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 Easter Two – Year A

Preached on May 1, 2011

At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline

The Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello

 

Acts of the Apostles 2:14a, 22—32

1 Peter 1:3—9

John 20:19—31

 Our Easter services were glorious. The music was wonderful; the church was filled with the color of the butterflies, fresh from their cocoons, and smelled of lilies and spring flowers. The tricky weather cooperated and the lawn was filled with children scooping up candy and chocolates in the Easter egg hunt. On Saturday night at the Vigil, we welcomed four new Christians into the family as we watched the Light of Christ pierce the darkness. It was all amazing!

 If you weren’t here, well, you’ll have to take my word for it. Mind you, my words don’t do it justice at all, but they’ve all I’ve got. I can tell you over and over again what a transformational experience it all was, but if you weren’t actually there, it might be hard to prove it.

 I cannot produce any scientific evidence that our experience of Easter here at St. Paul’s was as spectacular as it was. Sure, there are remnants of our joyous time together; the mobile still hangs, there are a few lilies still hanging around. The bulletins have been filed away for next year. There is a bag of candy from the Easter egg hunt in my home, though shrinking by the day.

 If you want me to, I’m happy to produce all of that evidence for you. But it won’t be the same as having been there. Oh, you should have seen it!

 Perhaps you can already see where this is headed.

 The disciples in today’s Gospel passage are locked in an upper room with the shutters drawn. The have hidden themselves away in a dark room out of fear that the authorities will be coming for them next. As they worry about their next move, Jesus comes and stands with them. “Peace be with you.” In response, the disciples are elated. They cheer and rejoice that the news the women had told them was true after all. Jesus was risen, just as he said he would be! Alleluia!

 A short while later, Thomas returns from his time out in the crowd. I imagine he left the safety of that room to get some provisions to tide the disciples over until the frenzy outside died down a bit. He is the only one brave enough to go outside. He is willing to risk his life for his friends. Upon his return, the disciples look at him with wide eyes and beaming smiles. “You’re never going to believe this, Thomas, but Jesus was here! He is risen as he said he would be!”

 Thomas stares back at them in disbelief. Of course he does, why wouldn’t he? It wasn’t fair, was it? He steps out for a bit and that’s when Jesus chooses to come and reveal himself? No, no way. This must be a set up. Thomas was ready to go to his death for Jesus, certainly if Jesus was to return, Thomas would be there to see it.

 No amount of convincing will do. He must see Jesus himself. And he does.

 Although the church loves to hold Thomas out as a cautionary tale, “Doubting Thomas” as he’s come to be known doesn’t ask for anything that any of the other early witnesses to the resurrection didn’t get – eyes on knowledge of the risen Christ.

 Though the women at the tomb were told of Jesus’ resurrection by an angel, they didn’t really believe until Jesus was standing there in front of them. Nor did the disciples believe the women’s testimony until he appeared with them the first time. Only then did they rejoice over his resurrection. So, too, Thomas asks to see Christ. Not because he was anymore doubting or skeptical than anyone else. Simply because believing in something like resurrection requires eyes on experience.

 Scripture tells us that fewer than 300 people actually saw the risen Christ in his post-Easter appearances. Everyone else, and everyone since, has had to take their word for it. We have to take their word for it, and that’s a lot to ask. It is certainly more than I am capable of. I constantly need proof. I am always needing to see the risen Christ in order to believe that Christ has risen.

 But that’s not going to happen. At least not the way it happened for the women at the tomb, or for the disciples, or for Thomas. At least it hasn’t yet. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen him. Indeed I have. And still do. And hope to again and again.

 I heard someone say recently, “the mind craves evidence, but the heart desires deeper assurance.”

 The mind craves evidence. The heart desires deeper assurance.

 We talk a lot about words like faith, and belief. We understand them to be fluid in their nature; that there is no arrival point; that they are words of a journey, a pilgrimage, a longing toward God, not a final destination.

 In my own spiritual journey, I’ve come to see my faith as the space between any scientific evidence I might be able to claim about the existence of God, and the assurance in my heart that there is, indeed, a loving Creator; a risen Christ. This gap, like the words faith and belief, is fluid. Sometimes, the assurance in my heart closes any space left behind by a lack of scientific evidence. And sometime, the space feels as wide as Creation itself.

 When the gap is almost closed, when the evidence in my mind meets the assurance in my heart, I am confident in my faith and sure of my beliefs. When this is the case, I can testify without hesitation to the presence of the risen Christ in the world.

 When there is more room between the two, I am less sure, less confident. In these times I am more reliant on the testimony of those around me who can attest to what I long to see. I look for signs and glimpses that God is in our midst. And when I do, I can almost feel the distance closing.

 I posted an article on facebook this week about how things might have been different if there were video cameras in Jesus’ tomb. What might we have seen? An even more disturbing for some, “what might we have not seen?”

 I posted it because I have always been curious about people’s expectation that science will ever be able to prove or disprove anything about God. I imagine that even if science were able to prove with formulas and diagrams, with DNA testing and gene sampling, that there were some divine presence in the world. If the video cameras showed a slowly rising body that left the walls of the tomb, that that evidence still would not be enough to bridge the gap between the mind and the heart entirely. That, for some, it would still be too much to believe, despite all evidence in support.

 And I think the opposite is true. At least it is for me. For me, there is no scientific evidence out there that could disprove the existence of God. Some of you have heard me say that were they to find bones in a cave and run dna sampling and prove that the bones belonged to one known as Jesus of Nazareth, that it wouldn’t change my belief that a loving Creator exists, and that resurrection does, too. Not one bit.

 All Thomas wanted was what the other disciples got. Honestly, that’s all I want, too. And until such time as the risen Christ appears to me like he did to Thomas and the others, I will not stop looking for where the body of Christ appears to me in other ways. Because I need it to. I need to see it every bit as much as Thomas did.

 It’s why I come here. To see the body of Christ gathered in song and prayer and worship. It’s why I come to this table, to see the body of Christ broken for the world, that the world might be the body of Christ. It’s why we do things like the Walk for Hunger, so we can be the feet of the Body of Christ, or go to Honduras, to be Christ’s hands. We speak out for injustice and oppression, so we can be the voice of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is risen. It is all around us continuing the work it started in the person of Jesus.

Believing in something like resurrection requires eyes on experience.

Christ is risen. Want proof? Just look around.

Amen.

 © 2011 The Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello