Thomas doing God things

This morning’s story begins before Thomas.

Before he insisted that he not only see but touch and see the where the nails pierced Jesus’ hands and where the soldier’s steel stabbed his side, the disciples were afraid.

And Mary Magdalene was bereft.

Just prior to our gospel reading this morning, Mary arrived at the tomb where Jesus was laid and noticed, even though it was early morning and still dark, that the stone rolled in place to protect his remains had been rolled away.

Seeing this, she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple (who the other disciple is, is unknown but thought to be this gospel’s author by some) and told them that Jesus’ body had been removed by saying, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

They then ran with Mary back to the tomb.

First the other disciple noticed the linen wrappings were lying there, but he did not enter the tomb.

Simon Peter did enter the tomb and noticed not only the wrappings as the other disciple did but the cloth that covered Jesus’ face was placed in a different spot.

Following Simon Peter, the other disciple came into the tomb to witness it in its entirety and he along with Simon Peter came to believe.

Well, they believed, but perhaps they did not understand just what scripture said, that the messiah would be resurrected from the dead.

And so, by believing but not understanding just what they had seen, Simon Peter and the other disciple returned home.

What is important here, is that they saw evidence of the resurrection.

Mary did not leave.

Mary Magdalene as much a disciple of Christ as the twelve, now eleven, stayed beside the tomb of her savior.

And Mary wept.

As her tears flowed, as her body heaved, her shoulders shook, her palms trying desperately to clear her eyes, Mary looked into the tomb.

Rather than just linens, Mary saw two angels adorned in dazzling white.

The angels asked her why she wept so bitterly.

“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him,” Mary replied.

A gardener then came up behind her and asked the same, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?"

Because he was the gardener, Mary presumed that he had taken Jesus’ body away and said to him as much, “You carried him away. Tell me to where and I will take him.”

Then the gardener called Mary by name saying simply, “Mary!”

From John’s gospel:

She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

After hearing this, the disciples did not run to the tomb as Simon Peter and the other disciple did, they did not weep, they did not shout for joy, the did not exclaim “Alleluia, alleluia, Christ is risen!”

None of that, they just seemed to have stayed in that room together and that is where our reading starts this morning.

But before we get into that, notice that Mary too saw evidence of the resurrection, in fact, she saw Jesus, risen from death right in front of her.

Truly, evidence of a miracle.

Now, remember, everything that occurred prior to this happened earlier in the day.

The story began when it was still dark.

Now it is evening and the disciples including Simon Peter and the other disciple are in hiding.

Even though Simon Peter, the other disciple and Mary Magdalene had seen evidence of Christ’s rising after death, most of the disciples are now hiding out in Jerusalem because they were afraid of the authorities.

Not all, most, for Thomas the twin was away.

Having witnessed what happened to their Messiah, they did not wish for the same fate and hid behind a locked door.

And still, Jesus was able to enter into the room with them.

Though the door was locked, Jesus came and stood amongst them.

And deciding not to believe their lying eyes, Jesus convinced the disciples that he was indeed risen.

He showed them his wounds and said, “Peace be with you” and gave them the Holy Spirit.

Imagine the joy, the relief, the feeling that all of this was true, that everything Jesus said regarding his death and resurrection after three days turned out to be true!

They had witnessed this miracle, Mary having met Jesus at the Garden, Simon Peter and the other disciple having witnessed his linens in the tomb, now most of the rest of the disciples saw all that Jesus claimed will happen, happened.

Then in walks Thomas and he hears from the other disciples all that which occurred and sum it up by saying, “We have seen the Lord.”

And Thomas’ response is familiar to some if not most, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

And from this quote, Thomas is assigned the moniker, “Doubting Thomas.”

And I think this is a bit unfair, because what the other disciples got to see is the same thing Thomas is asking to see.

They saw the marks on his hands and they saw the wounds on Christ’s side and Thomas wishes to see the same.

Remember, Simon Peter and the other disciple did not truly understand what had occurred, they believed but did not understand, and so returned to hiding.

Even Mary thought Jesus was a gardener before he called her by name.

It is then perhaps understandable that Thomas would wish to see the same.

Let’s call him confirming Thomas rather than doubting Thomas.

Not as catchy, I know.

And a week later, Thomas, along with the rest, were again behind that locked door in Jerusalem and Jesus entered into that room once more.

He allowed Thomas to examine his wounds.

See and touch my hands, see and touch my side.

Do not doubt said Jesus; “My Lord and my God!” said Thomas.

And then Jesus gets in a bit of dig, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

And even here, maybe it’s not so much a dig, as Jesus talking to us, this congregation, (more on that in a moment.)

And still, I think it’s a bit unfair to expect Thomas to take the disciples’ word for it when they remained behind locked doors after witnessing Jesus before them.

I might be a bit skeptical too if the reaction to seeing Christ alive after death was maintaining a status quo which did not involve sharing the word and the radical message of love with which Jesus gifted the world.

So, I guess I’m asking that we take it a bit easy on Thomas.

Ask, if your friends saw Jesus alive, would you not wish to see the same?

And still, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

I have witnessed a great many people with great certainty that God is real, that Jesus has been resurrected, and the Holy Spirit flies amongst us.

And yet, within the details of those facts, are glimmers of hope and shades of doubt.

I do believe that we experience the presence of Christ in the sharing of bread and drinking of the cup, I do believe that, and yet ask me exactly how that happens, I might come up a bit short in convincing you of the same if you are given to doubt.

And I say to you all that I witness Christ in all of you, in how you support this church and most importantly each other and the world.

We are doing God things when we offer up a shoulder upon which to weep beside the tomb; we are doing God things when we celebrate as we did just last week, the good news of the resurrected Christ.

And most importantly, we are here in community serving our risen Lord and loving God and each other as we are called and wont to do.

Yet faith is hard and sometimes not as strong when we witness a world not acting as Christ would have us to act.

When we point to the faults of others and not the wounds of Christ we are ensuring those wounds will not heal.

We shall not be free when we are yoked to anger and vitriol, and still, we are blessed for we believe and have not seen.

We have not witnessed Christ walk the earth yet we still walk with each other in Christ’s name.

We have not touched Christ’s wounds, yet we work to heal the wounds of those hurt by hatred.

We have not walked with the risen Christ, yet we walk with those stung by death.

We have not seen Jesus physically before us, and still we believe.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Blessed are you because you believe.

If I could prove my faith to all who doubt, then my proof would be pointing to this congregation and saying, there is a God because we do good works through faith.

That is all that is required.

Faith in God and the good works derived through that faith which inevitably follow.

There is God in the community, for we work in the community with faith in God.

There is God lifting up each other, for with faithfulness we lift each other up.

That is my proof that Jesus was resurrected, that is evidence of the Spirit around us.

Some may wish for more, but to witness faith in action is to witness Christ alive entering the sometimes locked chambers of our hearts and minds and souls saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

In that, I have no doubt.

Amen.