Friday night, a number of church leaders hosted the Spring Children’s Party at the church. It is hard to imagine what the lobby looked like because on a Sunday morning it is transformed into a more civilized setting for our post-worship fellowship time. However, Friday night, it was filled with the energy of many, many children. They were eagerly working on spring crafts, playing spring-themed games and pouring into the sanctuary to watch some fun movies. I had the honour of mingling among the children and their parents. One conversation stood out for me that I wanted to share. As the child was assembling her cookie…spreading frosting onto the cookie…carefully placing skittles and jellybeans on top to make a perfect flower (we wouldn’t be a loving church without loading children up on sugar before the night is over!), Mom shared with me her daughter’s concern about missing the evening’s events. She asked ALL day: ‘is it time to go to the Spring party yet?’ No dear, you have just had breakfast. The party isn’t until right after supper. Later in the afternoon: ‘is it time yet?’ The child was deeply worried that she would miss the party. And, as you can imagine, they were among the first to arrive as we opened the doors at 6!
This Sunday…the Sunday which falls the week after Easter always feels a bit like that, doesn’t it? The Easter Lilies have bloomed and are gone; the theological highlight and promise of our year has come to a peak; all the Easter fanfare is over. All the festivities are ended: Easter dinners have been consumed and all that remain are soups and casseroles; and all that lingers is the memory of what…was. I often wonder the week after Easter…Easter has come now what? if many of us are asking: ‘did we miss Easter?’ Did we miss Easter where ‘New Life’ was supposed to arrive? Did we miss Easter when death was conquered? Did we miss Easter when Jesus rose from the dead and hope was everywhere? Did we miss Easter?
As we are reminded at this time of the year, Easter is a season that we ‘spiritually walk’ through. Much like a fine wine is savoured, the glory and mystery of Easter is too much for us to take in on a single Sunday morning. And so, we begin a 50-day journey exploring the meaning of resurrection; delving into the promise of new life; plumbing the depths of God’s hope found in the Risen Christ. And our stop on the second week of Easter, takes us to the hide-away of the disciples. Now, chronologically, in John’s rendering of the story, we have only moved about 12 hours since last week’s story. We are now into the evening of the first Easter. With the coming of the sunrise, when it was permitted by Jewish custom, the first witnesses had travelled to the tomb and they found the surprise, the mystery, the hope that changed the world! The Easter story of the mystery and possibility of the empty tomb. We now find ourselves in the evening of that first day.
One of the main characters in this section of this drama is someone who our faith would prefer to dismiss and sweep under the theological rug…Thomas. Thomas comes with a lot of theological baggage, doesn’t he? In some of the ice-breaker name games that I’ve played at churches over the years, I have discovered that he is among the least favourite of the Biblical characters. There are several we don’t like to be associated with. No one wants to be Cain ~ understandable, as who wants to be the one responsible for committing the first murder? Few get excited to be Pharoah with his hardened heart and slave driving nature in Egypt. Pontius Pilate is another as people recall him at the trial of Jesus before his crucifixion. No one wants to be Judas ~ understandable, for related reasons. And, no one wants to be…this morning’s central figure…Thomas.
Because Thomas will always be remembered as “Thomas… the doubter”. It is important to note that it is history, not scripture, that labels Thomas this way. It is like the unfortunate nickname that never seems to leave a high school classmate, even when we gather for a reunion decades later. It is unfortunate because we could have equally remembered him as “the Courageous Thomas”, for he had the courage to come to the Risen Jesus, when others cowered in fear, and ask to be close to him, ask to touch him, ask to participate in what God was doing in their lives. Equally, Thomas could have been remembered as “The Brave Thomas” who had dared the disciples to go to Bethany. Remember back in the 11th chapter, when Thomas challenged the followers, let us go and die with him. Only to be met with the guarded concerns recalling that Bethany was the place where they tried to stone Jesus. No…it seems that Thomas will never be remembered as Thomas the Courageous, or Thomas the Brave, Thomas seems to be destined as “the Doubter”.
