Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Thanks be to you, O God, for the
new life that we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It has been said the reason George Washington never told a lie was because he
never played golf or paid income taxes. The disciple Thomas did not lie either.
When he first heard that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples, he said he
didn’t believe it. There are a number of things one might say about Thomas.
Certainly one of those is that he was straight-forward and honest. He has been
described as “the Disciple from Missouri,” the “show me” state. Thomas wasn’t
going to believe until he saw Jesus for himself, and he said so: “Unless I can
put my finger in his wounds I will not believe.”
Our passage today takes place on Easter evening. The disciples are in lock-down,
in fear. It is a rather strange way to celebrate the great gift of new life they
have just experienced that morning, don’t you think? Jesus’ death and
resurrection took place at the end of the Passover celebration, the celebration
of freedom, but the disciples are captives of their own fears. The resurrection
by itself has done nothing for them. So Jesus comes to them, breathes on them
and gives them the Holy Spirit, the guiding, sustaining presence of God. It is
not about the resurrection, but what the resurrection gives, which is a
relationship. Jesus is present to them and gives them the presence of the
Spirit.
We have a citrus tree garden at home. It is not very big, just three trees
surrounded by an expanse of gravel. Growing out of the rocks in a place where it
receives no water and frequently gets stepped on when we are picking fruit, is a
yellow daffodil, bright, beautiful, full of life. It is hearty, determined, and
an inspiration. I frequently tell some of the other plantings I have to
baby-along, “Why can’t you be like the daffodil? It is a vision of life.”
Thus, begins God’s Spring Construction Project. On these Sundays following
Easter, let us explore what God does with the new life, the resurrection life,
to fill our lives with joy and hope, and build the church for effective ministry
in the world.
On this first Sunday after Easter, we celebrate this new life by baptizing
babies. We baptize because baptism is a dying to sin and being raised to new
life. We baptize babies because they are new life given to our families and the
church, and the love of God washes over them, and God is present with them
throughout their lives. I invite you to see in these new lives a representation
of the new life Easter gives all of us.
In our passage today, when the risen Christ appears, just like the angels, he
says, “Peace be with you.” In fact he says it three times. In whatever form or
person God comes to us, God’s purpose is not to scare or intimidate, but to
nurture and strengthen. God is always giving us new life. What follows then is
John’s version of the Pentecost event, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In the Creation account of Genesis 2:7 we hear, “God breathed into the human the
breath of life and the human became a living soul.” Here, the breath of the
Spirit with each breath of our bodies reminds us that God does not run out of
Easters.
The living Christ keeps walking through locked doors, bolted hearts, nailed-shut
minds, and even congested lungs inviting us to let everything else, especially
those things that scare us and make us angry or up-tight, recede into the
background. Notice Thomas had demanded to put his fingers in Jesus’ wounds.
However, when Jesus appears to Thomas, to not leave him behind, and invites him
to do exactly what he had requested, Thomas forgets his demand and proclaims his
faith, “My Lord and my God.” What Thomas needed was a relationship with Christ,
and he got it. A relationship is what we need too, and what Easter gives us.
Easter and its resurrection keep on, never end, as the lively energy of
transformation, as close as our next breath, and as dynamic as the wind whipping
across prairie, or sand dune, or through mountain tree tops changing bodies,
minds, spirits, and relationships.
A friend gave me a story about a little girl named Tess who took a mason jar
full of change, one dollar and eleven cents to be exact, to the drug store. The
pharmacist was talking to a well-dressed man who was also behind the counter.
Tess finally got the pharmacist’s attention. “And what do you want?” he asked.
Holding her breath for a moment, then letting it and her words flow, she said,
“I want to buy a miracle for my little brother, Andrew. He is really sick.
Something is growing in his head and my daddy says it will take a miracle to
heal him, so I want to buy a miracle.” The pharmacist replied, “We don’t sell
miracles here. I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” The well-dressed man said to
her, “Bring your money and take me to where you live. I want to see your brother
and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the miracle you need.”
