Sermon for Sunday, April 19, 2009

John 20: 19-31

"A Question of Confirming Experience"

Rev. Sharon James Fazel

What you’ve just heard is a story known better by a two word “tag.” Anybody know what those two words are? – “Doubting Thomas” – correct! And that term has come to mean someone who won’t believe something until they see it. There’s a stubbornness implied in the term, kind of like the slogan for the great state of Missouri, known proudly as “the show me state.” And yet – is such a description really the case with the character of Thomas? More importantly, is doubt in this story really condemned as the opposite of faith? Such a conclusion is easy to come to, but a closer examination may tell us something different.

So, let’s set the stage for a moment. Picture the disciples having just run to the tomb of Jesus at the request of Mary Magdalene. She saw him, she said; she saw Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t there when they went to look. Nobody was there! –“ crazy woman”…

The disciples are rife with grief. The images of Jesus’ whipped and drawn body nailed to a wooden cross, still seared themselves into their minds’ eyes. They wanted to see him again, too; but they have more common sense than to think they would see him. And they also have common sense enough to know that they’re in danger. They go home for awhile, but find themselves back together again, hiding out from the Pharisees who condemned Jesus. After all, Peter denied Jesus three times, didn’t he? Why? He feared for his life, that’s why! They all do now.

So, here they are, all of them except Thomas – maybe he had family to tend to, we don’t know – here they are all huddled together behind closed doors (some texts say “locked”). It’s evening. They jump at every sound coming from outside the room. And suddenly, without opening a door or a window, Jesus appears among them. And they, too, see him.

But what are his first words to them? Are they words of recrimination, like “I told you so” to Peter, who had sworn to Jesus that he would not betray him? Or does he say “Surprise! It’s me!” Neither. He is simply and suddenly there. What he says is: “Peace to you.” In the Greek text, that’s what it is: “peace to you.” And Jesus says it twice in this first appearance to the group. Now, remember, he had appeared to Mary Magdalene alone, at the tomb. And she told her holy brothers about it; but they didn’t believe her.

But now all of them were there except Thomas (and, I guess, Mary, too). This time they did believe it, because they saw him. So what next? What does Jesus do now? Well, after  “peace to you,” he breathes on them, and tells them to “receive the holy spirit.” 

Now – this is something, isn’t it? The emphasis here is that he breathed on them. Now, in order to breathe on something or someone, you need to give some concentration and some sense of focus to your breath. Something we Americans don’t do nearly as often as we might. If we gave our breathing more attention, we might slow down a bit. We might take in more oxygen and circulate it to our brains and our lungs and the rest of our internal organs, more regularly. We might be healthier. We might even say fewer harmful things to each other, for having taken the time to breathe deeply, first.

But, normally, we breathe without even paying attention, at least until we’re stricken with some disease or disorder that impedes our breathing. Then – when we don’t take it for granted any more –we’re more aware of the sacredness of breath itself. So let’s do something radical, and take a moment to breathe, right now. Just – take in a nice deep breath, and take your time letting it out. Go on – be daring and do it again! You see? That takes a moment to accomplish, doesn’t it? So now, take that experience into our story. Jesus appears. Says “peace to you” and [breathe] breathes on them! …And not one word about Thomas being missing!

But when the other disciples find Thomas, they tell him about their experience and – not having been there – he speaks to them in much the same way they must all have spoken to Mary Magdalene. “What? No way! Until I see the wounds themselves and can touch the marks where the nails penetrated his body, I just won’t believe it!” The other disciples had had their own experience. Thomas demands his own. Until he has a confirming experience, Thomas will hold their claims of seeing Jesus, in question.

Fast forward to a week later. [Actually, the Greek says “eight days.”]  And where are the disciples now? They’re still holed up together in the same room! They’re still scared, I guess, since they don’t seem to have gone very far or done very much to get themselves out and about. But, this time, Thomas has joined them.

Enter Jesus. How? The same way he did the last time. No creaky doors. No burst of smoke or stardust. No magic. He just appears. Quietly. And says what? “Peace to you.” After those words, he speaks directly to Thomas, inviting him to do just what Thomas said he’d require in order to believe that Jesus stood before him: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.” And even though my English translation says: “Do not doubt, but believe,” the translation directly from the Greek is: “Be not faithless, but faithful.”

And guess what? Thomas is totally into his own experience. Immediately, he recognizes Jesus. There’s absolutely no indication here that he actually touches Jesus. Yet, he acknowledges the risen Christ with, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas’s questioning has yielded to an experience that confirms for him the truth of Jesus’ presence among them, and he no longer is faithless, but rather faith filled with the presence of Christ.  For Thomas, seeing is indeed believing.

So what does all this teach us about our relationship to our own faith today? Well – for one thing – it sure puts to rest the assumption that Thomas was somehow “less than” because he questioned his faith! I would say, it even supports Thomas’s questioning. I would suggest we not think about it in terms of who’s “good” for believing and who’s “bad” for wanting proof, but rather that we recognize that Jesus himself acknowledged questioning one’s faith as legitimate!

Questioning, even doubting, is part of the fullness of human experience. And Jesus, having been himself part of the fullness of human experience, lets us know that doubt is not, by definition, wrong. In fact, he doesn’t tell Thomas and the disciples, “don’t doubt.” He tells them, “Be faith FUL,” rather than “faithLESS.”  

And so – in times such as ours, when the economic roller coaster is more harrowing than the one you’d mount on a dare, at Valley Fair – it’s understandable that we’d have doubts about the ways of the world, and yes, even the efficacy of our faith in the face of it all. That’s human.

But remember – when the resurrected Jesus appeared, he spoke of peace. When the resurrected Jesus appeared, he breathed out a comforting spirit. When the resurrected Jesus appeared, his concern was to bless the disciples, rather than scold them, to encourage them to fill themselves, rather than shame them for feeling empty. And how did they know it was Jesus? Because he still bore the wounds of his suffering on the cross. Jesus didn’t soft pedal his own wounded-ness, any more than he expected the disciples to pretend that his pain or theirs would magically disappear. The only way to resurrection, for Jesus, was straight through the pain of his crucifixion and death. There’s no way around it. Not for him. Not for us.

And yet, when he spoke, he spoke of peace. He breathed that peace on the disciples. “May that peace be upon you that was in Christ Jesus.” Today. And every day. In your questioning. In your pain. And in your full-ness of human experience. Please pray with me.

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