Easter 2 (time capsule)

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Easter 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 7,2002

TEXT: John 20:19-31 - “Put your fingers here and see my hands. . . . . . Do not doubt but believe.” “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

ISSUE: This passage strikes me that it is not so much about how we must have faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, but rather how our Lord has faith and confidence in us to grasp the meaning of his mission and ministry. The disciples accept the Lord’s presence, and the Lord returns a second time to Thomas with the hope that he will also believe and carry on the ministry and be with the others the living body of Jesus Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit in the world. The calling and presence of Christ continues to this day calling us to join with him.
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The appearance of Jesus to his disciples who are in a locked room is one of the several resurrection accounts that we find in the four accounts of the Gospel. On the surface of it all, it is another story to convince the disciples of the time, and all of the rest of us for all time that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This particular account, however, is clearly more than just a resurrection appearance; it is also a commissioning of the disciples to carry on the ministry, and a call to faithfulness.
In this story, the room where the disciples are hiding is locked. The locked door is an explanation of the disciples fear and uncertainty about the future. People didn’t lock doors much in this period, for a locked door or a demand for privacy was a social sign of some perversity or deviant behavior. The disciples clearly feared the authorities, because of their association with Jesus. They are locked in, as if in a tomb themselves.
Jesus appears to them! He shows them his wounds, his hands and his side. He offers them peace. Then, Jesus breathes the resurrection spirit upon them and into them and commissions them to continue the ministry of forgiveness. “If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven; if you do not they will be retained. Therefore, get on with the business of carrying on the ministry of forgiveness, redemption, and renewal.” (paraphrased) The disciples themselves now are resurrected, lifted up out of the hiding locked tomb and commissioned to greet the world with the message of hope.
In the story there is a catch: Thomas is not there. When Thomas hears of what has happened, he asserts himself by saying that unless he too sees the mark of the nails in his hands and puts his fingers in the wound in his side, he will not believe. What happens? A week later there is another mystical spiritual encounter with the risen Lord. Jesus returns again and tells Thomas, just like the others had seen his wounds, now I show them to you. “Go ahead, and put your hands in the wounds of my hands, and your fingers in my side. You too be a believer. Do not doubt but believe!” (paraphrased) In great faith, Thomas replies without touching Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” It is a great moment of awareness and faith.
The passage concludes with a Johannine beatitude. Remember John’s Gospel was written at a time when all of the eye witnesses of Jesus death and resurrection were themselves deceased. John is intent on calling the second generation Christians to faithfulness in the face of a very difficult period of persecution and excommunication from their families and synagogues. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It is a passage that calls the Christian community to faithful belief in Jesus Christ as Lord, as the light of the world. It is the commissioning story that calls the early church to carry on the ministry of Jesus of reconciling, redeeming, forgiving, loving, and providing hope in the face of great difficulty. The early Christian community is called to be the living continuing body of Jesus Christ in the world. Real genuine blessedness, real honor, real men and women believe that God lives in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ is the way to resurrection and fullness of hearty genuine life. The disciples are liberated from locked door, their fearful entombment, and are set free with mission and purpose by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. Their loyalty to him and his mission sets them free to purposeful meaningful lives. The message is that being faithful in; trusting in, loyal to the ways and teachings the death, suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. You gotta have faith. You don’t just believe there was a Jesus (anybody can do that and most people do), but you trust in him, and his way of forgiveness and love to be the hope for the anxious and troubled world, and even in our personal lives.
I want you to observe something with me. The commission of the disciples is not the only commissioning in our Christian-Judaic tradition. Early in the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses is commissioned. Moses appears before a burning bush and the voice of God calls from the bush that will not burn up, and commission Moses to go to Egypt to liberate the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. In the story from Exodus (3:4-4:17) Moses begins to resist the commissioning, and perhaps to some extent, who it is that is sending him to Egypt:
v He begins by saying he’s a nobody, and just can’t do it. God assures Moses that he will be with him.
v Then Moses complains he doesn’t know God’s name, and the people will not follow him. God tells Moses his name, “Yahweh, I am who I am.” Go for it Moses.
v Suppose the people will still not listen? God gives him special powers with his walking stick, the ability to have leprosy and be healed, to turn Nile River water into blood.
v Finally Moses complains that he has a speech impediment, and can’t talk well with slow and hesitant speech. Send someone else. Then, God says I’ll send Aaron with you to speak for you, but “Go! Moses, Go!”
In still another Hebrew Scripture story, (Judges 6:11-36) God calls Gideon to release his people from the Midianites. Gideon complains he and his tribe are too weak. Prove that it is really God who is demanding this mission, which God does in this story as well. But again it is a story of commissioning and the prophet or disciple’s resistance, and the Lord’s trust in the man he calls.
In other accounts of the resurrection, in Luke for example, the appearance of the Lord to his disciples creates alarm and doubts (Luke 24:33-53). Yet Jesus stays with them and eats with them, showing his hands and his feet. It’s almost a kind of pleading with them for belief until it finally sinks in, and they become filled with joy and praise God and give thanks in the Temple.
My observation is this: God trusts us. God pleads with us. God extends his unearned bountiful grace to get our attention. Jesus appears to his frightened and despairing disciples. He commissions them with little concern for their abandonment. Breathing the Spirit of God into them they are graciously commissioned. For Thomas who is slow to believe, who can’t believe, Jesus comes again and pleads for his confidence and belief and sends Thomas along with all the rest. Moses is trusted and implored. You can do it. Gideon, you can do it, I trust you. Peter, you denied me three times: Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Yes I do Lord. Yes I do. Yes, I do. Feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. God in Christ trusts his own and has faith that they will carry on the body of Christ in the world.
Here we are folks. In so many ways we live in a wide wonderful world. We are blessed with technology and the wonders, if not miracles of science. Americans have great affluence, and relative security because of our power. Many would believe by our own and on our own we have achieved great accomplishments as a result of our own doing. Yet permeating the wonder is a lot of hatred, violence, despair, and anxiety. There is still a lot of sickness, poverty, AIDS, alienation, loneliness. The world still has much ignorance and prejudice. People are blind to finding peace and hope, and ways out of their demeaning addictions. Stuck in worn out traditions and despair, many are lame with hopelessness. Fear possesses the lives of many Palestinians. Some cannot hear the music of loves spirituality that resurrects and lifts up people from despair, poverty, and hopelessness.
Surely it is important to believe that God provides us hope and resurrection in the midst of life’s crucifixions, and loves us in spite of our resistance to him. Trusting that God’s sacrificial love, forgiveness, and God’s freely given grace liberates us, gives humanity dignity, and makes us healthy. It seems to me that the message of this Gospel affirms and calls us to trust in and love of God in Jesus Christ. “Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” But it is equally important to believe that God trusts us, believes in us, maintains a loyalty with us to be his risen body in the despairing aspects of human lives and in the world.
In John’s Gospel account (17:18f), John has Jesus offering the high priestly prayer for his disciples: “I sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. And for their sake I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to you. I pray not only for them, but for those who believe in me because of their message. I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
To be faithful is indeed a great Christian virtue, but to know that Christ trusts us to join him in mission in the world as well is grace at its best. I pray that we shall be aware and knowledgeable that God is calling and trusting us as a parish church to prevail in Christ’s mission.

(This sermon was sealed in the time capsule, and placed behind the memorial stone of the Church Handicapped Ramp, St. John’s Parish, Kingsville, MD. 21087)