Sermon Blair Both 04-18-04 Church of the Holy Communion

SUNDAY SERMON

THOMAS: DOUBTER AND BELIEVER
Easter 2, Yr C
April 18, 2004

Easter has come and gone. If past years are any indication, the number of worshippers today in most churches is about half of the number last Sunday. I say that not as a judgment but a simple fact. The enthusiasm of Easter is hard to sustain once Easter is over. Memory fades. Yet the story of Jesus doesn't end with Easter. The story of Jesus doesn't end with Jesus. The story continues in the lives of those who believe in him. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

John, writing his gospel near the end of the first century, knew the problem. The memory of Easter, the first Easter which he had witnessed, was fading. Most of the people he was addressing had been born after Jesus died. There were still some eyewitnesses around, but they were aging out. A child who was six on the first Easter morning would've been close to seventy when John wrote his gospel.

So John's problem, and the church's problem ever since, was how to encourage people to believe when Jesus wasn't around to be seen and touched. That's where Thomas comes in. With the story of Thomas, John takes the words out of our mouths and puts them in Thomas' mouth. This man Thomas gives us a chance to see how we come to believe.

Thomas was a maverick. Not an automatic follower. Like Peter, he was known for saying things most people would only think, not say. And he was a pessimist. Earlier (in John, chapter 11), when Jesus announces he's going back to Judea-enemy territory-to see Lazarus, Thomas says with a gloomy face, "Well, we might as well go back and all die together." Then in chapter 14, at the Last Supper Jesus is telling his friends not to be afraid; he is going away to prepare a place for them. Thomas blurts out, "Lord, we don't know where you're going; how can we possibly know the way?"

So it's no surprise that when Jesus died the death of a criminal, Thomas would have seen it as his worst fears coming true. Have you ever felt like pulling away from others when something awful happens? hugging your misery to yourself, refusing to be comforted? Thomas may have felt this way.

Thomas was elsewhere when the risen Lord came back for a visit on Easter evening. Today's reading picks up where we left off last week, Easter morning. Thomas was not there. He was so bitter and broken up and bottled up that he could not or would not seek fellowship with the others. That's so like us, don't you think, when we are mad at God or each other and we stay away from church? Thomas stayed away and he missed the visit of the risen Lord.
Now imagine the next few days. First, the disciples find Thomas. They crowd around him. In one breath, in perfect unison they say, "We have seen the Lord!" They can't contain themselves. They say it over and over. Several of them grab him by the shoulders as they say it. "Thomas, do you hear? Do you understand? He is risen from the dead. We have seen him!"

Thomas, true to form, says, "I don't believe it. And I won't believe it unless I see the nail-prints, touch the nail-prints and the wound in his side."
All of us have known people like Thomas. Perhaps we are a bit like Thomas, creating our own set of conditions for faith. I won't believe unless God gives me a sign or heals my sister or changes my family circumstances. Thomas has been nicknamed "Doubting," but he is more than a doubter. He is stubborn and obstinate-and so are some of us! "Unless I SEE…I will not believe."

And yet Thomas is not beyond the pale; not completely hardened. Like some of us who stay away from church for a season, hope-or something like it-draws us back. A week has passed since Easter. Again the disciples are gathered in that same place. This time Thomas is there. Again Jesus appears. Again he extends the greeting, "Shalom"-peace be with you. Words of healing not judgment.

At that moment he looks straight at Thomas. Singles him out. Just as he did during his lifetime, zeroing in on one individual (a blind beggar or a Samaritan woman)…knowing the person's heart better than the person himself.

Jesus does two amazing acts for Thomas. And then one for us. First, Jesus grants Thomas' request, echoing Thomas' stubborn, faithless words back to him. "Put your finger here; put out your hand." He offers but it appears that Thomas is rendered immobile and doesn't reach out. At least John's account doesn't mention it.

Secondly, Jesus doesn't rebuke him but calls him to faith. "Don't be faithless any more; believe." And Thomas does. My Lord and my God, he exclaims.
These words of Thomas are the most profound and supreme titles given to Jesus anywhere in the Bible; more mature than Peter's earlier confession of faith-when Jesus asks "Who do you say I am?" and Peter answers, correctly, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God," (Mt. 16.16).

In this encounter Thomas moves from doubter to believer. Being a believer is not about accepting data-nail-prints or the Nicene Creed. "It is an attitude, a stance of the individual yielding herself or himself in trust to the One who gives faith…" (Rutledge, p.142).

That was Thomas' moment. Now is our moment; our blessing. For us the crescendo comes with Jesus looking over Thomas' shoulder, over the generations of doubters and believers, right down these aisles and these pews of Church of the Holy Communion. Jesus utters one last Beatitude, one final blessing: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Jesus is looking at us when he says this. He is singling you out; he is zeroing in on you and me: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Are there some of you here today wondering if the resurrection is really true? Do you have a set of conditions which must be met before you believe? What would it take to convince you?

I have nothing to show you as proof; no signs, no relics, no miracles. As Thomas came to understand, seeing alone does not create faith. And seeing is not superior to hearing. Yes, Thomas was granted his request. But in his lifetime he saw many more come to believe without seeing. People came to faith by hearing and they still do-hearing the apostles' testimony: "He is not here but is risen." "Christ is risen!"

The story of Jesus doesn't end with Easter. The story of Jesus doesn't end with Thomas or the other apostles. The story of Jesus doesn't even end with Jesus. The story of Jesus continues in the lives of those who have not seen but believe in him.

Hear this blessing on the lips of Jesus for you and me: Blessed are you who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Sermon preached Easter 2, April 18, 2004, at Church of the Holy Communion, Memphis, by the Rev. Blair Both.
Sources: Fleming Rutledge, The Bible and NYT; Barbara B. Taylor, Home by Another Way.

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