Online Sermons
2nd Sunday in Easter: April 19, the Rev. Mark Eccles
Welcome to our website. You are here: The Word --> Online SermonsA while back I read a story about a kindergarten teacher who was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around the room to see each child’s work. As she got to one little girl who was immersed in her work, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.” I’d like to have seen her picture.
To see God in Jesus face-to-face is something we will most probably experience not in this lifetime, but in the next. But in the meantime, we have the Easter faith of the early disciples and continuing life in Christ today through the Church to sustain us. The Gospel lesson this morning describes two post-resurrection appearances which can help us in our faith.
Jesus’ first appearance was to his disciples gathered in fear behind locked doors. What a sense of loss they must have experienced – the closeness, the peace, the blessing of Jesus’ presence with them were gone. Instead, was emptiness, a hollow fear, a sense of shock, nowhere to turn, the feelings of guilt of leaving Jesus side at his most difficult hour.
But suddenly, Jesus appears and says to them, “Peace be with you.” We can trust that these are not just words of a casual greeting. They are words of forgiveness and reconciliation to his followers who had abandoned him. Jesus is with them again; they are not alone, fear is replaced by peace, they have hope again. Jesus then tells the disciples that as the Father sent him, so he sends them; he breaths on them, they receive the Holy Spirit and the church is established. Just as in Genesis God breathed into humankind the breath of life, in a sense Jesus breathes into existence the living Church.
From this first Resurrection appearance I offer a couple of thoughts. The first is about the emotional roller-coaster the disciples must have experienced after the crucifixion, and that maybe their experience has a parallel in our lives. Life is not predictable. Circumstances can change in the blink of an eye – the pain of loss and grief can meet us at any time – the same emotions the disciples must have felt. But as Jesus said to the disciples, he says also to us, “Peace be with you.”
We know that in times of loss, pain and grief do not magically disappear; it takes time to process feelings and allow the grief process to unfold - this is a healthy and natural thing. But all the while God is with us. As Jesus gave his disciples new hope, we can hold Jesus’ hand through us in difficult times. In Jesus, darkness gives way to light, despair gives way to hope, and death gives way to redemption and resurrection.
My second thought is about the church Jesus established in his first disciples. At first glance this was an unlikely group of folks. These were not educated, trained, refined men of extraordinary skills. Jesus chose, to use last Fall’s election campaign language, “Joe the plumber.” His first disciples were ordinary people. They were not men of steel – none of them stood by Jesus at the time of his crucifixion; they ran and hid. But in our reading today they are empowered by God to be the Church. Jesus provided them with no written incorporation, no organizational chart, no buildings, no commissions or committees – simply the power of the Spirit to extend Jesus’ mission of reconciliation to the ends of the earth.And so today everyday people like you and I are graced by God to be the Church, to represent Jesus to a hurting world. Certainly, the Church has structures, organization, orders of ministry, commissions and committees, and so forth – all inherently good, or at least potentially good, to help spread the Gospel. But ultimately, spreading the Good News of God’s saving grace comes down to “Joe the plumber,” and “Joanne the plumber,” everyday people like you and me, reaching out to others in the name of Jesus. We must take this responsibility with seriousness and with joy!
The second resurrection appearance in our Gospel lesson also gives us something to think about. A week later Jesus appears again to the disciples; this time Thomas is with them. And after seeing Jesus in person, he believes in the risen Christ. Sometimes we get the wrong idea about Thomas, perhaps as sort of an outsider, or as one with a lack of faith and by nature a doubter, but I suspect this is far from the truth.
Thomas did not lack courage. Remember earlier in John’s Gospel when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill. When Jesus determined to go to Lazarus his disciples were concerned about their safety and said, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and you are going there again” (Jn. 11:7)? But Thomas was not afraid. He said to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (Jn. 11:16). Thomas loved Jesus and had the courage to follow him. We don’t know why Thomas was missing at Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples. Whatever the reason, Jesus must have understood. He accepts Thomas just as he is and helps Thomas again believe.
In taking a closer look at Thomas, William Barclay offers some thoughts about Thomas’ character. First, Barclay suggests that Thomas made one mistake – that was he sought loneliness rather than togetherness. His point is that when sadness and sorrow come, we tend to shut ourselves up and not be with people. And I suppose he is right, we can do that sometimes. Being alone can be necessary and healthy. We each process things in our own way. But as Christians we live in community and we need each other’s prayers and support. We need to share our burdens. And perhaps it is in the gathering of God’s people that we are most likely to meet God face to face. This is an important reason we need to gather together regularly for worship.
Barclay also discusses Thomas’s virtues. One in particular is that Thomas was honest with himself – he refused to say that he understood what he did not understand, or that he believed what he did not believe. He did not pretend that his doubts did not exist. I suspect that few of us have never had any doubts in our walk of faith. But we can trust that God can handle our doubts and bless us as we wrestle with whatever we are facing.
Interestingly, I once heard, and may have shared with you before, that the opposite of faith is not doubt; instead, the opposite of faith is apathy, to not care. That seems to make sense; as long as we care, as long as we are engaged spiritually, God can bring us around to the right path. I would not say that those who are apathetic and don’t care are beyond the reach of God – God loves every person, regardless of their heart or mindset, and I expect Jesus reaches people in ways that are beyond our understanding. There is much we don’t know. But we do know Jesus’ promise from Matthew’s Gospel: “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matt. 6:7). Jesus was present for Thomas and he is present for you and me too.
One more thing to remember this morning about Thomas is the conviction he comes to in believing. His response is the profound truth about Jesus that rings down through history to our ears this morning, “My Lord and my God!” To him, Jesus was the one to whom he owed everything, life itself. And so too with us; Jesus is the one to whom we owe our very selves - he gave himself so that you and I can find forgiveness and new life in him.
Finally, I think back again to the little girl drawing her picture of God. I suppose everyone who believes, and perhaps even those who say they don’t, has their image of God. What picture of God is in your mind this morning? Whatever picture we might have, let us trust that behind it lie the cross, the empty tomb, and the sunrise of a new day. Whatever sort of picture of God we imagine, in it may we see Jesus, and may it bring us to our knees as we echo the timeless words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”
Amen.