Resurrected Trust

The story about Thomas in today’s Gospel is about the promised Spirit of God binding all of Jesus’ followers together in a trusting relationship with the risen Christ.  When Thomas overcame his natural skepticism and came to his senses he stated his declaration of faith, "my Lord and my God." This statement, “my Lord and my God” identified the risen Christ for all time.  It was and is a word of hope for generations of later Christians.  Our doubts, our skepticism like that of Thomas, are an invitation to deeper faith and to unbelievable blessing.

We are told that on the evening of that first Easter Day when Jesus appeared to the disciples Thomas wasn’t with them.  Later, he heard a second-hand account of Jesus coming into the midst of the disciples and saying to them, "Peace be with you."  Thomas's absence from that meeting of Jesus with the disciples signifies the difference between the visible risen Christ on the first Easter day and on all of Jesus’ followers since that time.  John wrote his gospel to a community that had never seen Jesus or any of the first disciples in the flesh.  How were they able to believe?  How were they, and how are we able to trust, to have faith in something not seen?

The word “belief” as it is translated in the gospel is not a fully accurate translation of the Greek.  The Greek word in the text is pisteo, which means faith or trust.  To say I trust in someone or something is more like giving my heart to it rather than simply stating a belief.  We can believe at an intellectual level, but trust and faith are matters of the heart. Trust implies a greater commitment than a simple statement of belief.

Doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin.  To doubt is human.  Doubt is inextricably linked with faith.  You cannot have faith without also doubting.  Otherwise, it is not faith but rational or objective thought and scientific evidence.  The issue then is not whether we doubt, but what we doubt."

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to have faith, to trust."  Thomas was not the weakest of the disciples because of his questions of doubt.  The other disciples had seen the risen Christ,  but Thomas had not seen and refused to commit himself.  The resurrection was too amazing, too awesome and miraculous an event to be taken simply at an intellectual level without the most concrete evidence and irrefutable proof. 

Thomas exemplified a mentality familiar to most of us.  When we are confronted with a claim that sounds incredible or outrageous and completely contrary to all the knowledge we possess, we ask whether there is some alternative explanation, something more reasonable or rational.  We can't base our facts on fairy tales or on improbable hypotheses.  So Thomas, in refusing to accept what his friends were saying, was being an honest and reasonable skeptic.

Besides that, he was still grieving the loss of a close friend.  Jesus had been killed.  He was dead and buried.  Although the body was missing from the tomb, Thomas had seen nothing to counteract his grief.  He was not interested in cheap consolation, and he did not want anyone to tell him that everything would be all right.  It wasn't.  For Jesus somehow to reappear as-good-as-new would make a mockery of his death and of Thomas's grief.  To erase the scars would make the suffering meaningless.  Thomas therefore had to see the evidence, the wounds in Jesus' hands and side, before he could trust the reports.

The question for us is whether we, like Thomas, can see in the risen Christ a wounded God who takes suffering seriously.  Think of an unjust or unexplainable tragedy you have known.  Perhaps it was a young friend or relative who died as the result of an accident or serious illness.  We all know about tragic deaths: tornadoes, car accidents, train wrecks and plane crashes.  Our response is often one of anger.  Why did it happen?  It was so unfair.  Pain and suffering and many deaths are wrong.  We are saddened and we grieve.  And God is saddened and sickened by such deaths.

The God who suffered and died is the God who is known in the risen Christ.  The God of Easter bears the power of life and the scars of death.  Christ is victorious over death, but the price has been paid.  The price of loving is pain; living involves suffering.

One thing the evangelists were certain of was that the community they belonged to was one whose chief legacy from Jesus was a peace the world cannot give. "Peace be with you."  As Jesus first greeted the disciples, reassured them and allayed their fears, so we should not be afraid of the awesome times in which we live.   

"Peace be with you."  Jesus greeted the disciples a second time and commended his ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation to them.  The message for us is that we are also called to be ambassadors of reconciliation, to be ministers of forgiveness, and to break down the barriers of race, class, sex, and religion that keep us from loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.  As the prophet Micah stated we are to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God."

"Peace be with you." Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have trust.  We as followers of Jesus in this 21^st century affirm that we are able to love, create and seek meaning.  We are members one of another, and we know that in and through our relationships we are in relationship with God.  Let us trust in that relationship of love, peace and the joy of Christ’s resurrection.  Amen.