I wonder if you have ever heard of Kintsugi pottery. I came across it a number of years ago. It originated in Japan and its name means ‘golden joinery’. If you had a beautiful piece of pottery, maybe a bowl or plate or teapot, and it got broken you’d be upset. Something you love had been damaged. You might think you’d have to throw it away. Kintsugi is the art of repairing the damage. The joins are carefully glued back together again with some resin. Crucially, the resin is mixed with gold. That means that, rather than hiding the join, the break is actually highlighted.

And, because it’s mixed with gold, the repaired piece of pottery is actually more valuable that it was before the breakage. It’s a beautiful parable for life. We are all damaged in one way or another – through suffering and sin and painful experiences. We might be tempted to cover up our brokenness, hide our weaknesses, pretend we’re fine. But the work of grace is to shine through our weaknesses. And, in fact, those weaknesses make us more precious, more effective disciples, better witnesses to the resurrection.

Today we hear a very significant passage in the Gospel of John. And it features St Thomas, known throughout history as ‘The Doubter’. Jesus appears to the disciples on Easter Day but Thomas isn’t there. When they tell him about the Risen Lord, he doesn’t believe them. His weakness is that he’s a cynic, a sceptic, he needs to see for himself, he needs evidence.

Just for a moment, let’s go back to chapter one of John’s Gospel. John is introducing us to Jesus and, within a few verses, he gives us lots of titles of Jesus. He is Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, teacher, rabbi, master, Messiah, Christ, King of Israel. It’s as if John is saying, here’s where I’m starting, here’s what you already know about Jesus. I’m going to show you Who Jesus really is. Now go to the other end of the Gospel, to today’s passage, which is really the culmination of the whole Gospel. Thomas meets the Risen Lord. He kneels before Him and says, ‘My Lord and My God.’ That’s the only place in the Bible where someone explicitly calls Jesus ‘God’. And here’s the crucial point – it’s on the lips of a doubter. Doubting Thomas becomes the greatest believer. His weakness becomes his greatest strength. His brokenness allows God’s grace to shine. This is the mystery of Easter. God is able to take our weaknesses and use them to reveal the resurrection in us.

I remember once confiding in a priest when I was going through a very difficult time. What I was going through was a real cross. It was painful and all-consuming and really affected my faith. The priest gave me some wise words. He said, ‘These things, we’d never call them a gift. But there will be a giftedness to it. God will bless you and teach you and use you in a unique way through this weakness, this cross.’

I think maybe that’s one reason why, when the Risen Jesus appears, He still bears His wounds. The resurrection doesn’t turn us into perfect versions of ourselves, without any wounds or scars or blemishes. Maybe we wish we weren’t quite so impulsive or weak or angry or bitter or doubtful or fearful or unintelligent or shy or anxious or busy – or whatever! The truth is, God doesn’t remove those wounds from us. He uses them to reveal His glory.

We don’t have to go too far to find examples of this. I’ll give you two, straight from the Bible. Jesus chooses some disciples and makes one of them His chief disciple, the one who would become the first Pope. Now, you’d think God would want a level-headed, well-educated, calm, organised person. But He chooses someone who is the opposite! Jesus uses Peter’s impulsiveness to make him a fearless preacher. He uses his mistakes to make him depend on Jesus. He uses Peter’s denial to give us the greatest lesson of forgiveness and redemption.

And for the other example, just think of St Paul. For His greatest missionary, God chose the best student of the best rabbi in Jerusalem. The last person who would believe in Jesus. But God turned his passion for persecuting Christians into passion for the Gospel. He used Paul’s struggle to live the Christian life to teach us about the Holy Spirit. Paul prayed again and again for God to remove the thorn in his side. But God told him, ‘My power is made perfect in weakness.’

We could pray all day long for God to remove our weaknesses, our faults and failures, our character flaws and mistakes. But that’s not how God’s grace works. If Jesus can use doubting Thomas to proclaim the faith, then He can use us – in all our brokenness – to reveal the glory of the resurrection.