a moment of forgiveness, and a moment of resurrection.

There is a poem called "Let's risk your life" by the poet Lee Kwang-yong. If you want to be a real drinker in this era, you have to risk your life and drink alcohol. To drink, you have to drink enough to stay in good health, but the poet says you have to risk your life to become something truly. He says that if you want to be real, you're going to risk your life. To be a teacher, you have to risk your life and become a teacher. To be a real Christian, we think about where, what we do, what life we have to do to live

Jesus appeared to the disciples beset by fear. And the first thing he said is "Shalom." He said, "I hope you have peace." It is a greeting to share reconciliation and peace of life. In Christian history, “Shalom” was said to have been the best Easter greeting. Usually during Easter, people say “Jesus is resurrected”, but it feels like a long greeting. Even so, it would be awkward to say “Jesus Resurrection,” and “Shalom” seems to be the best. Shalom includes a lot of meaning. In it, there is peace that fear has disappeared, peace that has resolved conflict, and peace that has restored hope that has fallen. In Pauline epistle, apostle Paul prays without missing God's grace and peace. Under the background of Shalom of the Resurrection, you can see why Paul emphasized peace so much in his letter.

Jesus, who appeared to the disciples, says, "may peace be with you." But the disciples' answers are not revealed. And in the verse that follows, Jesus shows his hands and sides to his disciples. Jesus may have expected his disciples to rush to say, "Lord, are you resurrected?" However, such reactions are not recorded in the scripture. I don't know how much time has passed between the greetings of peace and the injured hand and flank revealing, but reading the lines seems to have had a good time.

Jesus shows both hands and sides. It is intended to relieve their fear. Thomas was not alone in doubt. Thomas expressed his doubts in words, but when Jesus came, the disciples seemed to be firmly building a wall of mind that was difficult to break. So that may be why Jesus introduced himself first. When a disciple who has met for a long time greets you by saying his name first, their seem very considerate. More than one name for each gender in my head pop up whenever I think of the word ‘grace’, and I would feel grateful if they come up to me saying hello first. Jesus is approaching his disciples now. He didn't wait until the disciples asked, "Are you Jesus?" You don't know me?" He come over first and gently disarm his disciples. The one standing before the disciples is the very one who was crucified.

And again Jesus says, "May you have peace." At that time, the disciples must have felt peace, relief, and unspeakable joy. It is because the Lord resurrected as promised and came to the disciples who were trapped in their own fences.

Jesus “breathes” a new life into them who enjoy peace. It's unimaginable facing COVID-19. It is taboo these days to breathe out in someone else’s presence. Absolutely not. It was not a splash of the virus of death that Jesus breathed in. It is the breath of resurrection, the breath of victory over death, and the breath of new life that death cannot contain. Just as the spring breeze awakens the trees in the hibernation, the awakened disciples who were trapped in the solid framework of the hidden death of the resurrected Jesus Christ have been broken.

In Genesis 2, God gave life to complete creation. I don't know where the world's wind blows, but the wind of life comes from God. In Ezekiel 37, life enters the dry bones of the valley and becomes an army of life. The Jews were exiled and captured in captivity. The country meant a grave to them. They will restore new energy through God's vitality and return from the grave. It is a message of hope to those in despair. It is the desire to invite the new creation that Jesus breathed out. It is the desire to ask the disciples who were trapped in the wall of death and crawled in themselves to come out of the wall of fear. He invites us not to be trapped in death, but to live through life.

The disciples deliver the resurrection of Jesus Christ to Thomas who was not there. Thomas draws a firm line that he cannot believe. This is a natural reaction to witnesses from those who have not experienced resurrection. When the disciples gathered again, Thomas was with him, and Jesus came. There is a nickname attached to Thomas. He is a “suspicious” one. Thomas said he would not believe without seeing the nail marks in the hands of Jesus Christ with his own eyes, putting them in the nail marks with his fingers, and putting his hands in his side. But Thomas, who faces Jesus Christ in front of him, does not appear to have touched the body of the risen Jesus. There are no reports of where he put his hand. Rather, he was completely overwhelmed by the manifestation of Jesus Christ and his words, and confessed his faith without any further doubts or requests for evidence.

Standing before Jesus Christ, Thomas confesses, "You are my Lord and my God." This is the first confession Jesus heard from his disciples who saw the Resurrection. "You are my Lord and my God." The man who vehemently denied the Resurrection made the greatest confession of faith to the resurrected Lord. In the passages just before the text I read today, Maria meets the resurrected Jesus, but the word "Rabbi" she confessed means "teacher". But Thomas confesses the resurrected Jesus Christ as God, not as a teacher.

