Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Take our minds and think through them, take my lips and speak through them, take our souls and set them on fire. In the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
This day in the life of the church is an odd duck as Sundays go. Last Sunday, Easter Sunday, we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus with the New Fire of the Great Vigil, the Brass and Timpani, and the ringing of bells… lots and lots of bells. And now we’re here a week later, and my how different everything feels. All that celebration seems a lifetime ago as life returned to normal this past week. That feeling makes this day in the life of the church a bit odd. Sure it’s still Easter, and we’re supposed to be excited, but man I don’t know about you, but I’m tired… It’s that feeling of coming down from Easter that gets captured on this Sunday.
That’s why for many Christians this Sunday is known as Low Sunday. Low Sunday because Low marks the difference between the heights of Easter and the feeling of this day. But today is a very important day in the life of the church. Today is a day when you and I have to come face to face with the greatest question of the Christian faith, “Have we seen the Risen Jesus?” Easter is wonderful, Easter is beautiful, but dare I say it: Easter is easy. Who couldn’t believe in the Risen Jesus amid all that new fire, the waters of baptism, all those bells, and all of that brass and timpani? Today is different, and after all of the celebration is laid aside, now that Easter Day is over, we have to ask ourselves the most important question, the question Low Sunday inevitably brings us to: “Did we really see the Risen Jesus?”
To frame this question we have to consider one of the other names for this Sunday. There is another name for this Sunday that I think gets to the heart of that question. For many this day isn’t known as Low Sunday; it is called St. Thomas Sunday. It’s called that because throughout its history, on this day, the church hears the story of Saint Thomas. This passage from the Gospel of John is about the disciple who missed Easter Day. It’s about the disciple who didn’t see the Risen Jesus like all the rest. It’s about the disciple who had to come to faith on his own terms. It’s about the disciple who challenged the other disciples with a question, “Did you really see the Risen Jesus?”
Each of the Gospels asks the question in its own way, but the Gospel of John asks it through the character of Thomas. The Gospel of John that introduces us to Thomas; “Doubting Thomas” as history comes to know him. Sometimes we hear the epithet “Doubting Thomas” applied to those who won’t believe this or that story. To be a “Doubting Thomas” is to be someone who cannot or will not believe until they see it with their own eyes. And it’s clear how Doubting Thomas came to be. Thomas was with Jesus throughout the Gospel of John. This is the same Thomas who volunteered to follow Jesus even to death in John chapter 12. But when it became clear to Thomas that the way of Jesus was to be the way of pain, suffering and death Thomas ran, but unlike the other disciples Thomas stayed away.
John’s Gospel tell us that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene in the Garden, then to the disciples cowering behind locked doors. But, one of the disciples was missing. Thomas stayed away. What are we to assume about Thomas? I assume that Thomas had all but given up on the disciples. He’s not Doubting Thomas in my book; he’s Thomas the Pragmatist. That makes sense doesn’t it? Thomas is the smart one. The religious authorities were probably scouring the city to clean up the last remnants of the Galilean Carpenter’s merry band. Why on earth would a fugitive go back to the scene of the crime? Not to mention the fact that when the leader dies so dies the movement. Why go on worrying about Jesus’ teachings as if they held some yet to be determined treasure… I mean they’re nice ideas but some of us live in the real world… and look where those nice ideas got that nice young man from Galilee. They earned him a criminal’s execution with a thief on each arm. Thomas was right to stay away. Thomas makes sense. Doubting Thomas? Oh no, I prefer Thomas the Sane, Thomas the Wise, or better yet Thomas the Pragmatist.
Those other disciples were dedicated though. I’ll give them that. Thomas may have given up on them but they had far from given up on Thomas. Jesus appeared to them behind locked doors and breathed on them his Holy Spirit. And what did they do? They immediately went out to find their lost brother Thomas. The disciples searched for him to tell him the good news. They had seen the Risen Jesus.
But Thomas’ response to them is so clear, so matter of fact… be careful not to read any judgment at his words or we might miss their obvious humanity; we might miss the words we may have even said ourselves. When the disciples testify to seeing the Risen Jesus Thomas responds, “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.” It’s the most pragmatic faith. It’s belief on terms that can make sense of tragedy and pain. And it’s not enough for Thomas to see the Risen Christ; he won’t be satisfied until he has touched him with his own hands. He wants proof incontrovertible. No mere story will do. Thomas’s challenge is in a way the question, “Did you really see the Risen Jesus?”
The disciples don’t chide or try to theologically prove their claims. They simply bring Thomas back to the Upper Room. They bring Thomas to the place where they first met the Risen Jesus. And again Jesus appears the disciples and this time Thomas is there. And the Risen Jesus doesn’t chide or rebuke Thomas. He offers his hands to Thomas to see and touch. He offers his side and his wounds. And Thomas falls on his knees and proclaims, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas the Sane, Thomas the Wise, Thomas the Pragmatist is once again Thomas the Disciple. Jesus responds simply, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Almost four years ago I was called to Trinity Church as the Assistant Rector for Evangelism and Church Growth. That title was abbreviated into the Assistant Rector for Congregational Growth as evangelism is a tough word in our Episcopal context. Evangelism and evangelical for many conjure up images of milk crate standing Elmer Gantries and sandwich board wearing lunatics passing out tracts that will lead to eternal salvation. Evangelism conjures up the memories of altar calls and fiery sermons of judgment. It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate because the truth is that evangelism couldn’t be any further from those things. Evangelism is so much more profound and so much more beautiful a thing than these. Evangelism is the gentle loving act of those disciples who went looking for Doubting Thomas. Evangelism is the loving tug on Thomas’ arm to bring him into the Upper Room. Evangelism is the Risen Jesus meeting us where we are in our doubt and in our pain. Evangelism is being asked the question “Did you really see the Risen Jesus?” and our responding YES! Come and see. Come and meet the Risen Jesus.
For 275 years Trinity Church, whether you knew it or not, has been a church that practices evangelism. Not the tract brandishing judgmentalism that saves people from the mouth of hell, but an evangelism that introduces them to the Risen Jesus. In the beauty of this building, in the transcendence of our worship, and in the work she does in the City, Trinity Church has invited tens of thousands into this Upper Room to meet the Risen Jesus. That is her mission. That is her call. But in order for her to continue in this mission we have to go find Thomas. In our places of work, in our families, on the bus or in the mall, we have to find Thomas. Disciples don’t stay in the Upper Room. Jesus’ first disciples knew that beyond its walls their brother Thomas was somewhere, struggling for faith, wrapped in fear and doubt. His world was turned upside down by loss and pain just as their’s had been, and the Risen Jesus was waiting for him too. The disciples had a work to do. We have a work to do. And when we find Thomas, whoever he or she may be, far from the new fire or the brass and timpani of Easter Day they’re going to ask, “Did you really see the Risen Jesus?” And there’s only one response for Jesus’ disciples, “Yes! Come and see. Come and meet the Risen Jesus.”
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