μακάριοι !! to be Happy in Jesus !! (homily Easter2A)

John 20:19-31
When it was evening of 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, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.”

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, "Peace be with you." 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blest μακάριοι are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The Gospel of the Lord!

μακάριοι, Welcome Happy Morning! That’s today’s Bible Story of what happened on the Sunday evening of Easter Day, and a week later, on the Second Sunday of Easter. Now listen to our Collect (Prayer) for the Holy Day of St Thomas the Apostle:

"Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight ..."

That’s not my prayer, not at all. In fact, in our Adult Sunday School class we’d see that whoever edited Cranmer's prayer was an idiot, but I won’t say or do that in the pulpit.

The prayer casts Doubt as negative, a negative force, which is not so! Some "20th century revisionist" (!) modified Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s 1549 prayer that said: “Almighty and everliving God, who, … did suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to doubt thy Son’s resurrection”, giving God full credit for making Thomas doubt so we can happily believe without seeing - - which Gospel John says is why he recorded the Story.

We are in God’s image, thinking creatures. Doubt is natural. Doubt is human. Doubt is not negative, Doubt is positive. Doubt is the difference between Faith and Certainty.

In fact, it’s Algebra One: C + D = F
Certainty plus Doubt equals Faith.
Faith without Doubt is Certainty (which is what Thomas had to have).
Faith is belief, trust, hope, confidence, assurance, but not the Certainty of seeing and touching: that’s not Faith.

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We are a church of Stories and Prayers and Songs and Creeds, and every year on this day we tell the Good Old Sunday School Bible Story of Doubting Thomas, who insisted on seeing and touching.

The story happens on Easter Day and the Sunday after, but "The Gospel according to John" was not written until long decades later, when it’s too late to see and touch, so Jesus says you can be happy anyway if, unlike Thomas, you Trust and Obey!

John Sammis’ 19th century hymn:
Trust and obey, for
there’s no other way to be Happy in Jesus
but to trust and obey.

Faith is trust and obedience, like the Faith of Abraham. Hebrews 11:1, “faith is confidence in what we hope for, assurance about what we do not see”. Thomas did not believe in Jesus by faith, Thomas came to Christ by seeing and touching and feeling and hearing and knowing, but we are here sola fide, faith alone.

The classic man of Faith is Abraham. Thomas was no Abraham! If you know that quarter-century-long story of Waiting for God, Abraham had his doubts that grew as the years stretched into decades. And Sarah certainly doubted, sitting inside the tent laughing at God making the same old promises again ! But Abraham and Sarah trusted and obeyed God anyway, and that’s what Faith is.

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Here’s your Greek lesson for today: in John’s gospel Jesus says “μακάριοι are those who do NOT see, but πιστεύσαντες have Faith anyway”.

The Greek verb translated “belief” is πιστεύω, which does not mean “I know” - - it means I believe, I have faith, I trust. It's the first word in the Nicene Creed.

The Greek word translated “blest” or “blessed” is μακάριοι, which does not mean sanctified or holy. μακάριοι means happy.

“Happy are those who have NOT seen, yet have come to Faith” does not mean they are holy saints now. It means they are fortunate, lucky, happy. Not worried, they've set their concerns aside.

Think of this:

Your biopsy comes back benign, μακάριοι.
Your PSA is “undetectable”, μακάριοι.
You get a 93 on the math test you were absolutely sure you’d failed, μακάριοι.
Your college letter came, you run to your room, scared to open it. When you finally do open it, the word you see is ACCEPTED: μακάριοι.
You passed the bar exam, μακάριοι.
You finally pass all four parts of the CPA exam, μακάριοι.
You finish medical school dead last, at the very bottom of your class, but we call you “doctor” anyway, μακάριοι.
You’re driving on the Interstate, your heart in your throat because the warning chime keeps ding ding dinging that your gas tank is empty. Suddenly there’s a Chevron station: man are you happy! Thank you, Jesus! μακάριοι!
The government sent your $1,200 relief check, μακάριοι!
When the Covid-19 scare is over, you crowd into the bar, rub shoulders with friends and strangers, and buy drinks for the house, μακάριοι.

μακάριοι -> in John’s gospel, instead of demanding proof, as Thomas did, Jesus says you can be Happy if you accept him on faith alone, based on the Stories about him. Like today's Bible story.

Doubting Thomas had proof, knowledge. Faith is not Knowledge, Faith has room for Doubt, ask Abraham! That I can doubt puts my mind at ease. To question is Freedom. I’m a human being, I doubt, I question, I explore. So can you. It's okay!

We’re going to say the Nicene Creed now.
I’m standing, so I’ll say it here in the pulpit. In fact, I’ll READ it. At home, you don’t need to stand if you don't want to. I’ll read and you pay attention to the words. There’s no certainty about it, it’s not “We know”, it’s “We believe”, what we hope for, that Thomas had to see and touch.

If you doubt it, God loves you all the same, just as God loves Abraham and Thomas, μακάριοι!

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Homily/sermon in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida, the Rev Tom Weller, April 19, 2020, the Second Sunday of Easter. E-Church at 10:30 on line.

Art
Top: creative variation on Caravaggio 21st c. pinched online

Next: John Granville Gregory, Maine, "Still Doubting"

In my mind, Jesus' disciples, the apostles, were not old men as generally painted in the classics, by the old masters, including Caravaggio, but young men, even teenagers - - Peter & Andrew, James & John, young sons of fishermen who knew they were doomed to a fisherman's life, and saw an opportunity for adventure in dropping everything and following Jesus. So, I appreciate the creative variations with the younger folks!!

Next: Bernd Jansons, "Doubting Thomas" 20th c,.
Next: Emil Nolde "Doubting Thomas", early 20th c.
Bottom: Caravaggio, 1601, "Incredulity of St Thomas"