Sermon for Easter 2, Year B
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church,
Arlington, VA
Text: John 20:19-31
Last
Friday in the Washington
Post,
I
saw an article[1]
about Good Friday –
about
faith and doubt.
At
the author’s Shabbat services,
the
prayer leader asked kids
what
part of the Exodus story they liked best.
The
children responded –
The
parting of the Red Sea!
Miriam’s
dance with the tambourine!
The
frogs!
However,
there was one little child who replied,
“Oh,
I don’t believe it.”
While
his mother tried to shush him,
the
author considered this a “teachable moment.”
Many
of the bible stories are unbelievable,
and
yet God keeps visiting in unexpected ways –
a
bush on fire that does not burn,
a
staff flung down that turns into a serpent,
a
Red Sea, parted,
A
carpenter, executed as a criminal,
comes
to life and greets his followers.
Death
was not the end of these stories –
and
God showed up, in unexpected ways.
In
today’s Gospel text, we read of one more person
who
does not believe the story.
On
the evening of the first day of the week
after
Jesus appeared to Mary, the disciples gathered.
·
There,
in the same upper room
as
the previous week’s supper,
they
huddled together.
·
There,
they locked the doors,
fearful
of the Jews (the religious authorities).
·
There,
they spoke softly, kept the lights low, and
in
the lengthening shadows of that evening,
their
eyes shifted as they exchanged glances.
·
There,
they considered Mary,
who
had just the day before, said to them,
“I
have seen the Lord!”
·
There,
unbelievably, Jesus came and stood among them.
He
showed up, unexpectedly.
“Peace
be with you!” he said and
he
showed them his hands
and
he showed them his wounds.
As
a wave of relief swept through the room,
their
shoulders loosened,
their
jaws relaxed,
their
breathing deepened,
and
their circle widened.
They
were overjoyed with Jesus in their midst;
but
joy was not his goal.
They
leaned in and to listen to him.
Unexpectedly,
he
breathed on them the Holy Spirit and
told
them the rest of the story –
that
they, as disciples, had the authority and
responsibility
to forgive and retain sins.
And
in their glee,
they
agreed to meet back in this same place.
A
week later, Thomas joined them.
He
had not been there earlier.
The
other disciples
had
forgotten their disbelief of Mary and
had
told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord!”
Thomas
replied like the child at Shabbat Services
that
he didn’t believe it.
“Unless
I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
Even
though he must have known the stories about
the
burning bush,
the
serpent-turning staff,
the
parting Red Sea,
he
still wanted proof.
The
story had to fit into a narrowly defined,
concrete
way of looking at things.
He
was unwilling to accept secondhand testimony.
He
seemed to know that
there
would be others, like him,
who
had not seen Jesus and
would
not believe that
God
really did have victory over death.
For
him, the story was over.
Does
this sound familiar?
Many
people today have a narrowly defined,
concrete
way of looking at things.
They
need proof that God is going to show up…
and
a resurrected Jesus is just unbelievable.
“Those
people” may even be us.
Sometimes
we lock the door to our hearts,
hearing
the familiar ker-thunk,
for
fear of what others might say or do.
We
do not share our hope, faith or love.
We
huddle close with our friends.
We
keep to ourselves and sometimes we, too,
need
proof that God will show up.
We
doubt.
·
I
have applied for how many positions so far?
What
if I don’t find work?
·
What
will happen if something goes wrong
with
that work project –
the
one over which so many people have anguished?
·
How
can education be effective if the
school
superintendant does not take into account creative perspectives?
For
many people,
it
is Good Friday every day.
It
seems that the powers and principalities
have
the last word.
We
give to Arlington
Food Assistance
Center
through
the basket each week,
we
make sandwiches every month, and
yet
for many,
food
security continues to be a critical, daily issue.
It
hits those who cannot help it – children.
In
the Metro DC area, nearly 1 of 3 kids
do
not know where their next meal is coming from.[2]
They
think that is the end of the story.
Our
scientifically-oriented,
need-for-clear-answers,
desire-for-instant-gratification
culture
relies
on facts.
Cultural
norms require proof.
