A Sermon from Falmouth Congregational Church…
A Sermon offered by the Rev. Ian F. “Jack” Steeves in the public worship service of the Falmouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Falmouth, Maine on Sunday,
April 11, 2010. The scripture reading was John 20:19-31.
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).
“Bold Doubt, and Beyond”
Easter is a time for celebration of renewed life. The power of the Christian faith resides not only in the resurrection of Jesus in the first century but also in the fact that the same God is still in the business of resurrecting persons and lives in the early twenty first century. This is the God who, in the words of the Statement of Faith of our United Church of Christ, continues to “rescue us from lives of aimlessness and sin,” the God who we say, “is still speaking.”
There are some things that can never be proven by argument, by logic, or by reason; things that are matters of perception and not of proof. There are some things that can never be poured into human speech.
Now I recognize fully that the Easter season is not the easiest time of the church year for some Christians, including this preacher. The idea of someone dying a real death and then coming back to life is a “stretch” for many of us. And so we do cross our fingers and smile a bit. We assure ourselves that the story does not necessarily have to be literally true but can function as a helpful metaphor for the familiar cycles of death and renewal.
The morning’s gospel reading strikes me as an appropriate and a contemporary one for the church on today.
The disciples, exact number unknown, are in hiding on the evening of the first day of the week. Their little company has suffered a devastating loss and the world as they have known it has changed, and changed forever.
Mary Magdalene has returned from the Tomb, told of her encounter with the risen Christ, and they are standing around in states of fear, confusion and grief. Can her report be true?
One of the Disciples has not yet heard of Mary’s report. Thomas is missing. Jesus passes through a locked door and stands among them. Twice over, he says, “Peace be with you.” A familiar phrase in any century. It implies more than a simple “hello;” it carries within itself a sense of “May God give you every blessing.”
The disciples rejoice in his presence. Jesus shows his wounded hands and side. He is no apparition, no “virtual” sighting or appearance. Jesus’ words are few, but they are important. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
In John’s Gospel, these words are the first mission statement of the natal church. It contains three truths. First, Jesus needs the church. The church is born to be the agent of God’s resurrecting mission. Stated simply and personally, the risen Christ needs Falmouth Congregational Church. Second, the church needs Jesus. Without Jesus, we have no message, no power, no one to turn to when we are up against ‘it’. Again, stated simply, the Falmouth Congregational Church needs the risen Christ. Third, just as Jesus witnessed to the power of obedience and love, the church is called to a life of obedience and love. Without ‘casting stones,’ we must admit that there have been and are times that all churches forget or ignore this ‘third truth.’ We also know that the same churches and church leaders that committed great wrongs, in the past, have sometimes found the power to change.
Thomas was not present on Easter night. Thomas has been much maligned and labeled a “doubting Thomas,” which is not altogether fair. Thomas was in fact a fervent believer. Chapters earlier in John’s gospel, it is Thomas who pushes his companions to follow Jesus to Bethany when word comes of Lazarus’ illness. It was a high risk undertaking and readiness to die is not the customary attribute we apply to doubters.
Jesus does not condemn Thomas. There is no rebuke of Thomas. Jesus knows that the future of the church will depend on the disciples’ ability to help people believe who have not experienced his physical presence in human form.
Here are two thinking points, one from today’s text, and another from my own ruminations. The first point: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Spoken by Jesus in the first century, spoken countless times since, and spoken to us today. We have not seen and yet we believe. “Faith,” said Sloane Coffin, “is not believing without proof but trusting without reservation.” Do you see or hear what he means? In all of life’s major and many minor moments, you must leap before you look and believe before you know. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”
Here is a second lesson, not exactly in the text, but close: “Blessed, also, are those who must see before they believe.” For many of us, faith does not come easy. Blessed are those who require a little evidence. Blessed are those who know that Absolute Certainty is slow in coming and untinged by a dose of doubt can be downright dangerous.
Thomas merely holds out for an experience of Jesus on his own terms. He was asking for the same assurance the other disciples had received. He was no more a doubter than they were, before they saw the risen Jesus. I often think of Thomas as the patron saint of the contemporary church. Like Thomas, we are believers that like to practice our faith in a hands-on manner. Admit it: we like to see and touch. Like Thomas, we are a bit skeptical; we hesitate to take something to be true without giving it a good test. We are wary of authority and more ready to confess our own shortcomings. We have been known to kick a theological tire, or two
“Forgive me, Abba, for I have sinned. It has been 63 years since my last public confession, and since that time I have truly discovered that I am a lot more like Thomas than like John, the gospel writer.”
John appears to have been natively, genetically engineered, endemically credulous. John needs only an empty grave, a missing body, and a discarded burial shroud. Blessed, indeed, is him!
Some of us are not like him. We are more like Thomas, and Thomas is no brute or scoffer. He is a reluctant skeptic. He does not want a second-hand, mediated faith reliant on the sworn testimony of his ten companions. He wants an immediate, up-close and personal encounter. He gets one! He needs to see and possibly touch Jesus’ scarred hands, and probe his wounded side. This is granted to him. The most lavish doxology you will ever hear or echo is his: “My Lord and My God.” Blessed, indeed, is him! Blessed are those who must see before they believe. It can, however, be a long wait.
We are unashamedly ‘open’ to ideas and unapologetically ‘affirming’ of others. Like Thomas, we are called and made capable from time to time to stand and give a ‘yes’ to life and a ‘no’ to all the forces that deny life to all of God’s people. We are not above asking questions of God or our neighbors or of ourselves. In this season of resurrection, called Easter, let us be bold in our doubt and bold in our faith. Jesus’ words also echo in us: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
The epithet (“doubting Thomas”), although colorful, can seriously distort a person’s true character. Thomas, the doubter, was one of the most loyal apostles among the Twelve. Thomas was a realist who saw danger yet immediately proposed an action the situation demanded (John 11:16). He had a practical mind facing a mystical demand (John 14:5). He relied on the visible world as he groped his way into the world of faith and spiritual certainty.
William Sloane Coffin, Credo, (Louisville: Westminster John Know Press, 2004), p. 8.