The Rev Debra Sabino
Second Sunday of Easter
April 12, 2015
My sermons never come from me alone, but through a process of detective work, scouring resources, reading the newspaper and listening to friends.
I had help a little help from my friends with this sermon. When I asked for some thoughts about Thomas I had some good conversations which I have incorporated here - and a limerick too:
There once was a man named Thomas
He looked very Amish
Some say he was not honest
But God still paid him homage.
I came across a joke I read about a man who was being coerced into finding Jesus -
An old drunk stumbles across a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the river.
He proceeds to walk into the water and stand next to the preacher. The minister notices the old drunk and says, "Mister, are you ready to find Jesus?”
The drunk looks back and says, "Yes, preacher, I sure am.”
The minister dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right back up.
"Have you found Jesus?" the preacher asks. "Nooo, I didn't!" said the drunk.
The preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up, and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?”
"Noooo, I have not, Reverend.”
The preacher, in disgust, holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time, brings him out of the water, and says in a harsh tone, "My God, man, have you found Jesus yet?”
The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?”
It-sort of reminded me of Thomas - because Thomas wasn’t going to be coerced to believe -
Thomas is known as the Doubter, as if that were a bad thing. I think that’s a good quality to have and that Thomas gets a bad rap. He is more like us because of his doubt.
On Easter we all gathered to celebrate the foundation of our faith; the Resurrection - but who here hasn’t questioned that at least a little? Who here hasn’t experienced the ebb and flow of faith?-
I say
Do not be afraid to doubt.
Doubt boldly.
Doubt and disbelief and important to the Easter experience and Jesus does not condemn his disciples for that. If we want to experience the resurrection, I suggest that we not simply celebrate it or find joy and hope in it – we must engage in the doubt and disbelief of it and of life.
In truth, Easter is about both the joy and triumph as well as the fear and disbelief. It might be easier, less contradictory, if Easter were only the trumpet blasts and Alleluias. Or, it might even be easier if Easter were only fear and disbelief. But Easter is all of this, even the contradictory emotions, and makes them one.
That is what makes the Paschal event such a profound mystery, and what makes Thomas’ response to news of the resurrection so authentic and so holy in this week’s gospel text.
After the resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples, all except one. Thomas isn’t there. When he finally does resurface and his fellow disciples share the good news that they have seen their resurrected Lord, Thomas has some pretty strong reservations.
“Unless I see the nail holes and put my hands into his gaping wounds, I will not believe,” he replies.
It takes Jesus a full week to reappear to the disciples.
This time Thomas is with them.He had been waiting in the darkness of his own unbelief for the ghost of God to reappear and breathe on him, too. This, to me, is more difficult and more courageous than the simple act of believing. That Thomas waits, while disbelieving, is the very definition of faith.
Perhaps he wanted to prove his friends wrong. Or he wanted to see if Jesus would be true to his word, that he would go at all costs in search of the one lost sheep wandering in the darkness. And so he waited.
Being open and honest about doubt is never easy. But back in his day, people had to be even more careful when questioning - heresy back then was punishable by death.
It took courage for Thomas to be honest and open about his doubting and questioning. I don’t think the message of this gospel is to tell us to have blind faith at all.
I have been reading a book called Memoir in Two Voices, which is a conversation between two brilliant men who had a long friendship, Francois Mitterand (former President of France) and (Elie Weisel Holocaust survivor and Nobel prize winner).
Mitterand and Weisel were saying that religious fanaticism is partly caused by a person not doubting.
Weisel: Fanaticism and fundamentalism denies the right of inquiry.
Mitterrand: Because it denies life.
Weisel: The fanatic does not question anything. He suffers no pangs of doubt. He knows, he thinks he knows.
Mitterand: Doubt is useful.
Weisel: Yes, but only when it impels one to question. Which allows culture [and faith ] to flourish.
Blind faith, non-questioning faith is not what Jesus was ever about. Yes, he appeared to Thomas and said ‘do not doubt, but believe’ after Thomas had doubted. He let Thomas wait a week, he could have appeared sooner - but I think he wanted him to doubt.
And that’s the message that is preserved through generations to encourage our faith. Go ahead and doubt, let your doubt impel you to question. God knows that our doubt will be answered. That same Jesus who appeared to the first disciples still appears to us after times of doubt and disbelief, and if we keep hanging in there and waiting. For me doubt makes my faith stronger - because the experience the presence of the risen Christ has never failed.
We know Thomas as Thomas the Doubter. But in truth, he is Thomas the Brave. Thomas the Courageous.
Earlier in John’s gospel, Thomas is the only disciple with the courage to follow Jesus, no matter the cost. Not Peter the Rock. Not John the Beloved. Not the Sons of Thunder. Not the Zealot. When Jesus hears that his dear friend Lazarus has died, the other disciples try to talk him out of returning to Bethany to mourn. The last time they were all there all hell almost broke loose. They were threatened with death, run out of town, made to feel, in no uncertain terms, wholly unwelcome.
The disciples believed that returning to Bethany, even to mourn the dead, would end in the death of them all. So while the other disciples hem and haw about not going, Thomas alone spoke up.
Thomas alone stands in solidarity with Jesus.
“Let us go with him,” Thomas says, “so that we may die with him.”
These are not the words of a doubter.
These are not even the words of a believer.
These are the words of a follower of Christ.
What does one do when it seems everyone but you has seen the resurrection?
Thomas resolved to follow Jesus still. Even if it meant waiting in a room full of believers with a head full of doubt.
Resources: a little help from Colleen, Joann and David :)