| The Rev. Catharine Montgomery | Second Sunday of Easter |
| Grace Memorial Episcopal Church | Year C |
| April 15, 2007 |
| Acts 5:27-32 | Psalm 150 | Revelation 1:4-8 | John 20:19-31 |
That first Easter was very different from what we experienced here last week. The disciples had been totally shocked and traumatized by what happened on the night of the last supper and the events of Friday. How do you respond when your hopes for a new kind of life – a better world are gone in an act of brutality right in front of you?
Where do you turn when someone you trusted – someone who had your loyalty and commitment is brutally executed? What do you do when you feel betrayed by the society in which you live. I remember how I felt when the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King were assassinated. I remember my disillusionment when the spaceship Challenger exploded in mid flight right in front of my eyes. We all were traumatized at the sight of people running from the World Trade Center. Where do you go –where do you hide when your world comes crashing down around you?
One can only imagine the bitter disappointment that the followers of Jesus must have felt after the crucifixion. Jesus had taught that the kingdom of God was going to make a big difference in the world, and his disciples and followers believed him. Then Jesus was executed. By Saturday and Sunday, full of fear, the disciples went into hiding. Would they be next?
It was evening on that first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples were hiding were locked. One of the disciples, Thomas, for some reason was not there with them. The gospels do not tell us a lot about Thomas. We know he was one of the ones called by Jesus to follow him.
Thomas always seemed to be a bit ironic and tense….He is the disciple who had a feeling that the raising up of Lazarus was going to be the downfall of Jesus and maybe of them all. When Jesus said he was going to see Lazarus, it was Thomas who said to the other disciples, “Let us also go that we may die with him.” (John 11:16)
Thomas was at the Last Supper when Jesus said, “If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also; and you know the way to the place where I am going.” Can you see the blank stares as the disciples were trying to understand what Jesus meant? Thomas in exasperation blurts out, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:3-5)
And so perhaps it is not a big stretch of imagination to assume that Thomas on that Saturday evening or Sunday morning just had to come out of hiding and get away from the grief and the disappointment. He was gone when Jesus appeared in the room with the disciples; showed them his wounded hands and side; breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit and the peace they were longing for.
The news that Jesus was alive spread very quickly. After that Sunday morning, Jesus appeared many times. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus appeared to Peter, then to the twelve and then to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, …Then he appeared to James, then to all the other apostles and then to Paul himself. (3-8). Again there are striking differences in the stories of how Jesus appears and how quickly he is recognized or not recognized. He would suddenly appear and then leave. He could be touched, and he could eat with his friends. Sometimes they didn’t know who it was until he spoke or took bread and blessed it.
To me the differences in the stories do not make the fact of the resurrection less believable. The differences in the stories tell me that we each experience the risen Lord in ways that are meaningful to us. Thomas is an example. When he came back to the place where the disciples were, he found them in a state of excitement and joy…We have seen the Lord! He is not dead! He is alive!
Unfortunately, Thomas has been presented as the classic icon of the “doubter” - the one who says, “Give me a break.”- the one who demands proof. So when they tell Thomas what happened, Thomas needs to know if what they have seen is really the crucified human Jesus - the one who suffered and died. He needs to see those wounds and touch the one he loved and followed. Jesus knew what Thomas needed and a week later he came to him and let him see and touch his wounded hands and side. Finally, Thomas could see Jesus with his own eyes. It was as if he had been in a dark room and suddenly the light came on.
Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God.” His cry of recognition is a message of grace and truth for every generation in the church. It is not a story of “doubting Thomas” but a persistent Thomas who seeks truth for himself. His confession that Jesus is Lord and God affirms that in Jesus, the crucified one, he encounters God. Thomas was able to see and touch and recognize that God knows about pain, suffering and death - and that God can take it and transform it. Thank you, Thomas.
If you have ever wondered if Jesus is alive….If you have ever doubted or felt disappointed in your faith….If you have ever shut yourself away in fear and anxiety…I bid you to go to your Bibles in these weeks of Easter and reread the resurrection stories at the end of each Gospel. And also read what Paul has to say about resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to the voices of the women and men who saw Jesus risen from the dead. Let their story of faith become your story. Let them help you find your eyes of faith. We are here today because the women found the tomb empty on Sunday morning. We are here today because Mary Magdalene said, “I have seen the Lord!” We are here today because Thomas saw Jesus and touched him and said, “My Lord and My God!”
The Church is called to believe without seeing…and yet…we do see with the eyes of faith. He is with us. He is with us in the poor and sick. He is with us wherever there are feelings of loss or fear or weeping. We have faith that he is with us in a healing touch and the touch of a hand in passing the peace of God. Wherever you are in your journey, look for the risen Lord in unexpected times and places. Look carefully at the stranger and the person in the pew next to you. Listen for the voice of the Lord calling your name.
Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” And we come to the Lord’s Table and find him in the breaking of the bread, and he is with us just as he said. Blessed are those who see him with the eyes of faith. Alleluia, Christ is risen!