Sermon - Easter 2 - 4/11/10

2nd Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31

The Doubting Among Us


The week after Easter has fallen into a rather predictable pattern for me. This pattern has been more evident some years than others, but it is almost always apparent. We experience the great liturgies of Holy Week, we celebrate Easter Sunday with as much fanfare as we can muster, there are the usual shouts of acclamation and joy, and then there come the timid voices passively asking me what all of this really means.

“So when Jesus walked out of the tomb, was it really his body, or was it his spirit?”

“Are we to believe that just because one guy was able to come back to life that all of us have reason to think that we will, too?”

Timid; passive; these voices speak the realities of living 2,000 years after the events recorded for us in the 20th chapter of John’s Gospel. The reality is that we are asked to believe an unimaginable thing about someone whom all accounts describe as exceptional and yet somehow is supposed to parallel our lives. It takes courage to speak up. It takes honestly to speak out.

It is no accident that the lesson for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, the first Sunday after the Easter Celebration, are those stories which call direct attention to the difficultly we all have in believing.

The biblical authors knew that we would experience difficulty in accepting all this. John includes the story of Thomas in order to make clear that those timid, passive voices are never to be excluded from the community. In fact, greater attention is to be given to the voices of those among us who help all of us to acknowledge how tough it is take all this in and not merely accept it, but (as Pastor Shealy shared in last week’s sermon) not merely accept it but proclaim it.

John begins his story by telling us the time. He writes, When it was evening on that day (the day on which Jesus had appeared to Mary of Magdala)... Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." The timing is important because the events of Easter morning are still fresh and raw in the minds of those who had been his disciples. There hasn't been time for reflection; there has not been opportunity to compare notes. It is still very early and what concerns the disciples most is their own safety. Thus they are holed up, in the house, fearful that they may be the next crucifixion victim. Suddenly, Jesus is there among them, even though the door has been locked.

What strikes me about the story is the lack of immediate celebration. As with Mary when she encounters Jesus in the garden and the two disciples who are joined by Jesus on their road to Emmaus, there seems to be a block in recognition. Jesus greets them and yet there is no response; he greets them, but there is no rejoicing. This doesn’t seem to be an oversight on the part of the author; rather it seems an essential part of a story carefully retold. John writes, "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.

We are so quick to criticize Thomas for refusing to believe until he has had opportunity to see the wounds and place his hand in Jesus' side. We criticize him, but all he wanted was to see what the others had already seen. Of course they believed the story as they retold it to him - they had been there, they had seen. Thomas isn't asking for some sort of a special vision, he is just asking that Jesus do for him what Jesus had done for the others. Of course he doubted. He had been left out of the original visit.

It concerns me that some read this story and see in it a criticism of those who have doubts. For them, Thomas is seen as a negative example. He is the image of what one is not to be. They under¬stand Jesus' words "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe," as a critique of those who refuse to believe unless they can "see." But is this what Jesus intends by his comments? Is it not possible that Jesus' words are intended to be encouragement; encouragement for Thomas and for the remainder of this community we call the Church.

Don't forget that everyone in the original story gets to see. They even get to touch. But, as John realizes, this will not be a possibility for most of those whom Christ will call. They must find the ability to believe from some other source.

In speaking to Thomas, Jesus' words, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe," are an acknowledgment of how difficult it is to come to believe when one hasn't seen the imprint of the nails, the wound in the side. I don't think he is being critical of Thomas; he is giving encouragement to the rank and file of the church, to the millions upon millions who come to believe without ever seeing the imprint of the nails or the wound caused by the spear.

Too often we expect the community of the faithful to be a place of dogma and certainty. Too often we perceive it to be a place where questions are discouraged and obedience is demanded. We have been programmed to read the story of Thomas and hear these words as a condemnation of those who have doubts. I am fearful this is what some will hear, so I feel compelled to offer another view. A view that isn't new and different, but merely a reporting of what so many others have said and said better.

We don't stop being the church or members of the church when we find ourselves questioning or doubting. The one who has doubts does not stop gathering with the other believers. Rather he is there, with them, a week later when once more Jesus came and stood among them. We don't stop being the church or members of the church when we have doubts or questions, rather we stop being the church when we exclude the Thomas' from our midst. We stop being the church when we allow this incredible story of resurrection to become so commonplace that we expect others to find no difficulty in accepting it.

No question, no doubt can ever threaten the faith of the church; the threat comes from those who refuse to allow the questions to be asked. The threat arises when we are too fearful to acknowledge that to have faith each of us must continue to see, to perceive the presence of the risen Christ. Thomas isn't the weaker brother; Thomas is the paradigm of us all.

Amen.