Sermon for 2 Easter
April 3, 2005
There can be more of us in our nicknames than
our Christian names. Most of us at sometime in our lives were given a nickname
which defines to the world a little of the person that we are. . When I was
much younger, I dated my brother’s, friend, who was my size, you guess it he was
short. My brother, finding great amusement in this, nicknamed us the
“Munchkins.” Well, it stuck with me and to this day I still have friends who
call me “Munchkin” in spite of the fact that I have grown an inch or two.
In today’s reading we are reminded of another
nickname. Doubting Thomas.
Thomas was a doubting disciple who had lost
faith. Thomas demanded concrete evidence of Jesus’ resurrection in return for
his faith. Jesus loved him so much that He gave him the proof that the son of
man is truly real and among us. I don’t believe that Thomas earned the nickname
of doubting Thomas. We may remember Thomas as a man who for a moment lost his
way and doubted Jesus but Thomas loved and had a deep conviction that the Lord
was truly the Son of Man. “Doubting Thomas” is a nickname that we all can
identify with. How many times have I acted just like Thomas and refused to let
go and let God-to have the faith that I profess to have, as a Christian, and let
God navigate the rough waters of my life?
How many times have I demanded a sign from God
telling me that He was there for me? For a long time I lived a life without
Jesus as my guiding light and savior. My faith was shallow and I was lost. I
believe, it can be hard for humans to sometimes embrace faith as a way to SEE
Jesus. Thomas was grieving and bitter that Jesus was gone. What happened to
Thomas can and does happen to us many times in our lives. Even Mary Magdalene,
on that first Easter morning, thought Jesus was a gardener not because He looked
like one but because she lacked the faith to SEE Jesus. Jesus was a “Divine
Presence” and only those with deep faith could SEE (sense) Him. I do not believe
that Thomas initially believed that Jesus would resurrect from the dead. That is
why Thomas could not SEE (sense) Jesus.
He is always among us and only in our conviction
that He has resurrected can we truly SEE Jesus. One of the core beliefs of
Christianity is the “resurrection of Jesus”. Thomas did not expect to see Jesus
again in his world. Have you ever seen someone you know very well and because
you were not expecting them, did not recognize them? Many years ago, I
surprised my husband and his mother by flying my niece home for Christmas. I
secretly picked her up from the airport and brought her to our Christmas Eve
celebration. My mother-in-law, my niece’s grandmother, did not recognize her at
first. It was not because she doubted that she would come home for Christmas.
Sometimes our minds can not wrap around the unexpected.
After hearing Jesus’ voice, Mary indeed knew who
her beloved Jesus was. She ran immediately to tell the disciples. I can only
imagine what their initial reaction was. “There goes Mary again, the Excitable
and Emotional Mary. There was definitely some doubt lingering in their minds.
Later that night, the disciples were shut up in
the upper room, scared that they might be the next to be arrested. What was
their reaction to Jesus suddenly appearing to them in this locked up room? Did
they slap each other on the shoulder and say, “I told you He would be back.”
No, they were at first more startled and afraid. They thought they were seeing
a ghost.
Slowly they recognized him, and having their
faith restored they felt the light of Jesus and the profound joy of being free
from death. Death no longer had dominion over them. They too would be
resurrected to be in spirit with their Lord.
But, Thomas wasn’t there. Have you ever missed
and event only to have your friends come up to you and say “Hey you should have
been at the party or at the Bill’s game”? You’ll never believe what happened
(Houston lost!!!). The Bill’s came back in the 4th quarter and won.
Until you see the final score written in the newspaper or see the highlights of
the game on TV, you too have great doubts.
Doubting Thomas has a certain appeal to all of
us because Thomas is an honest person and honesty is attractive. Thomas did not
believe just to believe. He wasn’t the kind of person who blindly accepted the
faith without question. We find two moments in the gospels where we meet Thomas
and on both occasions he was inquisitive asking the questions.
We, too, have doubts and express those doubts
and inquiries. We have questions about God, Jesus, the Bible, and the Christian
faith. We have questions such as, “Is there a personal God?” or “How do we
know the bible is true?” “Why is there so much evil in the world?” The list of
questions is endless. We are like Thomas. We, too, want proofs and signs.
Let me share another illustration of not
recognizing God.
A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff
one day, when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way
down, he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down
and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a
thousand feet. He couldn’t hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way
for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. So Jack began yelling for
help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or
something. “Help! Help! Is anyone up there?” He yelled for a long time, but
no one heard him. He was about to give up, when he heard a voice. “Jack, Jack,
can you hear me?”
“Yes, Yes, I can hear you. I’m down here!” “I
can see you, Jack. Are you alright?” “Yes, but who are you, and where are
you?” “I am the Lord, Jack. I’m everywhere.” “The Lord? You mean, God?”
“That’s me.” “God, please help me! I promise if you get me down from here,
I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person. I’ll serve you for the rest
of my life.” “Easy on the promises, Jack. Let’s get you off from there, then
we can talk. Now, here is what I want you to do. Listen carefully.” “I’ll do
anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do.” “Okay. Let go of the branch.”
“What?” said Jack. “I said, let go of the branch. Just trust me. Let go.”
There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, “Help! Help! Is there anyone
else up there?”
Many of us say that we have faith in God, but
when God speaks to us are we ready to believe that it is Him? Can we recognize
Him? Are we ready to follow his instructions or do we do like Jack and refuse
to let go. It is in the leap of faith that we transcend from mere mortals to
God’s eternal children. Trust is the
basis of any healthy relationship in life. You will only enjoy life as you
trust other people. The raw excitement of trust is worth the inevitable
experience of being disappointed by people. At least we have lived, because the
person who doesn’t trust, doesn’t really live. You may end up suffering, but at
least you have lived because you trusted. As they say in the song from the
“Fantastics” “Without a hurt, the heart is hollow.”
Trust is essential to healthy living and faith
the central fact of Christianity. Our standing before God is not based upon our
working to earn it. It is based upon relationship. God the Father is perfectly
willing to treat us the way He treated His Son, if we will do one essential
thing—trust and have faith in His Son. God is not suspicious. He is not
dysfunctional. He trusts us instinctively.
How
many times do we see God or hear his voice and do not recognize it?
Look around you do you feel
the presence of Jesus in this gathering? Did you expect to see Jesus today?
(For He is here. In the life and the heart of Emma who will be baptized this
morning.
And God is in the journeys
of the Rotary exchange students coming from and going to other lands and our
friends from St. Paul’s in Mayville’s pre confirmation class. )
Yet even with all this
evidence of God’s presence; I believe all Christians at sometime during their
lives, will doubt and question God.
I believe these doubts,
questions, and even skepticism often lead to deeper faith. Throughout many
struggles of my life, I have questioned God and why things happened to my family
and loved ones. During these dark phases in my life I have come to know and
recognize God. It is during these struggles and doubts that my faith has grown
stronger just like Thomas when he recognized and exclaimed. “My Lord and my
God.”
This is what we refer to in
our Education for Ministry class as the Ah hah moments of our lives. It is the
moment when we too recognize Christ in our lives. A spiritual awakening which
allows us to SEE more of Jesus in our world and our lives.
It is in our time of doubt
that God is able to do some of his best work. God calls us out of our locked
rooms into the world. We are called to show our faith for the sake of others.
So, when others hear our testimony or see the example of our lives living in the
love of Christ, they may too see and recognize Christ in their own lives. It is
when we recognize Christ, we can let go of that branch and live our lives
through God’s love.
