April 11: Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29
or Psalm 150
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
Many of us who have grown up in the Christian tradition have often heard the disciple Thomas being called “Doubting Thomas”. He is the one, after all, who insisted he be able to touch Jesus’ wounds in order to believe the risen Jesus was really present to the disciples. Through the centuries Thomas has been looked down upon for not having more faith, but we in Missouri, the “Show Me state”, can appreciate his need for tangible proof, can we not? Some physicists and chemists among us might even call Thomas a scientist in his need for empirical evidence.
In our gospel from John today when Jesus says to Thomas and the disciples, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” I’d like to think that with those words, Jesus was intending not so much to criticize Thomas, but to give the rest of us a sign of encouragement and strength. Because who among us us has had the opportunity to actually see the risen Jesus? In the whole history of Christianity there have only been a relative few who saw Jesus once he rose from the dead : our scriptures say Mary Magdalene, the disciples, Mary the mother of Jesus, and some others. Yet one of the primary tenets of our faith is our belief in the resurrection of Jesus; in fact as Christians we are called upon to believe that with Jesus’ rising from the dead, life is victorious over death, and goodness triumphs over evil.
What does it mean to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died and rose from the dead? What does it mean for us, as Christians, to believe in the Resurrection of Christ? Along with many aspects of our faith, I think the Resurrection of Jesus is not just a part of a creed we adhere to. The Resurrection is something we as human beings need to experience, and it is our experience of Jesus’ Resurrection that deepens and enriches our faith, not the other way around. Maybe we’re not so different from Thomas in our gospel lesson after all; maybe we, like him, need something tangible to hold onto in order to believe in the Resurrection.
How do we come to experience the Resurrection in our own lives? How do we, who have not experienced bodily death like Jesus, know what it means to rise with him? Thomas Merton said it best in his book He is Risen. Merton wrote ” . . . we are called not only to believe that Christ once rose from the dead . . . we are called to experience the Resurrection in our own lives . . . by following Christ who lives in us. This life . . . is expressed by the power of love and of encounter: Christ lives in us if we love one another. And our love for one another means involvement in each other’s history.”
So to recap, we experience the Resurrection by following Christ, and we follow Christ by caring for one another. Our need to care for one another is reflected by Jesus’ words to us in our gospel lesson today, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Through the gift of his risen Spirit, Jesus sent his disciples, and he sends us today, to be a sign of his presence in the world. Jesus didn’t stop with his gift of peace to his disciples; instead, he charged them with a mission of reconciliation and forgiveness, a mission we, as followers of Jesus, are to continue today.
Some of us, however, would prefer to think that Jesus’ missioning words are meant for those who are “professional Christians”; those who engage in lives of formal ministry. But all of us are called upon to minister in Jesus’ name – all of us are called to continue Jesus’ mission of reconciliation and peace. We just all perform our ministry in different ways, because each one of us is different. As the author and civil rights leader Howard Thurman said, “Just follow the light .that shines on your path.” Each of us is called to follow the opportunities to serve that are placed in front of us, opportunities that only we can fulfill because of who we are.
Whatever we do, when we respond to God’s call to use our gifts for the good of others, when we care for others in our community, we are continuing Jesus’ mission in the world. When we respond to Jesus’ instructions to bring peace and reconciliation in whatever ways we can, we are making Jesus’ presence known, even though we have never seen him. Then we, like Thomas, can experience the resurrection of Jesus in our lives, and we too can come to believe.
Thanks Sally-nice message.