Then, there is Thomas.
Morning Prayer with Rev. Deb Lockhart
Psalm 147: 1-21
Acts 4: 32:35
Canticle 18
John 20: 19-31
Canticle 21
Sermon by David Whitlow
What a tumultuous time it was for the disciples during that last week of Jesus’ life. It started with Jesus and the disciples approaching Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. A defiant entrance into the city on the back of a young donkey in contrast to the military display occurring on the other side of the city as Deb so aptly described for us two weeks ago. The last supper and final words of instruction and assurance to the disciples. A troublesome time of prayer at Gethsemane. The betrayal of Jesus by one of the disciples’ own. A quick trial and conviction. The crucifixion and death of Jesus. The rending of the Temple curtain. A quick burial in a new tomb. The apparent disappearance of Jesus’ body. A brief appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene. Whew!
And for the church, it has been a mad dash to get us from the solemn, meditative time of Lent through Holy Week to the resurrection. Now, we begin where we ended on Easter Sunday.
Without a pause, we fall headlong into the most fundamental question of Christianity, that is, “What do we believe?”.
Today’s Gospel provides us with a story of fear, disbelief, resurrection and belief.
John tells us that the disciples have gathered together behind locked doors, in fear for their lives. Then out of nowhere, Jesus appears and tells the disciples not to be afraid. He delivers a sending message to them, breathing the breath of the Holy Spirit upon them and empowering them to forgive the sins of the people just as he did. The disciples rejoiced at Jesus’ appearance.
Now, it turns out that Thomas was not present during this gathering. The other disciples tell Thomas of the occurrence, but he says that he won’t believe until he sees Jesus with his own eyes.
I pause here to consider what was going on. I understand that the disciples were afraid after all that they had seen happen to Jesus. It seems that they had all scattered as the events played out during the trial and crucifixion, afraid to speak up for Jesus, even going so far as to deny any knowledge of him. But Jesus has been telling the disciples what would happen, even how it would happen, for quite some time. Clearly, they, like us, either weren’t listening or understanding or perhaps even believing. The events of this week were not at all what they expected.
Jesus appears and they are scared. Did they fear some sort of retribution from Jesus for their actions or inaction? Jesus calms them and breathes the breath of the Holy Spirit upon them, sending them forward to forgive the sins of the world. Anytime that there is a movement of air, God’s breath, we can expect that something transformative is about to happen—from the wind upon the face of the Earth in Genesis, to God’s breath into the name of Abram, and in a few weeks, the Holy Spirit blowing upon the listeners on the day of Pentecost.
Then, there is Thomas. Poor Thomas! He is not present for this appearance of Jesus. He says that he won’t believe until he sees Jesus for himself. From that time forward, we think of him as “Doubting” Thomas, an unfortunate pejorative term that I believe might easily have applied to all of the disciples given their conduct.
John continues in his writing with the passage of a week in time. Once again, the disciples are in the house, this time including Thomas. Even though in the prior week the disciples rejoiced at Jesus’ appearance, they have yet to do anything. Jesus makes another appearance and addresses Thomas directly and Thomas makes an astounding proclamation, “My Lord and my God!”, the first of the disciples to indicate that he really had gotten Jesus' message. Jesus makes one more pronouncement during his appearance: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
As I have wrestled with this message for today, I can’t help but try to put it into the context of where we are as a society and how we struggle with belief. We seek absolutes, quick fixes. We often just want a binary system, with easy determination of what is believable or not believable, what is right and what is wrong. It is just as hard for us to discern what is real and what is not as it was for the disciples. Even though the disciples had been following and listening to Jesus for three years, they still had difficulty in understanding his message. There were many competing claims of legitimacy in that time. If you examine the history of that 1st Century CE in the Middle East, you find it full of practicing magicians, tricksters, healers, and those claiming to be the Messiah. Flavius Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, cites 12 Messiah claimants during that time in Israel alone. Pagan religions seemed to flourish around the world, with different gods and miracles. It is little wonder that Jesus’ disciples found themselves a little dismayed, anxious and afraid, now bereft of their teacher and leader. Imagine the confusion that the disciples would have experienced in our time of photoshop, AI, politicos who shout “Fake news!” and those who tell us not to believe our lying eyes. We still seek answers.
When our son was about 7 years old, he asked for a magic set for Christmas. And on Christmas morning, he opened the set with great excitement. Dumping the contents onto the floor, he found a plastic top hat, a plastic magician’s wand, a cape, several assorted props, and a book. He looked back in the box, stirred around the various contents, and then looked up with a sense of frustration upon his face. We asked him what was wrong, and he answered with something like “This isn’t magic. This is just a box of tricks.” I wonder if this might have been where the disciples found themselves.
I find myself siding more and more with Thomas, and see him not as a doubter, but a seeker of God’s message. It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if we could encounter a face-to-face visit from Jesus when we confront a sticky issue And wouldn’t it be nice if the Bible were written like a mathematics textbook where we could find a formula that would get us to a clear result? This would be too easy.
Early theologians, Clement, Justin, and Irenaeus, confront the New Testament as a riddle that we must work through, concluding that through this effort we gain a more perfect sense of God’s message. I like that idea. All around us, I see great thinkers who confront the issues and work through the process of developing methods of solving problems, many times against what seems like overwhelming odds. And from these efforts, we receive spectacular progress—conquering diseases, replacing broken organs of the body, sending mankind to the moon and back, lighting up the night, and raising more than enough food to feed all of humanity. It is the belief of these thinkers, that they could puzzle through and find the true meaning of what they observe, that got us to where we are today. Likewise, in our churches and seminaries, we attempt to drill down into the Scriptures, seeking guidance and message. I think that Thomas followed that idea as well, puzzling through Jesus’ teachings, and as a result, recognizing the Messiahship of Jesus and becoming one of Jesus’ great apostles, traveling to the east, as tradition tells us, as far as India, spreading the Gospel of Christ. Thomas, the Doubter, clearly became the Believer through his seeking. I suspect that we would all become greater believers if we would take the time to puzzle through the messages contained in the Bible.
Jesus recognized the problem that all of his followers would confront in trying to spread his message, but held out the hope to all when he said “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
John closes this chapter with words that I find comforting, saying that these stories 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.”
Today, in our churches of Trinity and St. Mary's, we are confronting a time of our own anxiety, seeking and discernment, trying to find a way forward as our beloved priest retires and we are thrust into a somewhat unknown future. This is a time when we are called upon to strengthen our belief and have life in Jesus’ name. There will be no tricks and no magic in a box that we can just empty out on the floor. It takes our prayer, commitment, discernment and belief in God and one another to make this transition. This is a time of resurrection in our hearts as we seek new life together.
Please pray with me:
Almighty God, creator of all things, knower of all hearts, be with us today and always as we puzzle through our role in your world. Help us to find the answers that we desperately seek. Keep us in your grace and give us the strength and courage to be hearers, understanders and doers of your Word.