And
yet, God keeps showing up unexpected ways.
What
we see is not the whole story.
Jesus came through the
shut doors,
inviting Thomas to
“put your finger here
and see my hands,
reach out your hand and
put it in my side.”
·
In that invitation, Thomas recognized Jesus –
his carpenter hands, his
road-calloused feet, his kind smile.
·
In
that invitation,
Thomas responded with an unexpected cry,
“My Lord and My God!”
·
In that invitation,
Thomas’s desire for a
first hand experience
of the risen Jesus was
granted.
Jesus showed up just how
Thomas needed him.
Jesus refused to let
deadbolts block any movement of love
Jesus
gave proof, in an unexpected way,
that
his death did not have the final word.
He
revealed himself.
·
Despite
the locked doors and high anxiety.
·
Despite
the strong need for proof.
·
Despite
Thomas’s disbelief.
Jesus
showed up. Unexpectedly, intimately,
lovingly.
This
three-part poem by Tom Troeger[3]
says this so well:
These things did Thomas count as real:
the warmth of blood, the chill of steel,
the grain of wood, the heft of stone,
the last frail twitch of flesh and bone.
The vision of his skeptic mind
was keen enough to make him blind
to any unexpected act
too large for his small world of fact.
His reasoned certainties denied
that one could live when one had died,
until his fingers read like Braille
the warmth of blood, the chill of steel,
the grain of wood, the heft of stone,
the last frail twitch of flesh and bone.
The vision of his skeptic mind
was keen enough to make him blind
to any unexpected act
too large for his small world of fact.
His reasoned certainties denied
that one could live when one had died,
until his fingers read like Braille
the markings of the
spear and nail.
I wonder if we can
relate to Thomas.
“…The vision of his
skeptic mind /
was keen enough to make
him blind /
to any unexpected act /
too large for his small
world of fact.”
This poem reminds us
that
God is bigger than our
own view.
But wait, there’s more!
After this intimate
encounter with Thomas,
Jesus
promised fullness of life for
“those
who have not seen and yet have believed.”
In
other words, Jesus said that
anyone from then on,
who believes without
seeing,
is blessed and will have
unexpectedly full life.
Through the
proof-needing Thomas,
we are assured of God’s presence
in our
believing-without-seeing state.
Death is not the final
word.
God shows up in
unexpected ways.
Answers to our most profound
and desperate questions
come
not because we seek them with
focused determination,
but
because God comes seeking us
and
offers love at the very moment
when
it all seems a farce.
God
shows up in unexpected ways.
·
In
unexpected solutions that occur on work projects
·
In
abundance of food networks to those who are hungry
·
In
creative ideas that become a supervisor’s passion
·
In
prophetic voices that speak out for God’s dream
·
In
the Vestry affirmation of St. Andrew’s amazing Petty-Madden Organ
Jesus
seeks us, finds us, and shares with us –
through
locked doors, in intimate ways,
with
carpenter hands and road calloused feet.
And
when he comes to find us,
we
may not recognize him,
even
if he is 2 inches from our face.
However
he comes,
it
will be unexpected and
larger
than we can conceive.
It
will be with a proclamation of peace
and
an intimate love that is
stronger
than even violent death itself.
In
the wonder of his wounds, he finds us.[4]
May
we, O God, by grace believe /
and
thus the risen Christ receive /
whose
raw imprinted palms reach out /
And
beckoned Thomas from his doubt.[5]
Today
– look around.
Look
away.
Look
up close.
God
keeps showing up in unexpected ways.
This
is not the end of the story.
Amen. Alleluia!
[1] http://wapo.st/HCJ7FR cited on April 12, 2012
[2] http://bit.ly/HOvpsZ cited on April 12, 2012
[3] Susan A.
Blain, Ed., Imaging the Word: An Arts and
Lectionary Resource, Vol. 2, (United Church Press: Cleveland, 1995), Thomas
H. Troeger, “These Things Did Thomas Count as Real,” 186
[4] Serene
Jones, Theological Perspective, Feasting
on the Word, Second Sunday of Easter, p. 404
[5] Troeger,
Tom – prayer on p. 188
