Sermons
"Doubting Thomas-My Hero"
I propose to show that in the midst of our doubts the community can carry
us along so
that even when we do not believe we are not left behind, so that those
hearing this
sermon may know that their faith does not have to be unshakable to be
effective.
Gracious God
-if we can't see you and touch you
-may we at least know you.
In your holy living name we pray; Amen.
(please be seated)
Good Morning!
If I were ever to be a nun
ÖIf ever I were to be a nun
-I am quite certain
that my name would be Sister Bonnie Thomas. Thomas-Doubting Thomas to
be exact
-is my biblical hero
-my patron saint.
There is no other single character
with whom I relate [more].
Not Mary, Jesus or Joseph,
not Magdalene, Sarah, Rebecca,
Leah or Rachel
-Jacob, Lot or Noah.
Thomas is my man.
He asks the questions,
raises the issues and says,
"Tell me a little bit more about that Jesus
-I'm not so sure that I get it."
Thomas gets most of his press
from this morning's reading-
but today's activities are actually a culmination
of his questions and interactions.
The apostle Thomas
appears in all four gospels.
Earlier on
when Jesus is making plans
to go to see Lazarus' sisters,
Martha and Mary
-despite the very real possibility
that he will be attacked
Thomas says to the other apostles,
Let's go too-we might as well die with him."
Thomas is loyal.
Later when Jesus is talking about his final destiny
and how he will soon go
to prepare a place for his apostles
and then how he will meet the apostles
in this special place.
Thomas asks, what everyone else is thinking,
"Uh-we don't know where you're going
-so actually we do not know
how to get there,"
to which Jesus replies,
"I am the way the truth and the life."
Not exactly a roadmap
for an answer
but more than they knew before.
Thomas isn't afraid to ask
for a little bit more from Jesus.
Thomas is practical.
So when Thomas misses Jesus'
first appearance
-up from the grave
-it makes perfect sense
for him to want proof.
It's completely in character
for him to say to his friends,
"I'm not going to believe
until I see the wounds and feel the scabs."
Thomas is truthful-and he is literal.
Throughout the scriptures
Thomas asks Jesus to qualify
his pronouncements
and explain his predictions.
While the other apostles nod cluelessly
-Thomas is the one who asks,
"What exactly do you mean?"
Thomas asks the questions
to which I want to know the answers.
Thomas models for us
the notion that a faithful believer
is not
an individual of blind,
unswerving faith
but rather someone
who is engaged
using all of the intellect and gifts
that God has given to them.
We can question, doubt and believe
all at the same time.
Thomas got the ultimate answer
to his doubts.
I suspect there isn't a person in this room
who wouldn't mind having the opportunity
to do as Thomas did
--to see Jesus-up from the grave
-wounds in hand-
with an open invitation from the divine
to touch and see;
to feel and to know.
Sadly, attractive as that option is
-even Mel Gibson
can't help us out with this one.
We can't have Thomas' real life experience.
So how then do we believe?
We believe-we get by
-as I believe Thomas got by
in those eight intervening days
between Jesus' first appearance and his second.
Thomas got by
-through the faith of the community.
They saw, they believed.
While that might not have been enough
to open Thomas' mind
-it was enough to keep him fully engaged
He didn't flee from town
-tell them they were nuts.
He stayed.
He stayed
connected to and with the community
enough so that he was in their company
-the next time Jesus appeared.
More than anything else
Thomas was not alone.
Faith is a gift from God
that is deepened by our doubts and questions
and frequently sustained
for us by those who love us.
We won't get a Technicolor appearance of Jesus.
We lack that.
But we, like Thomas,
we do have a community;
a community of faithful doubters and believers.
My faith is much like the waters of a bay,
ebbing and flowing,
waxing and waning,
depending upon the pull and push of the tide.
I'm not talking the relatively calm
three foot tides of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland
or the non-existent tides
of the Great Lakes
-but rather the twenty-one feet
"the boat's way up here and
then six hours later its laying on its side
no water to be found
Bay of Fundy tides."
I believe and then I don't.
It comes and goes.
I know it in my soul
and then
doubt my mind.
Faith is like water cupped in my hand
-squeeze too tight and it leaks out the sides.
So then what?
That's when I'm jealous of Thomas
-but give thanks for the Apostles.
For it is specifically and invariably
during those moments
when I'm having the hardest time believing
that someone will come to me,
mention in passing,
or sit in my office
and tell me how God
has been amazingly active in their life.
Their belief-your belief,
enables me to believe again.
I think it works much like
how friends of mine in recovery
describe their early days.
They'd just stopped drinking
and were unsure how they'd ever stay sober.
But they'd go to meetings-
once, twice, sometimes three times a day
and listen to the stories
of people just like them-
how they'd struggled
and failed but now day by day
-their lives are different.
My friends say-
they still didn't know
what the future would hold for them
-but they knew
having heard the witness of their friends
-they knew they could make it through one more day.
Faith is like that.
Faith is a gift from God
-deepened by our doubts and questions
-frequently sustained for us by those who love us.
Alleluia-Christ is Risen!
How do I know?
You've told me so.
The Lord is Risen indeed Alleluia!
Amen.