Doubting Thomas sermon for 4/11/10

Gospel text: John 20:19 - 31.


Grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
Fear. Have you ever sat in fear? And I’m not talking about the fear of having to write a sermon on Doubting Thomas for your teaching parish. Unable to move, paralyzed by that fear? Or, so afraid that you cry and laugh at the same time? That fear gripped my daughters last weekend when they coming home from their grandmother’s house. They had already taken the wrong exit and gotten turned around, but then hit a patch of ice, fish-tailed a bit, did a three-sixty and ended up on a guardrail. Down a steep ravine on one side…the other side would have put them upside down on I70. Luckily some angels came along and helped them off the guardrail. For anyone, especially a mother, that is fear.
Fear is what the disciples were feeling while sitting in that room. It should have been a comforting place, as this is where they met every week to observe the Sabbath. But this week, they were scared. Why? Their leader, Jesus, had been crucified and by default, the crowds may come after them. But Peter and Mary Magdalene said the tomb was empty. Oh great, what happened to Jesus? Confusion added to the fear. So they sat in this room, probably to scared to even speak…
Then wham, out of nowhere, this ghost appears, saying “Shalom, peace be with you.” I don’t know about you but I would have jumped right out of my skin. Jesus is here – standing right in front of them! But, how did he get in? He has his body, he shows them his wounds, and they know he died, but there he is! You can imagine the sigh of relief, the expression of joy, elation, at the seeing of Jesus with them again. “Shalom, peace be with you.” He then sends them forth, breathes on them, just as God breathed into the creation of man that first breath of life. Jesus knew they would need that added life, and that added strength to go out proclaiming, to forgive sins or to retain sins. Jesus needed them to know that He would be with them, just as God the Father had been with Jesus. Shalom. He brings those gathered the fruit of peace, simply by His presence, and by saying that phrase erases their anxieties.
For Thomas, there was no peace. He was disillusioned. Thomas ran away on Thursday when they captured Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane. He stood apart on Friday, watching from a distance as they nailed Jesus to the cross. Thomas had followed Jesus for three years, now Jesus, and his hope, were gone. On Saturday, he was just in shock. So what was he to think when his fellow disciples come to find him, to tell him that Jesus has been raised from the dead, that they had seen Him! He was in denial. Nope, no way, no how. Is this a cruel joke or what? He saw Jesus die; hundreds saw Jesus die; now here his friends were saying they had seen Him.
On the television show, Mercy, the other night, a man was heading into surgery; he and his wife asked the doctor to lead them in prayer, afterwards noting that obviously the doctor did not pray very often. The surgery was a success and the doctor and nurse came in to talk to the couple. During the surgery, for three minutes, the man had died. “But that’s not possible,” said the patient, “I didn’t see the light! I could not have died, there was no light.” At this point, he became very disillusioned. Probably a lot like Thomas. All he’d believed for so long, was any of it true? All his life he’d proclaimed, “God has a plan”. When he lost his job, “God has a plan”, when they couldn’t have a baby, which was apparently his fault, “God has a plan”, when he developed cancer, “God has a plan”. No matter who tried to talk to him in the following days, he felt he’d been betrayed – he had even broken the chaplain’s nose! His wife walked out, obviously upset. He was not going to be fooled again; he now had doubts. There was no light when he “died”: no light, no God, no plan. Now what?
Thomas too was saying, “Now what?” Thomas was not going to believe until he saw for himself; not until he could touch the wounds on Jesus’ hands and feet was he going to believe. He had to wait a week – a whole week! But, Thomas needed that week to calm down, to reflect. He had been alone. Now he was with his friends, spending time in community, in fellowship with other believers. He joined his friends in the room on the following Sabbath.
Let’s think about the fact that it’s the Sabbath for just a moment. Why the Sabbath? This was the day of rest, the day God rested after creation. The Sabbath was God’s day of rest; hence it became humanity’s day of rest. Now Jesus has come, on the Sabbath, making it a Holy day of rest.
Okay, back to the story. Again, in this room with the disciples and again, the door was locked. Jesus came and stood among them again. “Shalom, peace be with you.” The other disciples had been there, done this before. Now Thomas was with them. Jesus could have been totally snarky with Thomas, but instead was kind and understanding. "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas didn’t even touch Him! He finally gets it. Thomas fell to the ground and said, “My Lord, My God.” These four words, uttered by the disbeliever, are the greatest confession a person can make. Thomas, the doubting one, was the first to put these words together. Jesus made the point that Thomas had to see in order to believe. Knowing that He would not always be around for followers to see, He said, “Blessed are those who have not yet seen and yet have believed.”
I think, my friends that we fall into that category. We haven’t seen and yet we believe. Jesus came back that week later for us. He used Thomas for us, so that we who doubt may believe, so that we who haven’t touched nor seen may believe. This makes him a hero in my book.
John concludes this chapter by telling us that Jesus gave many other signs that were not recorded. But the signs we do know about were given so that we may not have doubts, but believe. Pope St. Gregory the Great commented that Thomas did more for our faith than any other disciple. As he witnessed Christ, he was won over to belief, all doubt cast aside. So the doubter who believed became the greatest witness of the resurrection.
The man in Mercy had his doubts; he needed something, a sign of some sort to rekindle his faith. His light came. When his wife walked back into his hospital room asking for her husband back, her faithful husband back. She needed him…she was pregnant. Here was his miracle.
The miracle came for the disciples came in that room, two times, a week apart. Their Lord, their God, had died so that they might live. Live lives to tell the good news. Thomas lived that life, he went forth as did the others. His fears were erased and he became an outspoken advocate for Christ until his death.
Fear. Do you have fear? Do you fear CPE? Your internship? Your first call? Do not have fear, but have faith in Jesus the Christ who came to this earth in human form to die for our sins. On this Sunday after Easter, put away your fears and doubts. As Thomas was transformed, we are transformed by the living word. Jesus came and stood with the disciples in that room, just as he stands in our hearts today. Let us remain faithful servants, always confessing, “Our Lord, Our God.”
Amen.