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, brother of the pharmacist and a
surgeon specializing in neurosurgery. He was able to perform the operation and
did it free of charge. It wasn’t long until Andrew was home and doing well. The
mom and dad were happily talking about the whole experience. “That surgery,” the
mom whispered, was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?” Tess
smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost…one dollar and eleven
cents…plus the faith of a small child. In our lives we never know how many
miracles we will need. A miracle is not necessarily the suspension of natural
law, but the operation of a higher law. Transformed by the resurrection, we have
a new awareness of God’s movement in multiple dimensions of life.
Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to the disciples. It is as though he
needed breathing room to try to figure out what was going on. Evidently he
needed room to doubt. Yet he returns to the community. Here the disciples are
very instructive for us today in the church. Thomas is welcomed back even though
he seems to be the only one who does not “get it” about Jesus. Thomas’ doubts
don’t seem to frighten him or the others, and neither do the others silence him.
Such compassionate understanding demonstrates that the spirit of Christ is
present in the community. Then the risen Christ returns just to be with Thomas.
Thomas’ need occasions Jesus’ appearance. No disciple is left behind in the new
life. All are God’s children. All are included. In accepting Thomas and his
doubts he is enabled to experience resurrection faith. He is given new space to
grow. Tradition says Thomas became a hard-working, joyous, far-traveling
advocate of the faith, traveling as far as India to share his experience of
spirit-centered resurrection.
In Thomas’ life we can point to what I Peter (1:3-9) tells us, “God has given
us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…even
though we have not seen him, we love him, and even though we do not see him now,
we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.”
Our dynamic ever-breathing God inspires (literally, “breathes into us”) a
dynamic ever-giving faith. God moves with each of us, in our own ways, in our
own times; whispering to our own gifts, that there is a new day.
A friend of mine said not too long ago, “I have learned to doubt my doubts.
For the longest time I made my doubts absolute. I knew my doubts were the truth
and no one could convince me otherwise. I didn’t believe in God, especially a
God who was personal in any way. I snickered at people who prayed and thought to
myself, “Boy are they ever deceived.” Then my sister called and said she had
cancer. I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I was literally bent over
in pain. I caught myself saying, “O my God, No! No! It can’t be!” I realized I
was praying. Just for a moment I thought to myself, I can’t be doing this, I
don’t believe in God. Then, I just let it all out, “God, I don’t know about you,
but I do know I want help for my sister. Please be close to her. Comfort her.
And God, help me too.” Sometimes our experience reshapes our theology, or lack
of it, very quickly.
In the late 1800’s an old man was traveling alone in France, by train. A
younger man was sitting in the same compartment with him, watching the old man
reach into his travel case and take out a Bible. The old man began to read and
the young man asked, “What are you reading?” The old man replied that he was
reading from the sixth chapter of Mark, the story of the loaves and fishes. The
young man scornfully asked, “Do you really believe that?” The old gentleman
answered, “Yes, I do.” The younger man responded, “That could never happen. You
see, I am a scientist. Everything that happens in this world can ultimately be
accounted for scientifically. Your story defies the laws of science and
therefore is sheer fantasy. As a man of science, I can have no faith in
miracles, but I cannot expect you to understand that.” At that point, the train
began to slow down. “Here is my station,” said the younger man, as he rose from
his seat. “It was nice talking to you, Mr. ...I’m sorry, I didn’t get your
name.” Whereupon the old man handed him his card, bearing the name, Louis
Pasteur.”
Rigidity in both faith and doubt leads to spiritual rigor mortis. In Easter
God comes to each of us to invite us to be a part of a spring construction
project of joy and hope. Each of us is invited; no disciple is left behind.*
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[*]
Notes: I am indebted to Ron Eberhardt and Jim Mowry for stories in this
sermon.
