2 Easter B John 20:14-31 27 April 2003
Rev. Roger Haugen
At national conventions, I enjoy reading through the list of church names. If a survey were taken of Lutheran churches, there would be a lot of Zions, a lot of St. Paul’s, Resurrection and St. John. One name you won’t see is St. Thomas Lutheran Church. For some reason, Thomas gets a lot of bad press. If you were to read 100 sermons for this Sunday, likely 95 % would give Thomas a negative treatment. This is how not to be a Christian, we are to believe without seeing, trust implicitly. Somehow, Thomas’ faith is less desirable, he wants to see, he wants to touch, he wants to be sure that this Jesus appearing before him is the real thing. Maybe there should be a St. Thomas Lutheran church. It is not always a bad thing to ask questions.
Some years ago there was a group called “Heaven’s Gate”. Remember them, they were a group in California that believed a flying saucer was coming down to take them up to heaven. Salvation by flying saucer. If you feel out of place in this world, why not grab on to something that has a little snap? There were a lot of disappointed cult members when the flying saucers failed to show up.
There is also the group out of Quebec that is into cloning. Their leader claims to have been abducted by aliens and given special knowledge that will save the world. Send him your money, maybe give your body to house a cloned human embryo, and all will be well. You will get your picture in the paper, a moment of fame, and just maybe salvation through this alien possession. These are simply two examples of charismatic leaders gathering people looking for something beyond this world. A recent survey found that there were at least 100 groups in the U.S. whose spiritual interests focus on flying saucers. Yes, maybe there is a place for St. Thomas Lutheran Church. Nothing wrong with asking a few questions, a little doubt can save a person from a lot of heartache. There is a great deal of danger in unquestioned obedience to charismatic leaders. So many cult tragedies could have been avoided with a few questions.
People have a lot of spiritual questions today and it would seem a weird answer is better than nothing at all. Rather than discouraging questions in our faith, we may need to encourage them. We call him Doubting Thomas, and it is not a positive thing. We are uncomfortable with those who have a lot of questions. The youth, who often have the questions we would rather ignore, feel pushed to the side, unwelcomed in our church community. I have a book on my bookshelf titled, “I Believe but I have questions.” I have a t-shirt that quotes Walt Whitman, “Examine all you have been taught and discard that which insults your soul.” Questions are a fact of life, and are a good thing. Jesus showed Thomas his scars, answered his questions. John chronicles many of the things that Jesus did, so that “you may believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” Our faith in Jesus will stand up to questioning. Blind faith can be a problem. A young woman became a Christian and was told, “If you are a real Christian, you will always feel joy and peace in your heart.” But she feels great sadness, even after becoming a Christian. She was abused as a child. She has deep scars, she has questions. Questions are a reality and we need to be open to them in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We live in a non-Christian age, where more and more we meet people who have never heard or experienced the love of God. They will have questions for us, if we exhibit our confidence and hope that comes from our faith. Will we be up to the challenge? Have we dared to live with the questions that are alive in each of us?
Thomas said, “I want to see the scars.” For someone who knows what it is to be scarred in life, it is life-giving to know that Jesus also knew what it was to be scarred. Have you ever considered that the piercing of Jesus, maybe a point of entry into the world of the young people these days who are piercing their bodies? Maybe the practice is a question about what is real in life when so much seems unreal. Is it a spiritual practice that could connect them with Jesus? Are we willing to enter into conversation with them about all their other spiritual questions?
The gospel today comes with Jesus being willing to enter into the questions of Thomas. It comes to us also as Jesus comes among them with the words, “Peace be with you.” To a group of disciples huddled in fear he gives them words of peace. The opposite of fear isn’t courage but peace. He gives us words that we share with each other, words we share each week in the passing of the peace. It is an openness to questions of faith, willing to share our questions but also our answers with those around us. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” It is our task to share the peace with those around us who are looking for peace. To be visible as those carrying the hope that is the peace for the world. We are to be the community of Christ where we live differently.
We are to be recognizable to those seeking answers to their questions. There are an unprecedented number of people on a spiritual quest with questions, but the greatest need is for community, a group to belong to which will accept them and love them. To accept them just as they are, questions and all. It is in the community that we create that our hope in the resurrection is evident. William Willimon writes:
“The quality of a church’s life together is evidence of the resurrection . . . The most eloquent testimony to the reality of the resurrection is . . . a group of people where life together is so radically different, so completely changed from the way the world builds a community, that there can be no explanation other than that something decisive has happened in history.”
The world says, “Show me the resurrection! Show me hope! Show me meaning of life!” How we live and how we relate to each other needs to say that life together really matters. How we live, is how we share the peace. Do we believe what we have just celebrated at Easter? We have the year ahead to live out the reality. As we dare to do so, we will live in the midst of scars, questions and fears. Will we be open to them? A safer route for Thomas would have been to avoid the question and quietly went away. If you don’t ask the question you don’t need to worry about what the answer might be. It takes courage to ask the question, willing to deal with whatever that answer might be.
To confront our questions of faith requires the same courage. To dare to ask our questions will mean that the answers may not be as safe as we would like. The answers might require that we examine what we believe and why. To confront our questions of faith can also open us to a new world of grace and hope that we could never have imagined before. It can open us to people who have questions that we have never heard before.
Remember, Jesus invites us into community, a place that is meant to be safe. A place where we know peace and share peace. A place where we live out our faith, questions and all.