Second Lent
John 20:19-31, Acts 4:32-35
I can not hear the story of Thomas, which we hear every year on this the second Sunday of Easter without thinking of another story. Let me set the scene. It is a beautiful day in Boston. A beautiful day for a whale watch--maybe a little chilly and breezy when you get out on the ocean but a pretty good day none the less. The family is having a vacation event and everyone is excited. Andrew and Tim have studied about whales in their 4th and 5th grade class and they are liking this activity--a lot more than the long walk of the freedom trail. We are lucky--after about 20-25 minutes of chugging away in the boat we are right in the middle of the whales. We see their backs and some of them are kind of rolling over and spitting out their blow holes. They are singing back and forth to one another. The whole scene is very cool and ever since reading Moby Dick whale watching has been high on my list of things to do before I die. Jonathan is only about 5 or 6 at the time. He's beginning to get a little antsy and then kind of crabby and finally just plain obnoxious. I agree to take him below deck to watch the TV screen of the underwater camera which Andrew and Tim say has a shark on it. Just as we've gotten to the last step on the stairs we hear this incredible shout from above deck. Racing back up we get there just to see a cascade of water falling to peace on the surface. . People were clapping and dancing around. Did you see it? Did you see how he just held there in mid air? That probably only happens once in ten trips and hardly ever that close to the boat
A whale breeched. Now I've never seen it mind you but I'm told that breeching is when a huge whale comes straight out of the water, holds for a moment on it's tail in mid air and belly flops right on to the surface of the water. I'm sure it was very cool...but you couldn't prove it by me. I was not there. I missed it.
How did Thomas feel? The other disciples are all jumping and dancing around--
Thomas you should have been here--Thomas you wouldn't believe it--Thomas you missed the most exciting thing.
Now it probably didn't help that Thomas was a pretty concrete thinker anyway. It was after all Thomas who interrupted Jesus farewell discourse right at the high point where Jesus is saying "I go to prepare a place for you" with the ridiculous statement "We don't know where you're going, how can we know the way." Thomas it's a metaphor already.
So already Thomas has a hard time getting the concept of a resurrection and then he just has trouble understanding and getting into the happy excitement of it all. How much more can you feel an outsider?
I once had a colleague who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. There was a small catholic church but almost all the town was Southern Baptist at least that's how he grew up. His parents were both teachers and extended themselves to expose him to a culture that was not typical of the small town. For example, He went weekly to cello lessons in the city some distance away and he was never at a loss for books on any subject. His parents took him regularly to the Baptist church but things really got going when the revivals came to town. He says he remembers standing at the back of the crowd just a bit amazed at how involved people could get, clapping and singing and jumping up and down in the aisles, being laid low by the spirit and answering the altar call. Well he could never quite get into that experience. He felt like an outsider, like he was missing something. What had they gotten that he had not? He began to drift spiritually until a friend took him to a Lutheran church on his college campus.
"I never felt so at home" he said. The music was beautiful and the sermons thought-provoking and it was serene and I felt rested and whole when I left. An African American, gay, former southern Baptist finds home at a Lutheran church--will wonders never cease.
The truth is we're not all the same in our spiritual expression--nor do we all come to faith in the same way. Some people see Jesus in an emotional experience. Jesus comes to some people in theological discussion. Some people's faith is birthed and strengthened by the witness of those who live their lives in service and justice. And some people only come to faith through suffering, by touching the wounds of Christ. Most of us, I suspect are a complicated mix of all of these ---regularly surprised when something affects us in a way we don't expect.
I find our first lesson today kind of a hoot. From Acts we read "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul." Such a good text for the second Sunday of Easter when the glow of a splendid Easter Day still clings to the memory. That lesson is from the fourth chapter."Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul." Not five verses later we get a rather dicey story about Annanias and Sapphira who clearly were not of the same mind. And a mere one chapter later we hear that "the Hellenists are complaining against the Hebrews because the widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food." That's not to say that our lesson for today is not a wonderful ideal--life is certainly easier when we are of one heart and soul but thank goodness Luke who wrote Acts was honest enough to admit that even the early followers fell hopelessly short of the ideal.
It's tough not to be judgmental of others faith experience especially since our faith experience is so precious and personal to each of us. It's hard to understand how somebody could just not "get it." The disciples could not contain themselves when talking to Thomas. Their certainty and their exuberance just highlighted what he had missed and made him feel more of the outsider.
Last Sunday's gospel was about the women who went to the tomb, found it was empty, were told by an angel that Jesus was risen and raced back to Jerusalem to tell the joyous news. They heard and they believed. And if that is how it is for you fine.
But today's Easter story is for the rest of you. Today's Easter story is gospel, not bad news but good news. They told Thomas that Jesus had been raised. They told Thomas that the risen Christ had appeared before them. But Thomas wasn't there. We don't know where he was. He wasn't there and because he didn't see the risen Christ for himself, because he had only heard but had not seen, he did not believe. That is what he said to them, "Unless I can see, touch for myself, I won't believe."
And Jesus said to him, "Touch; Thrust your hands into the holes in my hands and my side. Believe." Jesus was not rebuking Thomas for his doubts. Rather he was giving Thomas what he needed. Jesus did not say to Thomas, "Now close your eyes and try to believe real hard." Nor did he say, "Thomas, if you would just have more faith, be more like the other disciples, you wouldn't have a problem."
Rather Jesus gave Thomas the experience he needed. Out of love Jesus invited Thomas' examination. It's not the same for everybody, we're not all cut from the same cloth. We do not all come to faith in the same way and our faith does not always find expression in the same way. But when Thomas got it, when Jesus comes to him, he makes the most the most powerful affirmation in the whole of the gospel of John--"my Lord and my God."
Amen