Rev. Mary Shipley, April 15, 2007

The Believing Thomas

John 20:19-31

In seminary, I had a good friend Wendy. Well, her brother decided that during his first semester in college that he wanted to go into the Army Special Forces Training and specialize in Army Airborne School, in order to be a paratrooper.

I can still remember him coming to visit after his training. The whole idea of being excited about jumping out of planes made no sense to me. So, Jeff told us all about his first "jump." Paratrooper, Jeff, compared his faith experience to that of his first parachute jump. They had prepared him as best they could on the ground with jumping and rolling exercises from four-foot ramps. He was young and strong and adapted well, but then came a day when he got into that big transport plane. They took off, the buzzer sounded when they were over the range at the correct altitude, and as we have all seen in the movies, each young man stood up and one by one, they took that first step off the plane. I asked Jeff if he was nervous as he stepped to the doorway, he said no, it was kind of like his faith.

His leap of faith in Christ was the same kind of experience. He had some prior evidence that the shoot would deploy. He believed in what he was told even though he had not experienced it yet. He could see others shoot's opening. He fully understood all of the physics involved that allowed a person to jump out of a plane and safely land on the ground and he trusted his instructors. So as Jeff stepped up and with the wind blowing in his face he decided not to doubt the process, to trust and to just jump and enjoyed his first jump. He said that it was breathtaking and words could not fully express that moment. By the way, he also told me that they had a name for those who refused to jump; they called them "Pushed." He said the jumping was incredible and that he loves jumping from planes. While I sat on the edge my set and listened to every word and felt my heartbeat quicken as he told his story - I still think he is crazy.

As we read the gospel lesson today, it is obvious that nobody had to push Thomas into believing, for when he finally saw the resurrected Jesus on the week after Easter, Thomas avowed, "My Lord and my God!"

The Resurrection marked a new beginning for Thomas, and for the Church. Pre-Easter, the disciples had not even begun to fathom Jesus' plan for salvation. After Easter they were infused with a plan and a purpose. Most of all, they had seen the Lord!

Even critics of Christianity agree that something powerful had to have happened to transform the floundering disciples into the incredible leaders that they became. They went from not even being able to stay awake and pray in the garden, to witnessing to thousands of people about the resurrected Christ. They became a dynamo of fervent activity.

Christians have always assumed that the thousands who actually saw the resurrected Christ received their impetus for telling the Easter story from their personal experience of seeing a formerly dead man return to life. They were convinced that He was the Savior of the world and it was their job to go out and tell everybody everywhere. Theologians have usually said that God allowed these first believers to actually see Christ's bodily reanimation so that they would be absolutely sure of the truth of their message. There was no doubt in them because most of them sat through forty days of instruction from the Risen Lord, between the Resurrection and his Ascension back into heaven.

After their forty-day "crash course," they were then further emboldened by the coming of the Holy Spirit into their hearts on the day of Pentecost. Thus, their physical questions were answered having seen the Lord. Then they had an educational overview of the history of the Old Testament and how it flowed into God's plan of salvation. Ultimately, the Spirit of the Living Christ, the Holy Spirit, breathed on them, and invaded their souls giving them an assurance that all that they had experienced was true.

On Easter Sunday we shared the stories of some of those who were the very first to see Jesus alive after crucifixion. Mary Magdalene, John and Peter, were at the empty tomb. That afternoon there were two unnamed disciples who Jesus joined in their discouraged walk back home following what they thought was the failure of Jesus' death. Jesus revealed himself to them at their home as they broke bread over supper. The ten Apostles, Judas having committed suicide and Thomas being absent, saw the resurrected Christ later that same Easter evening as they gathered in a room behind locked doors. The important element in this part of the story is that they actually saw him physically alive. He appeared to them through the locked doors. He was recognizable as the same Jesus that they had traveled with for three years. He talked with them and ate with them.

Thomas will always be referred to as "Doubting Thomas," because when the ten told him that they had seen the Lord, he said that he would not believe unless he saw him too. However, we should call him "The Believing Thomas," because eight days later when he was present, he saw Jesus and believed.

