Sunday, May 29, 2011

6 Easter, Year A

Acts 17: 22 – 31; Psalm 66: 7 – 18; I Peter 3: 13 – 22; John 14: 15 – 21

A homily by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, May 29, 2011
 
“HOOK, BOOK, LOOK, TOOK”
(Homily text: Acts 17: 22 – 31)

Hook – Book – Look – Took.

At first glance, other than the fact that the four words above rhyme, they don’t make much sense, do they?

So, I suppose an explanation is in order….

The four words are the outline of a scheme of preaching, as follows:
  • Hook: Use some device or common ground with your listeners, so as to “hook” them into the subject of the text you are going to preach on.
  • Book: Look closely at the text, drawing from it the points that seem important to cover.
  • Look: Apply the implications present in the text to the congregation.
  • Took: Give them something to walk away with.
Since our task in this sermon is to apply these four key words to Paul’s address, heard in our first reading today, a word of explanation is in order: The four key words don’t always follow one after the other. Sometimes, some of the steps get combined a little, as we shall see as we examine Paul’s address.

In all honesty, I have to tell you that this scheme of outlining and drafting a sermon isn’t at all original. In fact, I think it was devised by a well-known teacher of homiletics (the study and practice of preaching) whose name is Fred Craddock.

And, in all honesty, I will admit that this is the scheme of drafting and delivering sermons that I most often use. Perhaps, if you’ve heard some of the sermons I’ve given in the past (assuming you can remember them!), you might recognize the pattern in what was said and in what was written.

So, let’s turn then to St. Paul’s sermonizing, as we hear it in the first lesson today, which is drawn from Acts, chapter 17. We can see that Paul used at least some of the major points in this scheme of sermonizing as he spoke to the audience that had gathered there in the Areopagas (which is Greek for Mars Hill).

Our text today begins at the midpoint of the event, so I think it’s important for us to back up a little, in order to set the scene.

We note, looking backward to verse 16, that Paul had entered Athens, having come there from Berea. Luke (the writer of the Book of Acts) tells us that Paul was very upset at the large number of idols that he saw while there. As was his usual custom, Paul went into the synagogue and preached Christ to the Jews there. He also preached in the marketplace.

In that setting, Luke tells that some Stoic and some Epicurean philosophers were among those who hear Paul speak. In response, some in the audience said, “What would this babbler (Paul) say?” while others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities,” because Paul had been preaching about Jesus and about the resurrection.

At this point, it isn’t clear if the audience made Paul go with them to the Areopagas (as if he had been arrested), or if Paul willingly went along.with them.

Nonetheless, today’s text picks up with Paul’s address, given in the Areopagas.

Now, we see Paul’s strategy clearly as we examine what he said. He begins with the “hook”: “Men of Athens,” he said, “I perceive that you are very religious.”

So far, so good. Paul has gotten off to a good start, using a little flattery, and using his observations to make a statement of truth. Indeed, the Athenians were very religious, for their city was littered with idols!

Now, Paul introduces what we preachers call a transition statement. He says, “I found also an altar with this inscription,’To an unknown god.’”

Capitalizing on this transition statement, Paul then says, “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”

Now, we enter the “Book” section of Paul’s address.

Using Holy Scripture, but not directly, Paul lays out the biblical concepts of God as creator of all that is. He might easily have quoted passages such as Psalm 19: 1, which says “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.”

So the God that Paul introduces is the creator of all that is, including the human race. (Perhaps Paul had the Genesis creation account in mind here.)

Having begun with what theologians would call the general revelation of God, which can be seen in the created order, and particularly in the creation of the human race, which is made in the “image and likeness of God”, Paul now moves into the special revelation of God, seen in Jesus Christ.. Luke tells us that Paul preached to them about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Along the way, Paul has also been employed the technique of “looking”. He is asking the Athenians who heard him that day to look at their own religious practices. Paul indirectly assaults their idolatrous ways, saying, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.”

The subtext that Paul is conveying here is “Get rid of those worthless idols!?

Well, what did Paul’s audience “take” away from his speech? Luke tells us that some mocked him, while others said, “We will hear you again about this.” Still others came to believe what Paul had said, and became believers. Luke tells us the names of two of them: Dionysis and a woman named Damaris. Others also believed.

So Paul’s address produced the fruits that Jesus spoke about in His Parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13; 3 – 9): Some produced no fruit at all, while others did.

