Second Sunday of Easter
March 30, 2008
The Rev. Kristin Krantz
Acts 2:14a, 22-32

Psalm 16

1 Peter 1:3-9

John 20:19-31

Alleluia!  The Lord is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!

How many of you heard the Gospel today and thought to yourself, “Oh, it’s the doubting Thomas story?” 

How many of you heard the Gospel today and thought to yourself, “Oh, it’s Pentecost already?” 

Ah, I caught you a bit off guard, didn’t I?

Well, listen up—here’s my sermon in a nutshell:  Hppay Pentecost!  Get to work!  And forget that doubting thing, we should all be so lucky to have faith like Thomas!

Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning and sending her off to tell the others she has seen the Lord.  Today’s story picks up on that same day in the evening.  If the other’s believed Mary’s story they didn’t seem to act upon it, because instead of heading out to look for Jesus they gathered in a locked room.  Talk about a group of doubters!  But then Jesus came and stood among them, and once again he transformed their lives.

He greeted them and then showed them all the wounds in the hands and side.  He then gave them his peace and he breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

He breathed on them.  I can’t help but wonder, what does the breath of God, of Jesus, smell like?  Is it warm and moist, like human breath?  Or is it cool, like a refreshing breeze on a hot day that suddenly gives you the chills? 

He breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Happy Pentecost folks!

The Easter / Pentecost split that we reflect in our liturgical calendar—Pentecost being 50 days after Easter—is itself a reflection of the storyline from the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

But in John, Easter is the locus of the gift of the Spirit and of the community’s mission.

So I say again, Happy Pentecost!  And get to work!

Are you wondering what work I am referring to?  Well, didn’t Jesus just say, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”?

Ah, I can see what you’re thinking, “Isn’t that forgiving sins stuff the work of priests?  Why are you telling me this?”

I'm telling you this because John didn’t say it was ‘the twelve, now the eleven with Judas gone’ gathered in that locked room.  For John the term ‘disciple’ was a general description of not only the core group, but of all the devoted followers of Jesus and indeed in the post-Resurrection, a term that represented the faith community in general. 

Jesus commission to forgive sins was addressed to the entire faith community, and so this is the work you need to do.

But there’s a catch.  You were waiting for it, weren’t you? 

In order to do this work you need to understand that in the Gospel of John, sin is a theological failing, not a moral one.  To have sin is to be blind to the revelation of God in Jesus.  And so the commission to the community is to continue the work of making God in Jesus known in the world, and in so doing bring the world to the moment of decision and judgment in regard to sin.

Wow. We’ve just entered the black and white world of John—either you’re in or you’re out.  You believe in Jesus, or you don’t.  I don’t think this sat any easier with those gathered 2000 years ago than it does for many of us today, though for different reasons.

For them it was likely because they knew this would mean persecution from the wider society and the Roman leadership.  For us, in our global and multi-cultural context, this can feel exclusionary at best and at its worst justification for countless atrocities throughout history.

So what exactly is our work, our mission?  And do we really want to do it?  I think it boils down to this:  Our mission is to love one another as Jesus loves us; in so doing we reveal the love of God to the world.  By revealing God to the world, we make it possible for people to witness the love of God and offer them the choice of accepting this love.  The rest is between them and God. 

It is our mission, therefore, not to be the arbiters of right and wrong, declaring who is in and who is out, but to bear witness to the limitless love of God in Jesus—which is something I think this community does very well.  Think of all the Heifer Arks that keep coming in and all the animals we will purchase for families living in poverty.  Think of the hundreds of people in our community we feed each month through the open door dinner, and the love that goes into everything from the cooking right down to the last table that is wiped.  Imagine the countless other ways that we can, as a community, show forth the love of Christ. 

That is our work.

And we’re able to do such work because of our faith.  Here’s where the story of Thomas comes in.  And yes, I said faith, not doubt.

Now, I’m guessing there are some of you who feeling your heels dig in a bit this morning.  I just told you that it’s Pentecost, when clearly it’s still Easter, and I told you you’ve got a lot of work to do—all that forgiving and retaining sins and showing the world God’s love stuff.  Now it seems I’m assaulting our parish t-shirt tagline and unofficial parish slogan, “Got doubt?”

Let me say I think doubt is essential to faith, or at least it has been in my life.  Doubt has often been my door into further learning, into prayer, into relationship with God.  As a member of our Spiritual Parenting group said last month, if you keep your conversations with God polite, all you’ll ever have is a polite relationship.  I can assure you that God and I are beyond polite—in large part because of doubt.

But if we’re looking for someone to teach us about doubt, Thomas just isn’t the guy (despite what the coloring sheet on the pew next to you might indicate!).

Now it seems that for some reason Thomas wasn’t with the group the evening of Easter when Jesus came to them.  And so when he caught up with them again they said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” 

Now, where have we heard that before?  Oh yea, that’s what Mary Magdalene told the group after she saw Jesus on Easter morning.  And just as they were unbelieving of her, Thomas is of them. 

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

Thomas acts no differently than the other disciples, except that he has the courage to say what his faith demands—tangible proof of the resurrection.  Should his faith have been the kind of faith that didn’t need proof?  Should the disciples have been able to believe Mary’s proclamation?  Should faith take on only one shape and form?

The center of the story is not Thomas’ so-called doubt or even his demand to touch Jesus’ wounds. 

The center of the story is Jesus’ response.

Jesus again appeared to the gathered community and he offered to give Thomas exactly what he demanded, saying, “Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe.”

And Thomas then exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”

This is the most powerful and complete confession of faith in the Gospel of John—an acknowledgment that God is fully revealed in Jesus.  It is given to a person who doubts and believes; it is given to one who knows his faith so well that he asks for what that faith needs—to touch the wounds of Jesus.

And yet, it is not touching Jesus that makes Thomas confess his faith, it is Jesus’ offer of himself. 

Jesus was not trying to shame Thomas by offering him the signs of the crucifixion, he was giving him what he needed for his faith to take root. 

It is only when we are rooted in faith, individually and as a community, that we are able to do the work we are called to do.  Thomas teaches us not that doubt is important to faith, but that we need to know ourselves and our faith well enough to ask God for those things we need.  This story shows us indeed, ask and you shall receive.

So, what does your faith need? 

Have you asked God for it yet? 

When will you ask God for it?

How will you show forth the love of God in the world?

It’s Easter!  And it’s Pentecost!  And there is work to be done!

Alleluia!  The Lord is Risen!  The Lord is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!

-AMEN-