Domitian, the first-century Roman emperor, called himself "our Lord and God (dominus et deus noster)" and ordered others to serve him.

So Doma's confession has much more meaning. It is not because he is the emperor of Rome, but because he confesses that Jesus Christ is the Lord and God. This is the confession of Thomas who experienced the Resurrection. After the second week of Easter, I sincerely hope that this confession can be our own, "You are my Lord and my God."

How should we understand the Resurrection? There is no way to explain the Resurrection in a language with human experience and knowledge. It is very difficult for us, who have not yet experienced the resurrection of Jesus. But I want to reflect on that meaning.

The Resurrection puts a brake on our intellectual inertia that wants to get through everything. Intellectual curiosity tries to grasp the Resurrection within our understanding. However, knowledge based on laws of physics does not make sense of the Resurrection. facing an incomprehensible event, there are few ways we can take. The typical thing is to reject the incident without believing it. "There was no revival. The Resurrection is an illusion." And that's how we organize it. Because there is no way our reason can digest it.

The other is to recognize the limitations of human reason there. Human beings have pursued unlimited progress in knowledge. Restricting the pursuit of knowledge is a taboo and has been accepted as a deterrent to progress in human society. But in the face of the Resurrection, our knowledge falters. We have no choice but to hesitate. Because it's an event that's impossible for human reason. What was confessed at that very point was the faith of Thomas: "You are my Lord, my God." He wanted to check with his hands and his eyes. But in the face of resurrected Jesus Christ, Thomas did not recognize resurrection with his intellectual desire and sensory satisfaction. What he could do in front of him was an unexpected confession of "my God" that popped out of his mouth, which became a confession of Christians.

Feuerbach is one of the scholars who harshly criticized Christianity a long time ago. He called theology as anthropology, and regarded God as the projection of human being, saying that people don't become what they think, but become what they eat. He excessively tilted toward materialism and was blinded by the power of reason. The title of his doctoral thesis is interesting: "The universality, unity, and infinity of reason." which means reason is universal, uniform, and infinite. He summed up the great powers of reason in a coherent way.

But the interesting thing is that it is not strange to place God in the seat of reason. When God is put in that place, it is "God's universality, unity, and infinity." It's the nature of God that we usually talk about and confess. God is universal, uniform, and infinite. Feuerbach shows the times of enlightenment in which reason took the place of God. And we live in this land as a descendant. It's an age where reason still has divine authority, and we live on the benefits of reason-based science and economics. Without the development of science, we would have been in chaos because we couldn't find a way to deal with COVID-19.

But as long as reason has absolute authority in our lives, the confession of Thomas is far from us. Rational calculations and scientific thinking based on reason are useful and necessary in our lives. But when we are prisoners of reason, our lives cannot be saved. It's a big problem when reason is paralyzed, but it's also a problem when we become a prisoner of reason. Reason is a very good gift from God. Reason is not our purpose or standard, but a gift from God for a vital life.

Unfortunately, our reason is often trapped in the realm of survival. Just as the disciples were all locked up, our thoughts and reason that did not experience the resurrection are likely to be engulfed in our lives and survival. Fear, anxiety, and restlessness before death. The disciples did experience that. We too are afraid of coronavirus infection, I'm afraid of being alienated from the community, I'm afraid of the economic difficulties, I'm afraid of paying a lot of taxes, I'm afraid of politicians I don't like, and I'm afraid of people I hate would become prosperous. That fear traps us and makes us live a life based on death rather than life.

But the Resurrection of Jesus Christ invites us to escape from any fear and despair that locks us in ourselves. It is hard to explain the incident in which the disciples, who had locked the door and hid, ran out and risked their lives to prove Christ. It is impossible to explain unless it was not until disciples experienced the Resurrection that they became real disciples who pretended to be disciples. It is also impossible if it is not the Resurrection that Thomas who firmly decided to put its hand in the wound totally changed this attitude and risked his life in front of Jesus Christ, saying "You are my Lord, my God."

The disciples have walked a path unimaginable unless it was for the Resurrection, and we are also on that path. God gave us life on this earth by invigorating us. After resurrecting, Jesus guides, accompanies, and prepares our lives and the path of life over them with the breath of life. "Jesus, you are the only one who is my Lord, my God." My Lord is neither the leader of the world, nor the visible shield to protect my safety, nor the ability of reason to imitate infinity. Only the resurrected Jesus Christ is my Lord, my God.

Going through the Easter season with COVID-19, I sincerely wish all of us can confess "resurrected Jesus Christ, only you are my Lord, my God." Let's pray in light of what has been declared today.