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2nd Sunday of Easter
                              April 11, 2010  The Rev. Sally Maxwell                                
              Readings                  

It is great to be here in the Alleluia season!

Today is sometimes called “doubting Thomas” Sunday. There is a debate going on amongst the commentators about this. Should we really call this doubting Thomas Sunday, or is it about something else?

One part of the controversy lies in the word “doubting”. Many commentators think that this is a mistranslation, that Thomas’ problem is not doubt, but an unbelief. And it is a temporary state, kind of like shock. After all, Thomas is a very faithful disciple, and when Jesus commands him to reach out and touch his wounds and to touch his side, Thomas’ unbelief evaporates.

Apparently Thomas never does actually feel the wounds. The Gospel doesn’t really say. He sees the risen Christ and he gives one of the most poignant homilies I have ever heard, “My Lord and my God!” What could be a more profound expression of Easter faith!

Another aspect of the controversy is whether Jesus actually chastises Thomas for his unbelief. Jesus asks the question, “Have you believed because you have seen me?” Maybe this is not a rebuke of Thomas. After all, Mary Magdalene and the other disciples believe because they have seen the Lord. Jesus ends the conversation with these words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” This is probably not directed as criticism of Thomas so much as wisdom for the many generations of those to come. Barbara Brown Taylor says it’s as if Jesus is looking past Thomas’ shoulder, speaking to a broader audience.

This gospel was written for the community of John, the Johannine community, approximately 90 AD, and most of them had never met Jesus either. And what about us? Some 2000 years later. Some folks have had visions of Christ, or near death experiences where they met Jesus, but for most of us, we have not met Jesus in the flesh. And so these words speak even more directly to us than to the disciples who have Jesus right in from of them.

As we reflect on our Easter faith, what do we find? Have we come to believe, which means more literally, have we come to “trust in God”? In faith we voluntarily choose to accept the gift of God’s graciousness. We trust in God’s grace.

This past week around the church and the world I have heard the vocabulary of grace, of acceptance of the gift. I heard someone give humble thanks for their experience of a holy Lent. I heard someone speak passionately about the Scriptures (and you don’t hear that too often). I heard someone surrendering in tears about the loss of their loved one, yet not wavering in their love for God. I heard a young man say that he was so grateful for a job so that he could provide for his children. When I gathered with groups, I heard the powerful outpouring of intercessory prayer. I noticed that people around me acted as if they are deeply loved. I saw people doing things for each other and for the church, not because they have to, but as a grateful response to God’s graciousness. What I see is that Easter faith is all around us.

Well now if we put aside Thomas as a main character in today’s story, and look at where most of the action is coming from; it’s with Jesus! He is teaching us how to live with Easter faith, how to build faithful community, how to live as a church. First, he somehow gets past those locked doors, in order to appear to the disciples. Locked doors and shut doors are not a barrier to him, when it comes to being with his flock. Wouldn’t it be great if we as a church would burst past shut doors, breaking down perceived barriers, in order to extend our mission.

I’ll never forget an experience I had in ministering at the Women’s Transitional Housing in this neighborhood. I was going to plan a camping trip with the women, and they told me to come to the “purple door” of their building. That purple door became a symbol to me, of entering an unknown place, a place of transformation. And we were all transformed as we went on that camping trip! Several of the women had never even left Duluth before!

There is more. Here is Jesus, bursting in to see the folks who just a few days ago had totally abandoned him. Yet here he is in total forgiveness, absolute forgiveness, and he is offering them the peace. He offers them the peace three times! That might be our next bit of instruction. Can we authentically offer the peace of the Lord to each other, imitating Jesus’ utter forgiveness? Extending ourselves fully in Christ’s love….try it!

The next action in the Gospel is Jesus showing his wounds to the rejoicing disciples followed by a commissioning. Jesus wastes no time in commissioning them for their post resurrection ministry. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” The disciples have been sent out before, but now their mission is magnified. They will have powers to forgive like none have known before. We, too, are sent out and we have this amazing power to forgive. It will transform our lives! Let us use it with abandon!

To give the disciples that power, Jesus breathes on them. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into them. It is reminiscent of the Creator breathing into Adam, or of God breathing life into the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision. It is an incredible unleashing of life and power to the disciples, and to the church, and to us. This is a power that we must not take for granted, nor forget that we have. Some say that today’s Gospel reading represents John’s Pentecost, that the main action of this story is the unleashing of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the church. For us it is Easter, but in John’s gospel it is both Easter and Pentecost.

I’d like to close by summarizing the proclamations that we heard in today’s Gospel: May these be as fresh for us as they were for the early church.

Mary Magdalene: “I have seen the Lord!”
Jesus: “Peace be with you.”
“I send you.”
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
“Forgive.”
The Disciples: “We have seen the Lord.”
Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”