It was still the first day of the
week. That evening, while disciples were
behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus
came and stood among them. He said,
“Peace be with you.” After he said this,
he showed them his hands and side. When
the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with
you. As the Father sent me, so I am
sending you.” Then he breathed on them
and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If
you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they
aren’t forgiven.”
Thomas, the one called Didymus [or the
twin], one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the
Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the
nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put
my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”
After eight days his disciples were
again in a house and Thomas was with them.
Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among
them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger
here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”
Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and
my God!”
Jesus replied, “Do you believe because
you see me? Happy are those who don’t
see and yet believe.”
Then Jesus did many other miraculous
signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this
scroll. But these things are written so
that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s son, and that believing,
you will have life in his name.
Has anyone wished you a happy
Easter today? If not, then let me be the
first. Happy Easter! Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed!) May
the reality of new life in Christ be yours today, may you be filled with joy,
because it is still Easter. We know that
technically, Easter is a season, a 7-week-long season of celebration and joy
that stretches from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. But even more than that, Easter is an
everyday reality for the followers of Jesus - every day is an opportunity to
behold that all things are being made new in Christ, every day is an
opportunity for the newness of life in Christ to spring up in the cold and dead
places of our own lives - for those in Christ, every day is Easter.
And so yes, today is still
Easter. Christ is risen! (Christ
is risen indeed!) God is still transforming hollowed out tombs
into places bursting with new life, and today, no less than last week, we
continue to have life-giving encounters with the living Christ. May we
pray.
A Story for the Faithful Few
The Scripture reading we read a
few minutes ago is John’s account of what happened on the evening of the very
first Easter Sunday. If this story is
familiar to you, you are likely one of the few but faithful who regularly
attend worship on this Second Sunday of Easter.
On this Sunday each year, the lectionary brings us one account or
another of this particular story - of fearful disciples who have barricaded
themselves in an upper room, how the resurrected Jesus stood among them, and of
Thomas, more commonly known as “Doubting Thomas,” who wasn’t there, and refused
to believe until he saw it for himself.
Doubting Thomas - he is portrayed
as a kind of stick-in-the-mud, the disciple who comes to the party just a
little bit late and is a total buzz-kill when he finally gets there. If the disciples were Winnie the Pooh characters, Thomas would play the part of Eeyore.
Futher, we have tended to teach
that, of all the disciples, there are two not to be like - don’t be like Judas,
who sold Jesus out for a few silver coins, and don’t be like Thomas - because
he had doubt instead of faith.
Do you mind if I stick up for
Thomas for minute? Thomases are very
practical, down-to-earth, rational people.
Thomases are nuts and bolts people who like concrete ideas and concepts. Thomases tend to be a bit skeptical, a bit
cynical, and a bit difficult to convince.
I should know - I am a Thomas myself.
Like Thomas, doubt itself gets a
bad wrap, too. I don’t think doubt,
questions, or uncertainty bother Jesus at all.
They may bother us, especially if we prefer absolutes, but friends, you
can doubt and question Jesus all you want - trust me, the risen Jesus can take
it.
Besides, doubt is often an
important part of the journey toward faith.
The great reformer, Martin Luther, talks about working through his own
doubts, and how those doubts became part of the process of faith and of being a
Christian. John Wesley, the founder of
Methodism, frequently spoke of “degrees of faith,” much like the thermostat in
your home is not simply “on” or “off,” but has the ability to heat up or cool
down incrementally, so too is our faith not simply a matter of “Yes, you have
it,” or “No, you don’t.” In my own life,
periods of doubt and questioning have led to some of my most profound
experiences of faith.
The resurrected Jesus appeared to
the rest of the disciples at a time when Thomas wasn’t there - we don’t know
why he wasn’t there or where he was.
Maybe he went out to get groceries or maybe he was keeping watch or
maybe he just wasn’t as afraid as everyone else, but for whatever reason he
wasn’t there. Instead of calling him
Doubting Thomas, maybe we should think of him as Absent Thomas.
In fact, I find it sort of funny
that the lectionary brings us the story of Absent Thomas on a Sunday when the
vast majority of our congregation is also absent! I am so glad you are here this morning, and I
hope and pray, as I do every Sunday, that you experience the living presence of
Jesus in worship today. But, I can’t
help but wonder how we who have gathered
today might live in such a way that the transforming presence of the living
Jesus is shared with those who are not here, whether they are part of the
crowds who were here last Sunday and are absent today, whether they are those
who live within sight of our steeple but aren’t part of any faith community,
whether they are those who - out of pain, or fear, or loneliness, or
hopelessness - are living behind locked doors, or even those who are physically
here today, but haven’t shown up spiritually in years.
In the life of Thomas, his doubt
speaks out of the genuine reality that the risen and living Jesus hasn’t yet
made an appearance in his life.
Thomas: Not Unlike His Peers (And Us!!)
Another reason not to single him
out is that the rest of the disciples aren’t much of a prize at this point in
the story, either. How easy it is for us
to forget that the first followers of Jesus didn’t have any more a clue what
they were doing than we do!
On the evening of the first Easter
Sunday, perhaps only 12 hours or so after Jesus first appeared to the women
outside the empty tomb, you would have expected to find his followers out in
the streets, shouting the Easter proclamation that Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! It was Easter, it was victory day, it was
time to shout and celebrate and share the good news that Jesus was alive - he
is alive, indeed!
But that’s not where they
were. On what should have been their
most defining and celebratory day, they were locked away, hiding, paralyzed by
fear, hunkered down and expecting the worst.
Nothing Going For Them
If ever there was a church with a
PR problem and a bad reputation to overcome, it was this church we have read
about today - these first followers of Jesus in the hours just after he was
raised to new life. If ever there was a
church in need of transformation or a congregational vitality study, this was
it. They were a church that any district
superintendent would have described as a “unique and challenging opportunity.”
Sometimes I have wondered how such
a church might promote itself to the community - “the church where all are
welcome?” Well, probably not - locked
gates are not a sign of hospitality.
“The church with a warm heart and bold mission?” Well, no - more like sweaty palms and shaky knees.
In short, the followers of Jesus
on the first Easter night didn’t have anything going for them - they didn’t
even have the luxury of arguing about the petty things churches today often
argue about - no building, no music, no programs, no leadership team, no
mission statement, no parking spaces, no fellowship hall, no money.
They were a church without any
joy, and they didn’t even have a sense of purpose or direction. They were, as
Tom Long says, “a picture of church at its very worst - scared, disheartened,
defensive” - they were the most miserable little conglomeration of people that
have ever gathered and called themselves a church. Their entire long-term strategic plan had
completely fallen apart, they had no plan B, no conviction about anything except
their own fear; they had absolutely nothing going for them except for one
thing:
When they gathered, the presence
of the risen Christ was made real in their midst.
They were a breath away from
giving up; but the risen and living Jesus breathed on them with the breath of
new life, gave them the life-changing gift of the Holy Spirit, and commissioned
them to breathe his new life into the world around them.
And that little rag-tag group of
disciples, who were the church at their worst, who were the most miserable
little gathering of people who ever called themselves a church - the presence
of the risen Christ was made real when they gathered. They found their joy, they found their
purpose, they found their meaning.
Instead of giving up, they forever changed the world.
And so, even when we have nothing
going for us, even when we’re at our worst, even we’re absent, God is still
present.
Friends - that’s church. What matters most? The presence of the risen Christ made real in
our midst. It’s what changes our fear
into hope, and our sorrow into joy.
Encountering the risen Christ - that’s what makes all the difference.
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