Turning to our own situation, being Christians in the 21st century, what can we “take” from today’s text?

The first thing we might take away is the similarity of our cultural situation to that of the ancient Athenians: We live in a culture that is full of idols!

OK, I admit, we don’t drive down our streets and see row after row of statues. We don’t see idols like that. Our idols are much more sophisticated and less easily seen, for the truth is that people make idols out of all sorts of things today: cars, various possessions, status in life, addictions, etc.

The second thing we might observe is that the ancient Athenian culture was wildly syncretistic: Luke tells us that the Athenians loved nothing more than to discuss new ideas! And the presence of so many idols, including an altar which was dedicated to “The unknown god” shows that the marketplace of religious ideas was full of stuff to sample and buy.

Moreover, I think it’s safe to say that the Athenians cultivated an atmosphere of tolerance for differing beliefs. One implication of the existence of the altar which was inscribed “To an unknown god” is that the Athenians didn’t want to give offense to any possible diety, or to any possible system of belief or devotion. “We have all the bases covered,” seems to be a good way to summarize the attitudes of the Athenians.

We live in an age like that. We are encouraged to tolerate all sorts of ideas and beliefs, and for many, the one-and-only sin that someone might be guilty of committing is the sin of intolerance.

Finally, the atmosphere in which we live also cultivates much the same response that Paul’s statements provoked. For the response to Paul’s preaching was “What does this babbler want to say?” and “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities.”

Those who see us live out the Christian life will often think that what we believe, how we act, and what we say amounts to ‘babbling”. What we do, say and believe will strike many as strange ideas about a foreign God. The truth is that the patina of Christianity that once hung over our society is now all-but-gone, and the claims of the Christian faith seem foreign and strange to many. No longer is there a common foundation of knowledge about the basics of the Christian faith.

Nonetheless, we are called to be faithful preachers of the Word, which is Jesus Christ, just as St. Paul was. In response, some will mock, while others will say, “In time, I’d like to hear more about this,” and still others will come to believe.

May God empower our witness to Him, that we may find common ground with our hearers, and encourage them to take a closer look at claims of Christ.

AMEN.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

5 Easter, Year A

Acts 7: 55 – 60, Psalm 31: 1 – 5, 15 – 16; I Peter 2: 2 – 10, John 14: 1 - 14

 
A homily by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, May 22, 2011

 
“KNOWLEDGE: HAVING IT AND USING IT”
(Homily texts: Acts 7: 55 – 60, I Peter 2: 2 – 10 & John 14: 1 – 14)

Last night, we attended the graduation of one of our young members from Mt. Vernon Township High School, Jackson Adams. It was a joy to see him walk across the stage and receive his diploma. As I listened to the comments of the student speakers, and watched the ceremonies, I reflected on my own graduation from high school (now many years ago), and I also reflected in this aspect of these young people’s lives as they graduated from high school:

They must:
  • Know what they know, and 
  • Know how to use the knowledge they have gained.
For us as Christians, the same two tasks are also critically important. We must:
  • Be assured of the basic facts of the Christian faith, which derive from the revelation of God as we have received it in the person, life, work, teachings, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
  • Know how to apply this knowledge to the living out of the faith.
So let’s examine these two aspects of the Christian life and faith more closely. We will use Jesus’ own words, as we hear them this morning in John, chapter 14, as the basis for our examination.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus says to Thomas and the other disciples. Perhaps one of the most important verses in all of John’s gospel account, and one that is often quoted by Christians today.

Jesus’ statement about His being “the way” is related to His comments about His departure. I am about to leave you, He says in so many words, but I am “going to prepare a place for you.” He then adds a comment about the fact that the disciples “know the way where I am going.”

“The way”: Is the “way” a destination, or something else?

When Jesus’ words are read today, many Christians assume that the “way” is a destination, a place, heaven. After all, Jesus says that, “In my Father’s house, there are many rooms.”

Such a reading might be correct. Jesus says that He is going to prepare a “place” for his disciples.

But there’s another understanding of the text that is also important.

For Jesus to be the “way” also means that Jesus is the way to the Father. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus says.

It’s all about relationship, in that case.

Jesus comes to show us the Father, to say to us everything that the Father Himself has told Jesus, the Son, to say (as we read elsewhere in John).

