LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

The Second Sunday of Easter + March 30, 2008 + St. Paul’s Church, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

    Today’s Gospel contains two sections, each of which is intended to emphasize first the objective, historical reality of Christ’s Resurrection, and second, a particular response by Christians.

    In the opening scene, we see the disciples hiding behind locked doors.   They are frightened, disheartened, and defeated.  Their leader has been shamed, executed, and, as far as anyone knows, done away with once and for all.  Their “movement,” such as it was, has collapsed and their future is, at best, uncertain.  Suddenly, Jesus appears in their midst.  The victim has become the victor!  And that victory spills over to his followers who are given the Holy Spirit for their new mission.  The very first gift they are told to exercise is the authority to forgive sin, the beginning of what we know as the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or, by its nickname, “confession,” a ministry which continues to this day as the bishops and priests of God’s Church carry on the ministry of forgiveness and absolution.  But that’s a sermon all its own.

    This morning, I’d like to focus on the second section of today’s Gospel, in which we learn that one of the disciples was missing when Jesus appeared in their midst.  Thomas was “somewhere else,” he only heard about what had happened, and that was later on.  When he did finally hear the glorious news from the other disciples, it seemed too good to be true, he just couldn’t believe it!   I think that’s one reason St. Thomas has always been such a special favorite for many Christians – we can so easily identify with him.  We recognize ourselves in him.  We know how hard it can be at times to accept all Christian doctrine simply because others say so, or, as the phrase goes, “the Church teaches it.”  Like Thomas, we tend to need something more in the way of identification.

    Let’s take a closer look at this Saint, this Apostle called “Thomas.”  To begin with, he wasn’t called Thomas at all – he was called Didymus, which, in English, means “the twin.”  He emerges as a fascinating person, a man of deep faith, of intense loyalty to Jesus, yet one who didn’t mind in the least interrupting the Lord to say what was on his mind, even to the point of contradicting him!  St. John describes one such episode.  Listen to what he wrote: “Jesus said, ‘don’t let your hearts be troubled.  You trust in God, trust me also.  There are many rooms where my Father is, and I am going to prepare them for your coming so that you can always be with me.  If that were not so, I would have told you plainly.  And you know where I am going and how to get there.’  ‘No we don’t,’ interrupted Thomas.  ‘We have no idea where you are going, so how can we possibly know the way?’  Jesus replied, ‘I am the way, the truth, and life.’ ”

    That incident took place not very long after the same Thomas had demonstrated both his love for and obedience to Jesus.  I am thinking of the time Jesus learned that his friend, Lazarus, had died.  He gathered the disciples and prepared to go to Bethany despite the fact that such a trip would be quite dangerous.  The leaders of the people were known to be searching for him, intending to kill him.  Going to the home of Lazarus might be tantamount to walking into the hands of his enemies.  Yet, when Jesus said “we should go to Lazarus,” it was Thomas who blurted out “Let’s go, and if we have to, let’s die with him!” 

    One gets the flavor of this man Thomas, one not very different from that of St. Peter.  Both were impulsive, honest to the point of bluntness, truly dedicated to Jesus, but so human in their foibles.  How easily we can understand and appreciate the difficulty Thomas had in believing that Jesus had really risen from the dead, based only on the say-so of others.  In Thomas, we see the example of one who is prepared to believe only what he can perceive through his senses, and is, at best, unsure of anything beyond the world of the physical.  Because we can identify so closely with Thomas in his doubts, he also provides a model for us of a faith which is profound and secure.  St. Gregory the Great wrote: “By the doubting of Thomas, we are more confirmed in our belief than by the faith of all the other Apostles!”

    The Gospel this morning contains a message to Thomas, and, through him, to us and to all Christians.  Jesus said, “Be not faithless, but believing” and makes it clear that a physical seeing of the risen Lord is not necessary for belief, saying also “Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet believe.”

    The Church’s purpose in giving us those accounts is best seen when we combine two statements by Jesus:  “Be not faithless, but believing” and “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”  There it is – we are to be people of faith who are set apart by our baptisms for Christian ministry.  We are not to be people whose faith is something to be  hugged to ourselves merely for our own comfort, but people of faith so that others may also become people of faith.  The combination of those two statements forms what I would put before you as the “Good News” for this morning.  Think about that for a moment.

    If, in the light of Christ’s command to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name…” we were asked whether we were obedient, most of us would happily answer “of course – I pray the Lord’s Prayer often, both in my personal, private devotions, and at church in the liturgy.”  But, if we were asked whether we are the kind of believing Christians who help change other people, non-believers, into believers, what would we answer?

    This morning, you and I are confronted both by Christ’s expectation that we will be missionaries for him, and the actuality of our response.  Is being a “missionary” something we happily leave to the Billy Grahams, the Evangelical Protestants, the super-religious, or maybe the clergy?

    Let me admit to you that I wouldn’t like to go door to door in Morganton, trying to sell church periodicals the way Jehovah’s Witnesses do, nor would I like to have to try to stop busy people in an airport, seeking to sign them up for a course in faith the way Mormons do, but I’ll admit a sneaking admiration for those folks who do, even while I doubt the efficacy of their methods.  Still, I am somewhat in awe of their commitment, their willingness to be treated rudely, or, even worse, to be totally ignored as being irrelevant.  Down deep in me, there is an uneasy sense that Jesus may expect a greater willingness to be involved in evangelism than our Church has so far required of me.  I wonder if any of you have similar feelings?  I do not mean to suggest that we should go out from St. Paul’s’ Church this morning and begin stopping cars that pass by on North Powerhouse Road in an attempt to convert passers-by to Anglicanism, nor that we should mount a door to door campaign throughout the Lake James area to convince one and all that they should join this parish.  But I do want to place before you the fact that we are under orders from Christ, orders to share our Christian faith with others, and that doing so is not just a duty but a privilege.  You and I are entrusted with the responsibility for making Jesus real to others, to help them come to accept him as their Lord.  The question is how can we best do that?

     St. John wrote: “Nobody has ever seen God.”  That’s certainly true.  We have seen trees and people, newspapers and income tax forms, ice cream sodas and automobile accidents, but not God.  St. John also wrote: “If we love one another, God dwells in us, for God is love.”  Doesn’t it follow, then, that one of the ways God can be made visible to the world is in and through us!  Through us, God’s love can touch people, through us God can become known, and, in fact, are not most if not all of us people who have had just such experiences through others?  Isn’t a good part of your faith the result of your contact with some loving and believing Christians?

    “Blessed are they who have not seen, but yet believe.”  You and I have not seen God.  Our faith is real, but it is also fragile.  Sometimes our doubts may be painful, even paralyzing.  Today’s Gospel gives us a wonderful example in St. Thomas, for he too doubted.  He too found it difficult to believe simply because others in the Church assured him that certain things were true.

    Just as St. Thomas accepted the signs Jesus gave him, we may find strength and assurance through the signs Jesus gives us, signs which reconcile us to him, signs which give us the determination to carry on the mission Jesus has entrusted to us.  The holy sacraments are such signs, and the Church itself is the sacrament of Christ’s reality and presence through the centuries of time.

    Risen Lord, though we have not seen, may we believe, may our zeal for your Gospel be enkindled and our faith increased.  As the Father has sent you, so you now send us.  With Blessed Thomas, may we faithfully follow you and the mission you give us.

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:40 PM