The point of this event, as it relates to our present situation, is that Jesus said to Thomas, "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway." None of us have seen the physical body of the Resurrected Lord; however, we have come to believe anyway because of several unseen factors. Our faith is based upon the testimony of the first disciples as it has come to us through Scripture. The written witness of the first believers informs us concerning the nature and reality of the vicarious nature of the atonement of Christ through the crucifixion. We have both read it and have experienced it come alive through the power of preaching. We have seen the life of Christ portrayed in poetry and song. We have been stirred by it in motion pictures. It has grabbed us. We have not actually seen the living Christ, but we have experienced him anyway, and have believed anyway.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus' Resurrection was intended to give all believers a similar resurrection. At none other than at the tender moments of the funerals of dear family members and friends we have thrown ourselves onto the hope of resurrection. For some of us, it has been in these moments that the Spirit has found an exposed access point into our inner selves. At these times we have felt him inscrutably. In those defenseless times we have yielded to God's still small voice as a whisper, we have yielded to his claim upon our lives and we have indisputably, without a doubt, become a believer. We now feel as if we too have been in that room behind locked doors with the Apostles and that we have felt the flesh from the tomb. We have believed, and we believe still. We have a turn to stand in the open door of the paratrooper's plane, and we can jump, sometimes, we are pushed, but regardless of how we take the first step of faith, we are not alone. The parachute opens and we soar with the Spirit of God. So, still we soar as a wind powered glider dependant upon the currents to keep us skimming the sky. We dart with wings as an eagle but are always dependant upon the unseen force. Believing Thomas must have felt the same exhilarating thrill of victory.

Within our Liturgical year, this isn't Ordinary Time, marked by Sunday-to-Sunday planning and celebration, but a season of purposeful time. We continue to remember the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus and marvel in the light of the Risen Lord. As we do so, we find our identity, discern our calling, and claim our ministries in the body of Christ. Easter Day is the beginning of the season, not its climax.

Eastertide is about the resurrection of Jesus; yes, but it also and perhaps especially about the new life he opens up for all in the body of Christ and the unstoppable mission on which Jesus sends us as his disciples. That mission is not just for "those people back there." It's for all of us here and now, in the places and among the people with whom we live and work, go to school with and fellowship with, and everywhere and everyone our communication, influence, and resources can reach around our communities, nation, and world. It's a mission of making sure the poor get good news, of releasing captives (and welcoming them back into our communities!), healing and restoring the sick, the lame, and the blind, witnessing to and joining the work of God's kingdom whenever and wherever it may be found, and declaring God's saving love and power that brings us into eternal life through Jesus Christ by our words and our actions.

We haven't seen the risen Jesus in person with our eyes, yet many of us believe. Many of us can testify that "the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God." Still all of us, at times; and some of us, nearly all the time, struggle with belief, just like Thomas in the story from John's Gospel. This story comes as a radical shift in tone and seems to be for a radically different audience than the previous two. The first two are for believers who have seen or felt or known something of the resurrection of Jesus. This story is for those who haven't yet. We move from bright lights to shadows, from joyous determination to fearful confusion. And the good news in this story is that our risen Lord comes to us wherever we are, however we are, and brings us what we need to believe, never condemning us for our doubts but meeting us in them.

His name was Philip. He was born with Down's syndrome. Little Philip attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. The children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in a leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.

The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L'eggs pantyhose containers, the ones that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would "ooh" and "ah." Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, "That's stupid, that's not fair. Somebody didn't do their assignment." Philip spoke up, "That's mine." "Philip, you don't ever do things right!" the student retorted. "There's nothing there!" "I did so do it," Philip insisted. "I did do it. It's empty. The tomb was empty!" Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

The tomb has been emptied for us. We are invited to believe in a resurrected Christ. If you consider yourself a doubting Thomas, become a believing Thomas. If you are standing at the edge and deciding whether to take a leap of faith - just jump, you will not be alone, or maybe you have an understanding of the empty tomb like little Phillip - then share that story with others. Regardless of where we are on the faith spectrum, it does not matter as much as stepping out in faith. The resurrection story continues. We are the Easter people and just as the spirit breathed on to them so long ago, that same spirit is present and breathes on us this day and each day. Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen INDEED!