It is for this reason that Jesus can say, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” for “I and the Father are one.” (John 10: 30)

So, using the overall picture that the Fourth Gospel paints for us, this is – in summary – what we can say about what we know about Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, and therefore, what we know about the Father, as we see Him in the Son:
  • The Son is sent by the Father, to be the one who “dwelled with us, full of grace and truth, and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” (John 1: 14)
  • The Son is sent by the Father out of love for the world, and those who believe in the Son will receive eternal life (a summary of John 3: 16).
  • The works that the Son does bear witness to His identity and to the His unity with the Father. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves,” Jesus says today.
What I’ve offered by way of summary about Jesus Christ, His identity, His unity with the Father, His miraculous works which demonstrate the power of God which resides in Him, all of these a theologian would call the special revelation of God, known in Jesus Christ.

Now, the question arises: What do we do with the knowledge we have about God, known in Christ?

Several possibilities arise here.

Let’s begin with the negative possibility: We can use this knowledge as a weapon.

Allow me to explain.

If I say “Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life,” and act like I have some special knowledge that makes me better than someone else who doesn’t express that conviction, I am using the statement as a weapon. I can act as though I am superior, somehow, to others.

In similar fashion, I can believe that anyone who doesn’t express the faith exactly as I do is also not only wrong, but also is not really a Christian. Speaking personally, this was a major aspect of the Christian faith that I encountered as a child in the fundamentalist church in which I grew up in Nebraska. The impression I get from the way people who made up that church behaved was that they felt that anyone who expressed their Christian faith in any manner that was different than the way we expressed it was just plain wrong, just plain misguided in their thinking and believing. I’d like to think that my impressions and recollections are wrong about those days, but I don’t think they are. I confess that I struggle with these sorts of attitudes to this day, many decades later.
 
So, we can use our knowledge as a weapon, or we can use it as some sort of a special badge of honor.
 
But we can use the knowledge we have of Jesus Christ, and of God the Father, in other ways, and I think the examples we have in Holy Scripture of the original disciples, and of the early Christians, can inform our lives and behaviors quite well.
 
For example, we have before us the account of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr and a Deacon. Stephen and the many others who were willing to give up their lives in defense of the faith were willing to sacrifice life itself for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a real sense, this is humility at its clearest. The cause of Christ was so dear to these early martyrs that they were willing to lose their very lives for the sake of it.

So, these early witnesses (which is what the Greek word martyr actually means) lived out the Christian faith in humility.
 
Holding the faith in humility demands several things of us:
  • We are to imitate Christ’s own servant model as we live out our lives. For Jesus Christ is the one who came among us, not to be served, but to serve.
  • We are to learn all we can about the Lord’s ministry, teachings and life, in order to be Christ-like in all that we do and say. To do this imposes a significant burden. Living the Christian life is never easy.
  • We are to recognize that the Christian life and faith that we hold is a generous and gracious gift from God. St. Peter, writing in his first letter to the early Church, expresses God’s action and initiative quite well as he writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light…”
So, as we come to know God through Christ, more and more, daily walking in His footsteps, may we hold what God has enabled us to know with humility, recognizing that such knowledge is a generous gift from God. May we live out with our words and with our actions the reality that Christ dwells within, and that – by God’s grace – we have found Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth and the life.
 
AMEN.

 

 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

4 Easter, Year A

Acts 2: 42 – 47
Psalm 23
I Peter 2: 19 – 25
John 10: 1 – 10

A homily by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: St. John’s Church, Centralia, Illinois; Sunday, May 15, 2011
(by Mr, Tom Walsh Licensed Lay Worship Leader)

“LIKE SHEEP, LIKE FAMILY”
(Homily text: John 10: 1 – 10)

Greetings, everyone, from Maryland, where we have been spending time with our children and grandchildren.

Since we don’t get the chance to be around our family all that often – the distance makes that difficult – each time we do have the opportunity, we are able to see with fresh eyes just what being parents – and now grandparents – involves.

So, with lots of fresh impressions of the parenting and grandparenting process in mind, allow me to compare what our Lord says in today’s gospel reading about shepherding with being a parent (or grandparent).

As you might have guessed already, the Fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday.

As Jesus’ teaching begins today, we hear a stark warning: “Ttuly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.”

