April 15, 2007 Sermon
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Easter 2 – C
April 15, 2007 Allan Conkling
Just as San Angelo weather changes overnight—where only one week ago there was snow on the ground—so too has the thought of Easter quickly passed on from most people’s mind. By last Sunday afternoon all the stores had the Easter goods marked 50% off. Now it is ant killer, fertilizer, and barbecue supplies filling the shelves. But here in church it is still Easter. In the Gospel reading it is still “the evening of that day”, Easter Sunday.
In a way I guess it is probably a good thing that we divide the story in two, otherwise Easter Sunday might not be nearly as fun. Last week was the celebration part, the party that everybody comes for. Today the reality sets in. As we pick up the story, the scene in that upper room was nothing short of chaotic. John says that it was Thomas that doubted - but in Luke, it says that they were all disbelieving and still wondering, even when Jesus entered and stood among them. And who could blame them? It just didn’t make any sense!
Just why Thomas was not present at the first Easter we are not told. Remember, scholars say that John’s Gospel was written somewhere between 50 and 70 years after Jesus crucifixion, not by the John the uneducated fisherman, rather by someone who was educated, highly literate, and probably from the upper class; one who had never met Jesus. For that person or school of writers, Thomas would become the patron saint, and the exemplar of all who wrestle with what they believe. John calls Thomas “the Twin.” It doesn’t say whose twin he is, but indeed he is the twin of everyone living after the time of Christ. He is our twin; the brother of those with an inquiring mind. Thomas stands for you and me.
When we go beyond this story, when we delve beneath the words penned a half century after Jesus’ death, we see just how unbelievable a thing this resurrection really is. Now when I say unbelievable I am not referring to the “HOW’s” of the resurrection. Obviously something had happened after the death of Jesus that had a startling and enormous power. This power was enough bring these demoralized disciples together, and turn them from ones who fled, to heroes willing to die for their faith. Exactly HOW the resurrection happened no one will ever know. But to me, it is the “WHAT’s” and the “WHY’s” that are infinitely more challenging:
· What in the world was God doing there?!
· What was God trying to get across to us?
· Why would God choose to act in this way? And, like Thomas most assuredly wondered,
· Why would he involve me?
We laugh about people not coming back the Sunday after Easter, but maybe this has something to do with the absence! The answers are unbelievable, as they are challenging.
In spite of what the world tells us, the Christian message is that God loves us and has a plan for our lives. This is amazingly Good News. Resurrection affirms that, in spite of ourselves and our actions to the contrary, we are God’s children and integral part of God’s creation. God’s love is given to us unconditionally. This too is beyond comprehension.
And yet, as believers, this Good News also begs a response. For if I truly believe that Jesus Christ died for me; and if I take it to heart that Christ lives for me…Then I must also recognize that from this moment on, life as I have known it and have lived it will be forever different. If I take this gift; if like Thomas I proclaim Jesus to be “My Lord and my God,” then the way which I live my life, how I raise my family, what values I hold, how I conduct my business, how I welcome others, how we as a community do church, what we stand for as a nation…all these things necessarily will be affected. You and I become, as it were, God’s voice to the world.
Folks always call this passage the story of “Doubting Thomas”, but really it is the story of a Loving and Persistent God. Christ came once, and came again for Thomas. Again and again, God comes to us. We may not understand it, nor fully believe it, nor ever feel deserving of it…but it is true. Such is the wonder of Grace. Go figure!
The result is a changed life. As Thomas met Christ he was changed. So can we be. As one writer says,
“Jesus lives, not because he could walk through locked doors and show his wounds to a frightened man, but because he breathed new life into that frightened man with his spirit: then sent him out to continue his work.”
So he does today. So do we. Author Herbert O’Driscoll says, “God always has the last word. But the last word in the vocabulary of God is trust not betrayal; hope not despair, life not death.” Christ found them there in that upper room on Easter eve, fearful, confused, closed in, and locked away as in a tomb. But they didn’t stay that way. Neither do we. As they went forth from that place, so may we go from this place and proclaim in word and action: “Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is Risen indeed. Alleluia.”
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Revised: 05/09/07