April 3, 2016-Second Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter
April 3, 2016

First Reading: Acts 5:12-29

12Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, 15so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. 16A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

Second Reading: Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19

9I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet11saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.

Gospel Reading: John 20:19-31

19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then 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.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But 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.

Sermon:

As many of you know, my daughter-in-law, Sonia, is now in Humjibre, Ghana. It’s a small village of about 3,000 people. She is the Health Education Coordinator for a non-profit that is helping mothers during their pregnancy and then stays with them until the child is two years old. It’s her way of saving the world, or so she thought. I spoke with her this week, because I can simply call her right up, amazing. She said she was having doubts about her work there. Even in a place so clearly in need, where she thought she would be able to put her idealism into practice, she is frustrated. First it is sweltering hot, all the time. It averages 95 degrees and she sweats through her clothes every single day. This time of year, avocados are in season which sounds wonderful until you eat them every single day for every meal. Mangos will soon be in season. Again, every day every meal. Even something as delicious as mangos could lose its thrill if you had to eat it all the time. She said that the flies are horrible; so persistent. Sonia sleeps under a mosquito net at night and often the power goes out so the one fan they have to move the air stops working. You get the idea. Reality has set in and she is longing for the basics of America. She said, “Maybe Matt and I will find a small house all by itself and I’ll learn how to make cheese and we can live happily ever after.” It's a pleasant fantasy for now but, she is concerned that eventually she would grow weary of that as well. Doubt has led her to fully reconsider what it is she wants to do with her life.

Today we have Thomas who had his doubts about the whole resurrection thing. Every Sunday after Easter we hear about Doubting Thomas. We shine the light on the dark side of being human, after we have just celebrated the light. In our daily conversations, we even use the expression, “Don’t be a Doubting Thomas” to caution anyone who would question or doubt. Poor Thomas. He gets such a bad rap when really he’s probably the most honest of all the disciples. It’s not like they didn’t have doubts! After all, they were still locked in the upper room when Jesus came back to see Thomas. But it’s always easier to scapegoat someone that to admit to our own fears, right?

Thomas was the same disciple earlier who had the courage to ask Jesus to explain himself when he said, “In my father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you and if I go there, I will come back to take you to be with me.” I read this often at the bedside of a dying patient to help reassure the family that there is a “place”, an afterlife to where we will go after we die. But Thomas didn’t get it. He said, “We don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” To which Jesus replies, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Not that that made it much more clear but at least Thomas had more clarification (instead of just assuming).

Here he is again, after all hope has been dashed, trying to understand. And the amazing thing is, his doubt, his questioning causes Jesus to come back again, just for him. Jesus had already seen the other disciples so he could have just figured that that was enough. But for Thomas, Jesus reappears. He comes through the locked doors because nothing can stop him now—no barriers, no locks. And Jesus allows Thomas to probe his wounds. This is perhaps the most fascinating part of Thomas’ request—that he be able to put his finger in Jesus wounds. Thomas wants to fully appreciate what Jesus endured. That’s the power of doubt. It moved Thomas to embrace his fears and to be fully in the horror of what had happened. Yes, dead and alive—the two are now one in Jesus.

Notice that Jesus shames Thomas. He admonishes him for having to see in order to believe. All of us initially, when we are young in our faith need to see something that makes us believe. For me, it was having my Matthew on Easter morning. That did it! But, the more we grow spiritually, the less external proof we need. In fact, physical proof can become a bit hokey. My mom does novenas (probably for me) and often she will get a yellow rose on the last day. Granted, we all know yellow roses are her favorite so is it a miracle or just one of us being nice?

As adults, most of us come to a quiet certitude—that it’s enough to believe because we have lived a life of challenge and our faith has sustained us. Prayer has now become less of a “gimme this” and more about gratitude and trust.

Thomas had fears and doubts, just like his friends. He was desperate to understand. Ultimately he needed what all of us need in times of distress or despair, a companion to comfort and help guide us when the way seems overwhelming or dangerous. Thomas needed the Jesus he loved to show him that he was fully and completely back with them as they began their new way of life. With Jesus at his side, Thomas became an evangelizer to India and worked tirelessly to spread the good news. That’s why I’d like to rename Thomas. Instead of Doubting Thomas, I think he should be called Deliberate Thomas. Because of his intention to understand, because he was deliberate, he asked and received answers that empowered him and everyone else.

Deliberate Thomas’s response to Jesus, once he understood, was “My Lord and my God!” He was the first to claim Jesus as both Lord and God. Thomas had come to a deep appreciation of the resurrection because of his questions. May we be blessed to be just as deliberate.

Have you had doubts that led you to a deeper understanding? How was God at work in the process?

Communion Meditation:

WHAT THOMAS WANTS (Andrew King, 2016)
(John 20: 19-31)

Thomas knows all about crucifixion.
Knows the nails driven into the victim
really tear the flesh,
damage the bones.

And he knows that this
is a crucifying world,
with all its violence,
greed and oppression

still hammering nails into the hands of justice,
still thrusting spears through the ribs of love,
still hanging mercy and kindness to die
and sealing up the tomb.

Thomas knows all about it. So he knows that any real resurrection
will have to come out of ruin,
will have to come out of suffering,

will have to come out still bearing the scars
inflicted by the unjust world.

Ask him not
if he believes in
merely a God
who is greater than suffering or death;
any God worth the name
would surely prove immortal,
who may be able to pretend our pain
but could never share it in truth.

No, what Thomas wants to see
is the Lord who rises from
death by crucifixion,

who rises
from the worst that our world can do:

who rises
from hells of corruption and cruelty,
who rises
from violence and terror and hate,
who rises
from rape and torture and war,
who rises
from hunger and disease and squalor,
who rises
torn and terribly scarred
yet walking among us still,

who will touch us in
our woundedness,
who will hold us in
our brokenness,
who sees in us
the prints left by the nails,

who will put his own hurt hand upon
our heartache, fear and despair
and breathe his healing peace
into our souls.

This is who Thomas wants to see – the only
Lord he wants to believe in.

Thomas just wants to see
Jesus.