Jesus’ condemnation of the false shepherds allows us to find the context of His teaching: It seems that He is condemning the false shepherds of the nation of Israel – the Chief Priests, the Scribes, the Pharisees, and their allies – who are leading God’s people not out of concern for the people’s welfare, but out of narrow self-interest.

Corrupt and self-serving leaders were a problem at various times in Israel’s history….as we read Isaiah and Jeremiah in the Old Testament, we find similar comments about shepherds who lead people poorly.

So as these words fell on the ears of Jesus’ original hearers, perhaps Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s words were brought to mind.

But Jesus might have another group in mind, as well: People who came forward, claiming to be the Messiah, God’s anointed one. At another point in His teaching, Jesus says to beware of those who come, saying, “I am he.” Perhaps there was no shortage of people who claimed to be God’s chosen leader. Oftentimes in troubled times, such people appear, and we should be reminded that the times in which Jesus Christ came to visit us were troubled times, as were the times in which Isaiah and Jeremiah lived, as well.

Now that we’ve established the context for Jesus’ comments, let’s turn now to the positive example that He establishes for the one who is to be the Good Shepherd. Of course, Jesus is referring to Himself in these comments. As we do so, let’s set Jesus’ example alongside the positive aspects of being a good parent. My reasoning for doing so is simply because most of us have little-or-no experience with sheep or with shepherding, while many of us have experience with parenting, or with being around children.

And as we set, side-by-side, the concept of the business of shepherding and parenting, let’s remember that both occupations involve a mutual relationship between shepherd/parent and sheep/children. That is to say, the shepherd owes his occupation to the presence of the sheep who are gathered into the flock. The parent owes his/her occupation as parent to the presence of children in the family. But as we look at it from the other direction, we can see that sheep without a shepherd would be lost and vulnerable. So too, our children would be lost and vulnerable without the presence of the adult who cares for and who nurtures them.

So, let’s begin.

The first thing we notice is that Jesus says that the Good Shepherd calls the sheep, that they know the shepherd’s voice, and that he calls each one by name and leads them out. In the world of sheepherding, the relationship between sheep and shepherd is deeply relational. As we are reminded by the saying, “You herd cattle, but you lead sheep,” the reality is that the sheep follow the shepherd that they know. Jesus will amplify this reality in chapter 17, verses 10 - 19 of John’s gospel, asking that God the Father protect those who have been given to Him as His own.

In similar fashion, children respond to and follow the parent – or the adult – that they know. Our 18 month old grandson, Jesse, for example, lights up when he sees his mommy or his daddy. He gets excited, dancing around, pointing to them, and calling them “momma” or “dadda”. Their relationship is deeply personal, deeply loving.

The next thing we notice is that Jesus says that the Good Shepherd is that He is the door of the sheep, adding another comment about false shepherds. Here, Jesus explains that it is He who controls which sheep enter, and which do not. “I am the door of the sheep,” He says. In John 14: 6, Jesus will reiterate this reality in another way, saying, “I am the way….”

This comment relates to the nature of the sheepfold, which is created by the shepherd. The sheepfold not only identifies the sheep that are within, but it also offers protection from predators who are outside.

By the same token, parents establish the home in which children are raised and nurtured. The home becomes the place where the intimate task of parenting is carried out. The family gains its identity from the parents’ establishment of the home, and the home offers the place where children’s own identity can be established in a safe environment.

Our gospel passage ends at verse ten today. But it’s worthy of individual reading and study to pick up the Bible and read what else Jesus has to say about the business of being the Good Shepherd. There, He describes the reality that the Good Shepherd is willing to lay down his life for the sheep, while the false shepherd abandons them when danger appears.

Likewise, what parent or grandparent wouldn’t sacrifice everything – including their own lives, if the need arose – for the sake of their children or grandchildren?

Jesus’ teaching offers us a reminder that the initiative that we see in the sending of Jesus Christ, the one who “dwelt with us” (John 1: 14) is entirely God’s. For it is God the Father who sent God the Son, the one who is the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name, and they follow Him, because of the deeply personal relationship that exists between shepherd and sheep.

The Good Shepherd allows those who are known by Him to enter the sheepfold.

The Good Shepherd leads His sheep out of self-giving, selfless motivations, seeking always the welfare of the flock.

