Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on April 15, 2007
(Year C, Easter Sunday, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Donald G. Twentyman, Jr.Texts: Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29
Psalm 111
Revelation 1:1-19
John 20:19-31Almost thirty years ago I decided that maybe my son and daughter were watching altogether too much television. I didn’t mind the shows so much, but the commercials did bother me. So many of them showed toys doing amazing things which I knew they could never do in real life, but my son and daughter didn’t know that. They wanted the toys which they saw on TV, and thought that those toys would be able to do all of the fantastic things which they had seen in the ads. Well, it was time to teach them a little cautious skepticism, along with the rudiments of the scientific method as appropriately adapted for young children.
Thomas must have had a father who was somewhat like me. He wasn’t about to accept something outlandish - outrageous - just because his friends told it to him. Were they pulling his leg? Did they really think he was that gullible?
From what we have learned about Thomas earlier in John’s Gospel, we know that, in some ways, Thomas showed bravery, and belief, as Jesus said “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” (John 11:14-15) and Thomas then said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16)
We also know that Thomas was one to ask the uncomfortable questions. At the Last Supper, after Jesus had told his disciples “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” it was Thomas who interrupted Him and asked “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
Just as Peter is know for his enthusiasm, enthusiasm which sometimes led him to make promises which he proved unable to keep, enthusiasm which more than once led him to put his foot squarely in his mouth, Thomas is the disciple who was willing to ask questions which the others might have thought of, were they in his position, but possibly would have kept to themselves.
Now, let’s look at today’s Gospel lesson. First, we don’t know why Thomas wasn’t with the others when Jesus first appeared to them in the house in which they had locked themselves. Perhaps he was so grief stricken that he just wanted to be off alone, while the others gained their comfort from the company of one another. I can relate to that. Perhaps he was simply out running an errand. Whatever his reason, Thomas’ absence meant that had not yet had the experience which the others had shared. It is not that the other disciples were more believing than Thomas. It was that they had experienced an encounter with the living Christ, and Thomas had not.
So, how did Thomas react when the others told him of Our Lord’s appearance in the locked room? Well, in essence, Thomas proposed a simple experiment:
· The Hypothesis: Jesus has risen from the dead.
· The Experiment: If Thomas could see the mark of the nails in Jesus’ hands, and put his finger in the mark of the nails and his hand in the spear wound in Jesus’ side, then he would believe. Sure - he phrased it the opposite way, but that’s what it boiled down to.
Okay. So what happened next? Well, a week later Thomas and the other disciples were again in the house, and Jesus came and stood among them and greeted them. Then, without being asked, 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.” (John 20:26-29)
What had happened here? It appears that Thomas’ proposed experiment was never completed. It became superfluous. Our Lord’s presence was enough, and he never had to touch the wounds.
Even those who rigorously follow the scientific method do not require that they themselves prove everything rigorously. It is only practical that they are willing to accept that which those who went before them have repeatedly tested and verified, although occasionally they may refine or modify the findings of their predecessors.
Something similar had now happened to Thomas. He, too, had now experienced the living Christ, and that was enough. Not only did he now believe in the Resurrection, he became the first to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as his Lord and his God. What a leap of faith for a devout Jew, to recognize that this man, whom he had been following for the past few years, was not only the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the one whom scripture had foretold, but that this Jesus was, in fact, God made flesh, God Incarnate, God dwelling among them as a human being. This was so far beyond their experience and expectations that it is amazing that he would have such an insight at this point. (pause) He didn’t, of course. What he had was a gift of knowledge from God, much as Simon Peter had when he earlier confessed Jesus to be “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” and Jesus responded “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”
While searching the internet for Sunday School material, Mary found the following. I quote: “What is faith? Where does faith begin? In seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting? How do we believe that which we cannot prove? If we cannot find certainty in our senses where does faith reside? Ultimately faith is a gift - it comes from God. We cannot manufacture faith within ourselves or within our children. We are called to be ‘faith-full’ to that which we know. To be faith-full is not to be full of a special feeling or even to be full of certainty. To be faithful is to be obedient, to not act contrary to the things we know for sure as well as the things we might have some doubt about. To be unfaithful is to turn our backs on what we do know so that we are not in the place where we can receive God’s gift of faith. Thomas remained faithful [to] what he knew and to those with whom he had faith. He was then present when Jesus came to offer him certainty. To be unfaithful is to be too afraid to take one step in the darkness when we come to the edge of the light of our own understanding.” End quotation.
(from http://rotation.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/854107088/m/267104478?r=4911066141#4911066141 )What a wondrous thought. How apparent it is that, even in his doubts, Thomas was faithful. How appropriate it is that we pray for the gifts of faith and belief.
It is unfortunate that the label “doubting Thomas” has become so firmly attached to this faithful disciple. His doubt, such as it was, lasted but a short time, and tradition tells us that it never again wavered, even until his death as a martyr.
The book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts reminds us that Thomas “did not refuse belief: he wanted to believe, but did not dare, without further evidence. Because of his goodwill, Jesus gave him a sign. … The sign did not create faith; it merely released the faith which was in Thomas already.”
Lesser Feasts and Fasts also tells us that “Syrian Christians of Malabar, India, who call themselves the Mar Thoma Church, cherish a tradition that Thomas brought the Gospel to India.”
“Thomas’ honest questioning and doubt, and Jesus’ assuring response to him, have given many modern Christians courage to persist in faith, even when they are still doubting and questioning.” (Lesser Feasts and Fasts)
We, today, cannot see for ourselves the mark of the nails in Jesus’ hands, or put our fingers in the mark of the nails and our hands in Jesus’ side. We are left with the Gospels and the witness of the martyrs. Also, we too have the opportunity to experience the risen Christ.
Today's Gospel reading ends with the words “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29)
Let us pray:
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.