(sermon) Christos anesti - - I doubt it!
John 20:19-31 NRSV
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Shalom” ("shlama" (Aramaic)). 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Shalom. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (Aramaic: Receive the Spirit of Holiness). 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Jesus and Thomas
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to 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.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Shalom.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (Aramaic: “Now you have seen Me, and have believed; blessings to those who don’t see Me, and have believed!”
The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe[b] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
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I shall speak of this Easter Gospel. You may be seated.
ABSOLUTION
“Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that we may turn from our wickedness and live, hath given power and commandment to his ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. HE pardons and absolves all those who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit; that those things may please him which we do at this time; that the rest of our lives hereafter may be pure and holy; and that at the last we may come to his eternal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
From Jesus this morning - - John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” - - is the authority on which the Church claims the power “to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners”, that the bishop passes on to us in ordaining us priests.
Some Christians understand this passage as Jesus speaking only to his disciples present that night, not to an Institution and its thousands or millions of ordained clergy forever. Indeed, the church abused its power over the centuries, using fear, withholding absolution, with excommunication, threatening hellfire and eternal damnation, to control people. Abuse of power and authority is a flaw of human nature that works quite well when people acquiesce because they’re afraid.
The Episcopal Church, Anglicanism, received this Tradition of Confession & Absolution in our Catholic heritage. And we offer it to you, not from power or threatening, but as a gift, the Love of Jesus.
DOORS LOCKED
In today’s gospel disciples are gathered, the doors locked and barred because they’re afraid the authorities who crucified Jesus will now come for them - - and, subtly, you are meant to notice that Jesus appears in the room anyway. You are supposed to ask yourself, “How did he get in?”, but immediately know the answer: this is God the Son, who “appears here and there - now and then - to this one and that one” - - as he will, over the days to come. Jesus is present where those who love him gather in his Name. Just so in that gospel gathering that night, just so in our gathering here this morning, and in the eucharistic bread that will be given to you as “the Body of Christ”.
EATS FISH
On this same gospel occasion, which is the Evening of Easter Day, Luke (24:41-43) reports Jesus asking “Do you have anything to eat?” and eating a piece of broiled fish, to show us that Jesus, the Risen Christ, is not the wishful thinking of our imagination; Christos anesti, Christ is risen, alethos anesti, truly risen.
DOUBTING THOMAS
And yet as all this beautiful resurrection theology comes together, the only thing you’ll remember about today’s Bible story will be Doubting Thomas.
Thomas, who was called the Twin. Whose Twin? Didymus Judas Thomas: an early tradition was, and many Christians believed, that Thomas was Jesus’ twin brother. Even Jesus’ identical twin. (If you are surprised you should have been coming to my Sunday School class! But this is not some bizarre obscurity, check it out yourself, Google “Judas Didymus Thomas” and 73,700 results will appear in 0.89 seconds)*.
So anyway, at the second gathering, after Doubting Thomas has seen and believed, the gospel writer reports Jesus saying makarioi, blest, happy, content, satisfied, at peace are those who believe without seeing, where faith and happiness are intertwined, inseparable (which is to say, if you decide on faith, you’ll be happy; if you want to be happy, take the leap of faith).
But Doubting Thomas - - where Doubt itself is the beginning and essence of a conversion experience Faith decision. Faith without Doubt is not Faith at all; Faith without Doubt is Certainty, the nonsense of gullible naiveté. Doubt is entirely Scriptural!!
And by the way, what Gospel John says about Doubting Thomas is not the only instance of disciples Doubting: Matthew 28:16,17, after Easter “the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus sent them; and having seen him, they worshiped, but some doubted”. How many doubted? All eleven of them. “Am I hallucinating, or is He truly risen?”
And the Faith decision: alethos anesti!! Truly risen!
The Episcopal Church
Mark Twain, who along with Tolkien and C S Lewis is one of my favorites, Mark Twain has been quoted, “Faith is believing what you know damn well ain’t so!” This is the Episcopal Church, where we prefer questions to answers, doubt to certainty, where, as our somewhat arrogant saying goes, “We do not check our brains at the door”. We enjoy and believe even the most outrageous stories, without certainty, with questions in mind, even tongue in cheek, we read and study and search and seek and ask and explore and discuss and argue, never satisfied with the decisions and settlements of others, not even the Fathers of the Creeds. Never certain that we have final answers, we continue to search, question and doubt, with Faith in Jesus - - who rose from death and immediately returned to us because obviously, as the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection proclaim, God loves us no matter how we treat him. That's the incredible Gospel of Easter.
The Gospel of Easter is this: God loves you. God loves us no matter what. No matter how we treat him, God loves you.
Am I certain? Absolutely not. I doubt it, it’s so incredible. It cannot possibly be true.
Yet notwithstanding Mark Twain, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to believe. I have decided to love with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my mind, and all my strength. This is my Faith.
This is my faith. As Saint Paul says, work out your own with fear and trembling.
* https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=judas+didymus+thomas&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRnZPLsvTvAhUEhOAKHUkuAlUQBSgAegQINRAv&biw=1410&bih=745 About 73,700 results (0.89 seconds)
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Sermon/homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida, April 11, 2021, the Second Sunday of Easter. The Rev Tom Weller (retired), Priest Associate of the Parish.
Image: pinched online.