2 Easter, Year C

"COME AND SEE AND BELIEVE"
A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 11, 2010
Acts 3:12a,17–26; Psalm 111; I John 5:1–6; John 20:19–31

Just what was “doubting Thomas’ ” problem, anyway?

After all, his demands don’t seem to be all that difficult to understand….Hear his words, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

At first glance, Thomas’ demands articulate what you and I long for, don’t we?

Don’t we want to be an eyewitness to the Risen Lord? But more than that, don’t we want to touch the Risen Lord, to make sure that the Lord arose with his physical body intact?

I don’t know about you, but I do…I want to do just that, to be an eyewitness, to see for myself, and to actually touch the Risen Christ. That’s what I want to do. Being able to do that would strengthen and confirm my faith. Wouldn’t it do that for you, too?

On closer inspection, we see that Thomas wants to do what none of the other eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection had been able to do: He wanted to touch Jesus.

Recall with me that Mary Magdalene, who was first to come to the tomb early on Easter Sunday morning, encountered the Lord, it was the Lord who said to her, “Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…” (John 20: 17).

Upon seeing the Lord, Mary rushed back to the disciples and said, “I have seen the Lord.”

Then, later that first Easter Sunday evening, Jesus came to the eleven, and John tells us that He showed them His hands and His side. John then says that the disciples were “glad when they saw the Lord.”

Notice that the eyewitnesses are all simply that: eyewitnesses.

None of them has gone beyond seeing the Lord.

(Now, if you are reading this sermon, you’ll note that I’ve taken time to highlight in italics the all the verbs having to do with “seeing”. I’ve also italicized Thomas’ demands to “place my finger”.)

The reason for this emphasis has to do with a theme which runs through John’s gospel account, and that theme is the theme of “seeing”, or, more properly, it is to “Come and see.”

“Come and see,” is the invitation of Jesus to two unnamed disciples of John the Baptist (see John 1: 39). “Come and see,” is the invitation of Philip to Nathanael (see John 1: 46). “Come and see,” is the response of Mary and the others about the place where Lazarus had been buried.

“Seeing” plays an important role in John’s gospel account. The blind man in chapter nine not only receives his sight, but he comes to see that Jesus is the Son of man. After Jesus had healed the man, Jesus asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answers, “And who is he, sir, that I might believe?” Jesus responds, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” (John 9: 35 – 36)

The Greeks who were in Jerusalem come to Philip and say, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12: 20)

And now, this theme of “seeing” comes to its climax in the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ.

But, we must return to Thomas’ problem….Just what was Thomas’ problem?

As we said a minute ago, we notice that Thomas demands something that goes beyond what all the other eyewitnesses had been able to do: They had been able to see the Lord, but Thomas wants to go further: Thomas wants to touch him.

What could be the reason that Thomas wanted to actually touch the Risen Christ?

I think it has to do with Thomas’ head, and not with his heart.

After all, Thomas seems to want to rely on his senses, in order to come to belief in the resurrection. Notice the senses that Thomas wants to use in order to be a believer: His words are “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas says, in essence, “I need to use my sense of sight and my sense of touch in order to believe.”

The senses, all five of them, have to do with our mental capacities, for they are all connected to the brain, which receives information through the nerves. It is the brain that processes the information, forms convictions about the information it is receiving, and makes a decision about the information it has received.

But the journey of faith, of belief, is not a matter of the mind.

Let me say that again: the journey of faith, of belief, is not a matter of the mind.

Ultimately, coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and in God the Father who sent Him to us, is a matter of the heart. Belief is not a matter of the mind.

We can admit that the mind has a role to play in helping us to come to the place where we, too, believe, can’t we?

After all, the mind is essential for us to process the written accounts of Jesus’ teaching, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. Those accounts constitute the Bible, the “Word of God, written”. It is the mind that is the entry point for all this information.

The mind can help us to assimilate all the information about Jesus, and to grasp the basics of the story. Indeed, the mind is essential for getting all this information.

But how do we go beyond just gathering information, to the point of being believers?

