We\u2019re at that time of year again. Easter Day is past and once more we\u2019re reading about Thomas, who evidently just can\u2019t believe Jesus has been raised from the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But don\u2019t we love this story? We love Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We love to chuckle indulgently over his lack of faith, because we certainly don\u2019t have trouble believing. We\u2019ve even given him a nickname: doubting Thomas. It\u2019s become so much of a clich\u00e9 that we can hardly believe Thomas is capable of anything except doubting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story seems so simple. Thomas wasn\u2019t there when Jesus appeared to the apostles the first time \u2013 and when he heard about that, he simply found it hard to fathom. \u201cI won\u2019t believe until I see it for myself,\u201d he says. And lo and behold, Jesus calls his bluff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We could say, \u201cEnd of story\u201d; but of course, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a whole lot more to this reading than a simple story of doubting Thomas. To begin with, it isn\u2019t all that simple \u2013 and yes, this story also says something about us. Like Thomas, we too are part of a community built on faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let\u2019s take a look again at what this story is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The apostles are gathered in a room on the first day of the week \u2013 the same as they had done when Jesus was with them. Jesus suddenly appears among them. He breathes on them, imparting to them the life of the Spirit. But for some reason, Thomas wasn\u2019t there. He only hears about what happened, and he simply can\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following week, the apostles, including Thomas this time, were in the room when Jesus again appeared among them. Jesus offered Thomas the chance to touch his hands and his side, but Thomas doesn\u2019t seem to need to do that. Instead he offers Jesus his profession of faith: \u201cMy Lord and my God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thing about this story that should be a lesson to us is that Jesus appears each time within the assembled community. Jesus doesn\u2019t appear to Thomas alone. But he also doesn\u2019t appear to Thomas in the group to embarrass him. Jesus appears to the group because it is within the group that they could continue learning about him, supporting each other, and being effective witnesses to the life of faith Jesus offers them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final verses of today\u2019s gospel passage, Jesus tells the disciples that many would come after them who would not have the same experience of him that they did. No one would again walk and talk with him as the disciples had; and yet, these others would also come to believe. Even the writer of this gospel says that the things about Jesus that were written in this gospel were written so that others may come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and that through believing would have life in his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, in one sense, Jesus was offering Thomas a chance to experience seeing him risen from the dead the same way the other disciples had. In doing that, Jesus also further strengthened the faith of that particular gathered community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another sense, Jesus is strengthening us all. We, too, are a gathered community \u2013 getting together at the beginning of the week in very much the same way the apostles did. They gathered to share their real life experience of knowing Jesus and working with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The apostles remembered him saying, \u201cDo this in remembrance of me.\u201d We gather to share in that story. For us, it is a remembrance of the story handed down to us, but unlike many of the family stories we tell, this is not just a remembrance \u2013 we continue to share in the presence of Jesus through the Eucharist. How that happens is a mystery, but in that mystery lies the powerful sense of belonging that draws us back here each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This image of the community gathered in prayer for strength and to keep the story alive is a very important one for all of us in the church today. On Easter, in churches all over the world, the paschal candle was held high and brought into dark churches. \u201cThe Light of Christ!\u201d and then \u201cThanks be to God!\u201d was sung by thousands of congregations of several different traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remembering how the time zones work, we realize that the Light of Christ was being proclaimed, was being brought into the darkness to give light to that darkness pretty consistently for about 24 hours. Imagine the Light traveling from the first dawn of Easter to the last. Imagine all those voices singing and shouting that Christ is alive! Imagine being a part of a whole world acting as one community sharing its faith with one another and with the world. That\u2019s how our community has grown from that tiny group of twelve apostles and a band of followers. It doesn\u2019t get any better than this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet \u2026 and yet \u2026 today we also realize that the excitement of the Resurrection and the first sightings of Jesus didn\u2019t make those early disciples perfect. It didn\u2019t take away all doubt, all fear. The disciples were still hanging about the room, afraid of possible repercussions. Thomas wondered and was honest about it. Change from being the followers into being the ones responsible for doing what Jesus did was still a bit scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We see a lot of ourselves here. So, what do we do with this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a story about faith, remember. It took faith for those disciples to stick together after the crucifixion. It took faith for them to hang on when they couldn\u2019t see Jesus anymore. It took faith for them to believe they could work out their new life together \u2013 to believe that the risen Jesus would always be there for them. That Light that filled our hearts with joy and exultation on Easter is the same Light that guides us now. It\u2019s the same Light that will help us continue building community with all its ups and downs, confidence builders and doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Episcopalians, we do believe that we are loved by the God who made us. When in our humanness we give in to doubt, we are not cut off from the love or strength of God; we\u2019re offered the same chance as Thomas to experience the reality of God\u2019s love. Because in the community of faith, we are always accepted at God\u2019s altar and in the company of our fellow believers or our fellow doubters. We\u2019re all in this together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, maybe we should stop labeling Thomas as \u201cdoubting Thomas\u201d and be grateful to him for showing us that it\u2019s OK to question and that it\u2019s perfectly normal to have doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we should also learn from his story that, as a community, we have the responsibility to share the story we\u2019ve been told and to be a strength to each other and to those around us. We do this all week long, wherever we are, by living faithful lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We realize also that it\u2019s in the Eucharist that we find the strength to do all this. As we live this out, we\u2019ll see ourselves getting stronger and stronger. We\u2019ll be a congregation that others will want to join, because they\u2019ll see that this is a place where it\u2019s OK to question as Thomas did; that this is a place where everyone\u2019s gifts are appreciated; that this is a place where all are welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember, Jesus says to all of us, \u201cBlest are those who have not seen, but believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2019re at that time of year again. Easter Day is past and once more we\u2019re reading about Thomas, who evidently just can\u2019t believe Jesus has been raised from the dead. But don\u2019t we love this story? We love Thomas. We love to chuckle indulgently over his lack of faith, because we certainly don\u2019t have trouble…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,43,52,3],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-510950","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-easter-2b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":22,"label":"Easter"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":193,"label":"Easter 2B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/510950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/510950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":950501,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/510950\/revisions\/950501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}