Sermon for the second Sunday of Easter 2016
When 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." After he said this,
he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw
the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
But
Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came. So 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."
A 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." Then 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."
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.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Today is the
second Sunday of Easter! Unlike in our
secular world where Easter starts sometime after valentines day with Easter
candy and cute stuffed bunnies with colorful eggs to tempt the child in all of
us - and then goes to 50% off on Easter
Monday – if not before. Our Easter is a
season. A season of 50 days where we
celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. 50
days where we omit the confession in our corporate worship. 50 days of feast that follows our Lenten
fast. And best of all – for me – 50 days
to proclaim Alleluia! Christ is Risen!.
Today is also
known as doubting Thomas Sunday. Because
we always read this section from John’s gospel for Easter two. So it was also very tempting for me to look
back at prior year sermons and see if some solid recycling was in order! But I resisted. Although today may have some similarities to
other years!
I am not fond
of the label “Doubting Thomas”.
Especially because it is said with a negative connotation by many
people. Also how would I like to be
known as “Doubting Rik”? I would rather
be known as “Hopelessly optimistic Rik” – although a suspect others might call
my optimism something else!
A better name
for Thomas might be scientific method Thomas, or rational Thomas. Or maybe lets just stick with Thomas. The setting of this gospel starts with all of
the disciples – except Thomas – locked in a room in fear. They fear for their lives that those who
crucified Jesus might come after them.
They are locked in their grief even after Mary Magdalene told them that
Christ was risen. They are locked
inside. And into that locked room Jesus
comes to greet them. “Peace be with you”
Jesus enters
into the tombs of the disciples and offers peace. And then does a remarkable thing. He gives them the gift of the Holy
Spirit. He gives them the gift that will
ultimately drive them out of the locked room to proclaim a radical peace. A
radical Love. It will drive them to the
very place where Jesus got in trouble – as we read about in our first lesson
from the Acts of the Apostles – or as I like to call it the Gospel of Luke part
two! Jesus is lifting them out of their
tombs with the word Peace!
Jesus did not
rebuke them for not really believing Mary’s proclamation that he was
risen. Jesus did not ask them why they
where still locked in the room – he didn’t ask them why they didn’t
believe. He offered Peace and gave them
the radical gift of the Holy Spirit.
But poor
Thomas. He wasn’t there. He was off doing something else – and I
always wonder why he wasn’t in the locked room.
And Thomas also is not going to believe the first hand testimony of the
others. He wants proof. Thomas is so like us! He wants solid proof that this crazy,
irrational thing called resurrection happened.
That the incarnate Lord who he saw killed on the cross was walking about
again. And why not?
How many of
you have said – or at least thought – I won’t believe that unless I see it with
my own eyes? In this day of Photoshop
and computers how many of us look at a picture with disbelief – and rightly
so! We want proof that it is not yet
another spoof or scam.
And how many
of us have sat in our churches – or in the privacy of our own minds and thought
– I really don’t know if I believe all of the stuff in the creed. I don’t know if I believe that Jesus – that
God – will forgive my sins. How many of
us have said we want proof too. That we
want to stick our hands into the holes left by the nails.
The radical
gift of the incarnation and the radical gift of resurrection is too much to
believe some days. It is easier to
believe in the Easter Bunny! The radical
gift of forgiveness of sins and unconditional love is too much. It is easier to believe an internet spoof
that if you like a post you might win a new car – or a million dollars!
Like Thomas
we want some proof.
And so in our
gospel story Jesus does show up again – making sure that Thomas was in the room
this time. He offers for Thomas to put
his fingers in the wounds. To make sure
that he could believe. And Thomas
responds with the strongest affirmation of faith. “My Lord and my God!” This time Jesus also addresses all of our
belief in the midst of our unbelief. “Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe!”
The truth be
told we can see the risen Christ all around us – if we but look. All you have
to do is look into the eyes of the person trapped in addiction or grief to see
the wounds of Jesus. The wounds are
still all around us. And if we look into
the eyes of the hungry and the wounded – not with pity but with love you might
just be surprised to find Jesus looking back at you.
The gift of
the Holy Spirit is given to each one of us.
And that gift is a radical gift when we let it loose in our lives. For it allows us not only to see the wounds
of Christ but to see the love of Christ as well. And to exercise that Love to bind up the wounds
of the wounded. The Holy Spirit coursing
through each of us will lead us to do crazy things – like let people sleep in
our sanctuary. Like listening to those
who have no voice.
And it is ok
to say we have doubts. Doubts that we
are doing the right thing. Doubts that
we are believing the right thing. As
another preacher put it so well “Thomas comes to faith because he first has the
chance to voice his doubt and questions and then experiences Jesus for himself.”[1]
Church is not meant to be a place for the perfect. It is not meant to be a place where only
those with perfect faith gather.
Church is for
the doubters. Church is for asking questions. Why? Why did Jesus die? Does God really forgive my sins? And if you want trite easy answers don’t ask
me! For me faith and belief is a
journey. A journey shared in
relationship with others dancing around this thing we call faith.
Church is
also a place where I can affirm “My Lord and My God”… not because I have
perfect faith but because I see God all around me and even in my doubts I find
God sitting with me. Waiting to lift me
out of the locked room and to drive me on in community to be the hearts, hands
and feet of the resurrected Jesus. To
bind up the wounds. To feed the
hungry. And to provide healing for this
hurting and hurt-filled world.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
No comments:
Post a Comment