Thomas

In the gospel lesson for this day, we see the disciples cowering in fear, locked away in perhaps the same upper room of Maundy Thursday fame. There are ten of them, Judas is dead and Thomas, for whatever reason is absent.

Jesus comes. He breathes on them. They receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus goes. The disciples tell Thomas that they have seen Jesus!

This is where Thomas starts to get the bad rap. He's called “Doubting” Thomas. Truth be told, Thomas simply wants what the 10 received. Visual confirmation that their friend, their teacher, was alive and well and walking on planet earth. It really doesn't seem like so much to ask, does it!?!

Thomas, as far as I'm concerned gets some of the best lines in the New Testament. In the 11^th chapter of John, Jesus has just told his disciples that Lazarus, their friend, is dead. The Jewish religious leaders were threatening to stone Jesus and now he's going back to where they are and Thomas gets the line, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” From this line we can see that this man is not a doubter, but a realist. He knows and understands life at the bottom of the heap – and there's no sense in living into false hopes and dreams. Let's just make this thing happen and get it over with. He doesn't have any illusions about who Jesus is, but he also doesn't have any illusions about the power of those leaders, either.

A few chapters later, Jesus is waxing eloquent about God's house, and many dwelling places. And where he goes, they will come, too. Thomas again gets the great line! He says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” In other words, stop all the metaphorical language and give it to me straight! And, Jesus does. He looks right at Thomas and says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” And, there you go. From then on, Thomas knew something that the others didn't get a clue about until much later.

What you may ask? What did he get. Well, let's listen again to the words of Thomas one week later. They're still in that upper room in Jerusalem, although this time Thomas is there, too. Jesus appears. He wishes them peace. And then he turns to Thomas and says to touch him...touch his hands, his side. Visual confirmation is confirmed! Thomas sees Jesus!

Listen to his line, this time, “My Lord and my God!”

These are the last recorded words of Thomas. Not too shabby, eh?

And, to top it all off, Thomas is the only one, the only one who gets it..who truly gets it. And, he's the only one to say it.

Jesus is God.

Jesus is God! And that makes all the difference! Jesus is God – connected in a mystical union that defies definition in an existence that goes beyond explanation!

Who here among us tonight wouldn't gladly trade places with Thomas? To stand in the presence of the risen Jesus and to have him look at us and speak to us so directly and with such compassion and passion! Who wouldn't gladly trade all our mislaid hopes and feeble attempts at faith to be where Thomas stood!

I know I would!

Although people have heard the next words of Jesus as rebuke of Thomas, I'd like to have you look at it a bit differently. Jesus says, “Have you believed because you have seen me?” Well, let's put this into perspective. The other 10 weren't any better! They didn't believe the women's witness, either, until Jesus stood in their midst the week earlier! And, if you recall, the Samaritan woman at the well's witness wasn't believed until the people heard and saw for themselves, either!

And Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe.” It's not condemnation of Thomas, but a blessing for us! John goes on to say that these stories he wrote down are for us! So that we can become believers, that Jesus is God's Son, the Messiah and that because we believe this we have life in Jesus' name.

And that's why we gather here! For some of us, believing in the resurrection is easy business – because somewhere along the way we, too, have had a face-to-face encounter with the risen Christ. For others of us, on a really good day, we might believe in the possibility of the resurrection. We have hope that the resurrection story really is more than a story. But, we, like Thomas long for that face-to-face encounter with Jesus – to touch him, to look into his eyes and see love and acceptance, hope and forgiveness.

We gather here, where we are on our faith journey, and have those around us remind us of the powerful witness of what God has done and is doing in the world. We glimpse a new reality of living!

For those of you who are Shakespeare fans, kind of like King Lear on the heath, coming out of his madness as Cordelia approaches. He expects vengeance and anger, rebuke and retribution. But what he receives is love and grace. He says, “Am I in France?” But, it's not his craziness that he speaks from, but the new reality of living that has begun.

Or from Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean steals silver from the Bishop and after being caught by the police, the Bishop states that the silver pieces were freely given. “I pull a new reality from your thoughts.” A new way of living has begun.

Resurrection living! I remember a pastor once saying that we should be able to be so bold as to stand on the street corner and proclaim the words of the Apostle's Creed with all our might, “I believe!” Or, as the Gospel of Mark tells about the man whose son had an evil spirit that convulsed him often said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” Or, to quote Donkey (Eddie Murphy), as he sings the reprise from the movie, Shrek, “I believe! I believe! I believe!”

I believe.

Amen