Second Easter - April 23, 2006     

A couple was going out for the evening.  They had dressed, made sure they had their tickets, put the cat out, and turned on the answering machine.  The taxi arrived, and as the couple walked out of the house, the cat scampered back inside.  They didn’t want the cat shut up in the house, so the wife went out to the taxi while the husband went back inside to retrieve the cat.  The wife, not wanting it known that the house would be empty, explained to the taxi driver, “He’s just going inside to say goodnight to my mother.”

A few minutes later, the husband got into the cab.  “Sorry it took so long,” he said, “The silly old thing was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out.”

Thomas had scampered out and had not returned as the disciples met again in the upper room.  They were fearful that the fate that had befallen their teacher would now be theirs as well.  For whatever reason, Thomas had decided he was better off going it alone. 

While Thomas was absent Jesus made his first resurrection appearance.  Thomas missed it.  I hope you have noticed that in many of the post-resurrection appearances the disciples finally recognize who he is because of his distinctive wounds.  Jesus very often displayed his nail-scarred wrists and feet and showed his spear-pierced side in order that the disciples might know him.  The scars were proof that he really was the same one with whom they had walked, talked, eaten, laughed, and from whom they had learned so much about the Kingdom of God and the will of God in the world.  Without the scars they wouldn’t have known him.  Of course, the first reaction was to be startled and afraid.  Would we have reacted any differently?  They had watched or been told that Jesus had died on the cross and had been laid in Joseph’s sealed-up-tight tomb.  Seeing Jesus again was the last thing they had expected.  And yet, there he was standing in front of them granting peace and comfort.  He had told them earlier, of course, that all the events they had witnessed were going to happen.  They just couldn’t understand any of it at the time.  We would not have understood it any better than they did.  In order that the disciples might know beyond question and doubt, he showed them his wrists and his side and invited them to touch and believe.

Many, like Thomas, have scampered out today.  They will miss the appearance of the risen Lord in our midst.  Thomas had withdrawn from the Christian fellowship, thereby becoming the first participant in what is called “low Sunday.”  He sought personal isolation instead of community and missed the first appearance of his teacher.  I would gently suggest that we run the risk of missing a great deal when we separate ourselves from the community of faith.  When sorrows come to us, when sadness surrounds us, it is in the Christian fellowship that we are most likely to see Jesus the Christ face to face.  Most often he will speak to us through a friend who understands our situation, someone who has perhaps been through the same ordeal.  Probably the point of identification will come when someone shows us a scar right where we have experienced a painful wound.

Thomas also absolutely refused to say he believed when he felt no reason to believe.  There is an uncompromising honesty about Thomas.  He would not rattle off a creed without understanding what it meant.  Thomas had to be sure and he was not afraid to voice his doubts.  Finally, Thomas would voice those doubts in the community of faith.  Perhaps he had returned to say goodbye to the others before returning to the life he had prior to the noble experiment the rabbi had started.  Maybe he had heard some rumors about Mary Magdalene’s visit to the cemetery and something about the thing being empty.  It could be that the other ten had sent someone to find him to tell him he was missed and to come back.

Whatever the reason, Thomas brings his doubts and questions to the faith community.  That is the place to which all doubts should be brought.  Tennyson wrote, “There is more faith in honest doubt that in half the creeds.”  Thomas brought his doubts, along with his heart, and Jesus took it from there.  He always will.  I would hope that this is a place where honest doubts can be brought, taken seriously, and discussed.  We operate best when we accept that faith is a verb and not a noun.

When Thomas was sure, he went the whole way.  It may have been a shout, but I think it would have been more a whisper that originated in Thomas’ soul when he said, “My Lord and my God!”  There is nothing lukewarm about that confession.  When Thomas saw the print of the nails and felt the spear wound his surrender was complete.  That surrender was made possible because Thomas understood those nail wounds and the print of the spear should have been his.  Jesus did that for him.  I pray we each may see that same reality.

Wounds, scars, and self-emptying love remain the distinguishing characteristics of this one called Jesus the Christ.  We may wish to circumvent the cross of Christ, we may wish to pretty it us with flowers or neglect it altogether, but Jesus will not allow us to avoid it.  His invitation to handle him and see who he is and what his sacrifice cost is issued to each individual as if that individual were the only one for whom the sacrifice was made.  It is a profound moment of personal salvation that forces a whisper from our very souls when we, too, say, “My Lord and my God!”  We are to feel his scars and take into our bodies his broken body and shed blood.  If we do not do so, he said we could have no part in him.  I desire more than anything to be a part of him.

John’s Gospel ends with these words, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that 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.”  We are commissioned to go out two by two or in much larger groups to make more disciples, to preach and practice his reconciling word to all nations, and to baptize people into his death and resurrection.  Those instructions have not been repealed or changed.  We will be far more effective in doing the work he has given us to do if we, too, show our scars.  Scars are, after all, the very best indication that we have felt God’s healing touch. 

I hope you don’t feel like I have poked you with a coat hanger, but I am expected to keep you awake.  Amen.