Audio 2 Easter April 28 2019 Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8, John
20:19-31, Psalm 118:14-29
"It is one of the cosmos' most mysterious unsolved
cases: dark matter. It is supposedly what holds the universe together. We can't
see it, but scientists are pretty sure it's out there." I read that on the
Internet, so it must be true. And earlier in Lent, I read or heard, can't
remember which, that we know about 3% of all there is to know.
We want to know so desperately, don't we? We want certainty,
we want proof, we want it all. And yet, in faith as in science, the story we
tell really only touches the mystery of the universe every once in a while. Our
science and our faith is only as good as the questions we ask. And yet the
story we tell, whether it is the story of faith, or the story of science, does
a darn good job of pointing us in the right direction, describing the reality
in which we live. The story of faith, and the story of science, are not
mutually exclusive stories, they are stories that describe different things,
and yet, they dance together.
Jesus died, didn't he? And yet Mary, who stood weeping at
the tomb, returns to the disciples and says, “I have seen the Lord.” And we
claim that God entered time and space and did something absolutely new,
something so amazing that all we can do is sing and dance and shout alleluia!
All we can do is try to describe it, try to paint pictures and make music, we
can't come close to knowing it. And that amazing thing that God continues to do
changes us, transforms us, like Jesus, we are made into something completely
new and different.
The doors of the house where the disciples met in fear were
locked, and Jesus came and stood among them. Jesus came and stood among them,
but until Jesus said, Peace be with you, they did not even recognize him. Well
would you? He was dead, why on earth would Jesus be standing among them.
Remember the women who came running back from the tomb? The disciples didn't
believe them, they didn't believe even Jesus himself until Jesus said these
familiar words, Peace be with you. Only then did the disciples realize this was
Jesus in their midst. How could this be?
You see, this story about Jesus appearing to the disciples
after the crucifixion and resurrection, this story about Jesus coming back to
appear to Thomas, who missed it the first time around, serves to try to show us
what resurrection looks like. It tries to show us what this amazing thing that
God does, looks like.
Imagine yourself there. You are in that room, it is hot and
smelly and so close, the doors are locked, the windows are barred. You are so
frightened, the same authorities who just killed Jesus are after you. You can't
eat, you can't sleep, your stomach is in knots. And then, all of a sudden,
without any warning, this man, whom you do not recognize, shows up in the room.
How did that happen? There's no way he could have gotten in, you locked those
doors yourself. Everyone is shaking in their sandals. And then he speaks.
"Peace be with you." His hands and his feet were torn from the nails
driven into them, his side was pierced. You knew it was him when he spoke again
of peace, and forgiveness, when he breathed on you and you felt his
spirit.
Thomas wasn't there that day, and just like you, couldn't
believe it until he saw it. So a week later, when Thomas was there, Jesus
showed up again. The hands, the feet, the side. You knew you had to tell this
story, you knew that God had done something so amazing you just had to tell
everyone.
Here you are, on this day, the Sunday after Easter, your
60th Easter, your 45th Easter, your 20th Easter, your 10th Easter. We gather
together here, in this place. Our doors are wide open, we hope and pray each
time we gather that God will show up, that God will send us people to whom we
may introduce God. The reality is that God is here, God is showing up. The
question is do we recognize God? Do we recognize Jesus in our midst? This story
we hear today points us to the ways we recognize Jesus in our midst. Peace be
with you. Receive the Holy Spirit, forgive the sins of any, blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have come to believe. This is the way we recognize
Jesus, this is the way we serve Jesus, this is the way we follow Jesus. We
listen to those around us, we listen to their stories, we listen to who they
are, and when we do, Jesus shows up.
When people tell the story about Thomas they tend to end
with the admonition to believe without seeing. Somehow, believing without
seeing gets equated with certainty and faith. But I think one of the mistakes
that is made in Christian talk is that belief and certainty become synonymous.
Certainty is never a pre-requisite for belief, and certainty is not a product
of belief. There is a place for all of our doubt and uncertainty, all of our
questions. Even Thomas shows us that. Certainty actually is not really very
important at all. The reality in which we live, and the place I began all of
this today, is that reality in which we see and experience very little of the
total that is possible in human experience. We place our faith in the story
that is true, not in the certainty of being right. We place our faith in the
story of life, joy, pain, suffering, death, and resurrection, and the God who
walks with us in the midst of it all. The God who collects all of humanity's
pain, fear, and hate, and takes it into Godself through love. That is not
about certainty, but it is about love.
We practice love and God shows up. That is what this life
and this faith is all about. We practice peace and Jesus shows up. That is what
serving others is all about. We practice silence and the spirit shows up. That
is what prayer is all about. Open the doors, let all who would enter come
in. It is Love that wins. Amen. Audio Audio
No comments:
Post a Comment