I would like for us to consider that the place of doubt is equally important as one being brave or courageous. I think that we should give thanks to God for Thomas’ part of our faith story! This chapter in our world’s history
contains much fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Politically as we are on the eve of the Federal Election, it seems that these emotions are high. Economically, there are many concerns. And personally, I know that many of you have deep fears, concerns and doubts. These emotions continue to be the focus of much of my pastoral work in the church. And as we look back, we know that these concerns have been present in our world, and in our communities, and in our personal lives in other narratives. We have ongoing fears, concerns, and doubts of varied natures throughout life. And the importance of Thomas’ place in the Easter story is to acknowledge that Jesus welcomes them! Our doubts are important; our doubts are welcomed; our doubts are an important part of our deep and emerging faith. And from doubt…comes faith.
Have you ever considered the nature of faith? I know we come to church and ‘talk’ about faith. But faith is unique in a world of checks, balances and exacting calculations. Faith is belief; faith is a deep ‘knowing’ that all will be well. Faith is a deep trust in God’s providence. Faith is a wonderful belief in receiving what we need, not necessarily what we want (sorry…I had to get a Rolling Stones reference in once in a while). And from faith comes the birthing of hope and the beginning of Jesus’ people becoming ‘Easter people’.
Getting back to the text, did you see how hope came upon the first witnesses? Does it come upon them like a powerful sledgehammer? Or does hope arrive like the soft murmur of a dove? Does it arrive with a certificate of authenticity and a guarantee? The text records Jesus as breathing upon them…he breathes upon them offering peace…he breathes: “peace be with you”. I always appreciate a good story-teller who highlights their point, lest we miss it! John is one of them. He has Jesus breathing peace not once (v.19), not twice (v.21), but three times (v.26) in this story. “Peace be with you”… “peace be with you”… “peace be with you”. In the languages of both the Old and the New Testaments (the Greek and Hebrew), breath is equated with Spirit, with wind, with the movement of God. It recalls the creative breath of God that brings life into being all the way back in the Creation story (Gen 2:7); it recalls the breath of God that Ezekiel prophesied as coming upon the valley of dry bones which would restore New Life after exile. Jesus breathed upon them… “Peace be with you”. As Jesus breathes upon them, they now breathe as ‘Easter people’. And this would NOT have happened if they had not first come to Jesus with their doubt!
Doubt is hard, I think, because we hide them away and pay little attention to them. We do not like Thomas and we do not like the little parts in ourselves that doubt, do we? Growing in faith requires welcoming our doubts, our fears, and our uncertainties. This will require a ‘spiritual mind shift’ for us. Just like the child who was worries she might miss the Easter party, I would suggest that we will miss Easter if we expect it to arrive as a powerful force, to come upon our world as a fierce warrior, to be seen as a counterattack against the ills we suffer. However, we WILL discover Easter if we receive Jesus’ gentle breath of peace; we will receive Easter if we open our awareness to the calming ways of God that is resurrection and new life.
I find it revealing that in seeking proof of Jesus, Thomas did not ask to see some more obvious identifiers for identification. Why didn’t Thomas ask to look into Jesus’ eyes? Surely that would have proved that this was the Risen Christ? Why didn’t Thomas examine some other identifiable feature, like a birth mark, that would have allowed him to know that this was really Jesus? What Thomas did examine, rather than looking at the obvious, were the places where Jesus took on pain…the places he took on pain for us. He examined the places where Jesus suffered…the places he suffered for us. For, while Thomas may have doubted, he knew that the presence of Jesus would be found among the suffering, among the pain…that is where we can recognize Jesus. And THAT is where we can find the hope that Easter offers ~ in our suffering, in our pain, (sometimes) in our discomfort.
Last Sunday was the first day I ever missed a Sunday service. And, of all days, it was Easter Sunday! Yet, what happened was Easter was experienced by the leadership of many people in my absence. There’s a teaching in that, I think. Together, we are the church. The church is not a single person. It is the work of all Jesus’ people who come together as ‘Easter people’. It is the work of those who open their lives to receive Jesus’ gentle breath...and hear Jesus’ soft voice… “Peace be with you”. We don’t miss the party when we come with our doubts. In fact, we create a real party of Jesus’ people who come with their full selves and ‘BE as Easter people. Christ is Risen…He is risen indeed. Amen.