John’s gospel account addresses just this issue….As we read a little further on, toward the end of chapter 20, we see these words, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.” (John 20: 30 – 31)

But how do we bridge the gap which exists between the mind and the heart?

Thomas, in his doubt, was blessed by the Lord in a special way: Jesus came to him, and to the other disciples, on the first Sunday after the resurrection had taken place (yes, that would be today, which is the reason that we hear this gospel account every year on the Second Sunday of Easter), and Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” (John 20: 27) (See Footnote1)

Jesus gave Thomas exactly what Thomas had demanded.

But having ascended to the Father, it is now impossible for us, modern day Christians, to be able to see the Lord physically, and to touch Him.

So, how can we bridge the gap that our senses of sight and touch cannot bridge?

What can we rely on in order to come and see the Lord, and to be able to come to the place of believing?

Of course, we can rely on our sense of sight in order to read the accounts of Jesus’ life, His teachings, death, resurrection and ascension. In that sense, our ability to see the record of Jesus helps us to grasp the basic facts which are associated with Him.

But they are not enough to allow us to come to the place of believing, are they? After all, didn’t we say just a minute ago that believing isn’t a matter of the mind, but a matter of the heart?

We did. We did say just exactly that. Faith is a matter of the heart.

Jesus seems to recognize our unique problem, and He has some wonderful words of encouragement and comfort. In His final words to Thomas, Jesus says this, “Have you (Thomas) believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20: 29)

So, we need some assurance that the things that we can see in the written Word of God are enough to make that leap of faith, the leap of faith from the mind into the heart.

Holy Scripture addresses just this issue. Reading in Hebrews 11: 1, we see these words, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Let’s analyze those words a bit more closely….

Notice that the writer of Hebrews links together substantive things with unseen, hoped for, things.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

So, put another way, the author of Hebrews is telling us that there’s something solid and reliable, something we can depend on, even though we can’t see or understand everything about that unseen reality.

So, what is the reality of all the things about Jesus, who is the Son of God, that we can make that movement of faith from the mind to the heart?

Ultimately, the proof is in the lives that are changed once Jesus Christ takes up residence in the hearts of men and women and children.

Here, in the heart, is the ultimate proof.

It is the proof that we see in Holy Scripture, which records for us the changed lives of the disciples, those original ones who’d been so faithless, so fickle, so unbelieving, before the resurrection. But those same disciples became devoted followers of Jesus, so devoted that all of them except one gave their lives up to a martyr’s death.

There is the proof.

And the proof continues today, in the changed lives of people who come to faith in Jesus Christ.

It is in the changed lives of persons who’ve struggled with addictions, with seemingly unsolvable problems, in whom we can see the evidence of eternal life in Christ, already present in the here-and-now.

And, you see, that puts the burden on us, on us as Christians in the world today.

For the world around us demands the proof that Thomas demanded…the people we associate with today want to see Jesus and to touch Him. They want scientific, verifiable, proof of the resurrection.

Otherwise, like Thomas, they tell us, “They will not believe.”

Many people today, and especially ones whose mental capacities are quite significant, cannot come to the place of believing. Many cannot make the leap of faith, the movement from mind to heart.

How can we assist them to do so?

It is by the example of our lives, which exhibit the changes that Jesus Christ brings to our innermost beings, that can offer the proof, and that can show the way from the mind to the heart.

It is by our example of selfless love that we can show that God loves us in Christ, even as He desires to come into that same deep and intimate relationship of selfless love with every human being.

It is in changed lives, lives which have overcome addictions and seemingly unsolvable problems, that the power of God, to love and the power of God to overcome everything the world and its passions can throw at us, that the substance of things hoped for is seen.

It is in changed lives, which show forth in ways that can be seen, the unseen reality of the Lord’s place in our hearts.

AMEN.

(Footnote1 - “Faithless” is the better translation, for it is more faithful to the meaning of the Greek word apistos, than the more common term “doubting”, which has been enshrined in the phrase “Doubting Thomas”.)