Thomas has a bad rap. Poor Thomas. He
even has his own nickname: Doubting Thomas. Perhaps, though, Thomas deserves
some thanks for being brave enough to express his doubt.
I suspect the reason he wasn’t with the other disciples was
because he needed time to process what happened. Some people process big events
by talking about it with other people. Others of us have to go off alone. And
then of course, maybe Thomas just went out for a walk, or had a look through
the market stalls, or sat on a bench in the wine shop and knocked one back.
Once he’d done whatever he’d needed to
do, he came back. And when he came back he heard the other disciples telling
him they had seen Jesus. I winder if we’d be be the same way. I wonder if we,
too, would want more proof than the word of those rag tag people we hang out
with. I wonder if we’d want to see Jesus ourselves. I wonder if we’d want to
know the Jesus the other disciples saw was the same Jesus that died on the cross.
And l wonder if like Thomas, we would want the proof of seeing and touching
Jesus’ wounds.
Thomas got his chance. Jesus came back
to that same room, to the rest of the hunkered down and fearful disciples. He
offered to show his wounds to Thomas, to prove he, the Risen Christ, was the
same Jesus who died on the cross.
We don’t really know if Thomas put his
finger in Jesus’ wounds, or his hand in Jesus’ side. What we do know is Thomas
believed in the God who died and rose again, as both his Lord and God. And that
act of belief is one of the things that transformed the hunkered down,
frightened rag tag group of disciples into a loving and nurturing community
that spread throughout the world.
They were afraid of being found out as disciples of Jesus,
of being tortured, of being put to death as disciples of Jesus. So they
hunkered down and hid. It is, after all, a natural reaction.
I often think that’s why the Sunday
after Easter is usually the Sunday when the fewest people come to church. All
that joy Easter Sunday makes some folks nervous about coming back. What if it the
joy isn’t there any more? What if it we imagined it all? What if we come and it’s
flat and uninspiring? What if Jesus isn’t really here?
Each of us wants to experience Jesus
for ourselves, whether we admit it or not. And, each of us wants to believe
with our hearts as well as our heads. Someone once said the longest distance
for humans is between the head and heart. That is something I simply don’t
believe. In reality, it’s only about a foot away. How long a journey can that
be? Maybe our journey has something to do with our willingness to accept our
doubt and to thank our friend Thomas for showing us doubt is some times where
Jesus can be found.
So just for a moment, imagine yourself
thanking Thomas for sharing his doubt. (Pause.) And, imagine yourself thanking
God for giving you doubt. (Pause.)
Now imagine thanking God for creating doubt
in you that makes you creative and curious enough to want to find Jesus.
(Pause.) Now imagine thanking God for creating this community of sometime believers and
sometime doubters, where it’s safe to explore and admit to doubt. (Pause.)
So yes, the joy is still here. Because
this is a place where Jesus is with us every week. Jesus is with us wherever
and whenever two or three are gathered in his name. And Jesus is with us in the
word, the wine, and the bread. AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2017
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