The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, and this laying down becomes the ultimate expression of self-giving, selfless, love for the sheep.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

3 Easter, Year A

Acts 2: 14a, 36 – 41
Psalm 116: 1 – 3, 10 – 17
I Peter 1: 17 – 23
Luke 24: 13 - 35

A homily by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, May 8, 2011

“CLARITY OUT OF CONFUSION”
(Homily text: Luke 24: 13 - 35)

Ever have something clarified for you by a friend or coworker? You know, those experiences when somebody says something that just ties all the loose ends together in one simple, understandable bundle?

That’s the sense I get as I read the very familiar account of the events that took place on the road to Emmaus on Easter Sunday evening: Jesus takes the confusion that Cleopas enunciates, and creates clarity out of it.

Before we look at the trajectory of the events that took place as Cleopas and his traveling companion encountered the risen Christ, let’s remember that it is Luke alone among the four Gospel writers who passes this information to us. In fact, Luke is a treasure-trove of valuable information, for he reports so many events in Jesus’ life that no one else does. Thank you, Luke!

The road to Emmaus account is but one such example of Lukan material which is found nowhere else.

And so, we join Cleopas and his companion as they make their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which is located about 60 stadia (or about 7.5 miles) from Jerusalem. In truth, we do not know exactly where Emmaus was in biblical times. Some postulate that the present-day community of Abu Ghosh (which is about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem) sits on the site of Emmaus in former times.
At any rate, as Jesus joins them, He opens the conversation with a question, saying, “What are you discussing as you walk along?”

In response, Cleopas and his companion spill out a report of the various things that have happened, or have been reported to them. It might be easier to see the confused nature of their report if we put their comments in bullet form. Notice the things they say about Jesus, their concept of who He is, and things having to do with His resurrection:
  • A prophet mighty in deed and word is how they describe Jesus.
  • Redeemer of Israel was their hope for Jesus.
  • A vision of angels, reported by some of the women of their group, said that He was alive.
  • The empty tomb was what some who went to the tomb found.
Notice now that as they speak, they confirm certain aspects of what had happened, while they are quite uncertain about other aspects of it.
They confirm the following:
  • Jesus was a prophet “mighty in deed and word”
  • He was crucified at the hands of the chief priests and leaders
However, they are less certain about the following:
  • We had hoped that Jesus was to be the redeemer of Israel
  • The reports about the vision of angels, saying that Jesus was alive
In response, Jesus seems to chide them just a little. He says, “Oh, how foolish you are.”
But then, Jesus brings clarity out of their confusion. The sources of his self-revelation are these:
  • Holy Scripture: Jesus begins, Luke tells us, “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in the scriptures.”
  • The breaking of the bread becomes the definitive moment of Jesus’ self-revelation.
The witness of Jesus is confirmed by the eleven disciples, as the two make their way back to Jerusalem to report that they had seen the risen Lord. As they reach Jerusalem, and they tell their story, the disciples respond by confirming that they, too, had also seen the Lord.
Now, what does all this mean to you and to me?
Just this, I think:
  • Confusion is often a part of our walk with God. After all, we are not talking about everyday, common events whenever God is involved. God being God, His actions are often beyond our human capacity to understand fully. So, it’s OK to harbor some confusion about just who God is, how God acts, and how we can see His work in our lives and in the world about us. Confusion is a normal part of our interaction with the divine. Cleopas and his companion have lots of company: the saints who have walked with the Lord down through the ages!
  • God will bring clarity out of our confusion, and will confirm those things that are essential parts of what we need to know in order to live the Christian life. The sources will be much the same as those that were made available to the travelers on the road to Emmaus:
  1. Holy Scripture, which bears witness to the mighty acts of God, particularly the act of raising Jesus Christ from the dead on Easter Sunday morning.
  2. Jesus’ direct interaction with us in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in which we sup with Him, receiving Him into ourselves. “Be known to us in the breaking of the bread,” our Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter says.
  3. The witness of other Christian believers, who relate to us by their actions and by their words that the risen Christ dwells within them, having come into their hearts and their lives by faith through the waters of baptism.
Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

2 Easter, Year A

Acts 2: 14a, 22 – 32
Psalm 16
I Peter 1: 3 - 9
John 20: 19 - 31

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

“GETTING WHAT WE NEED”
(Homily texts: Acts 2: 14a, 22 – 32; John 20: 19 – 31)

Back in my seminary days, I had a spiritual director by the name of Dabney Carr. That would the Rev. Dabney Carr.

Dabney was a fine priest in the Virginia tradition. That is to say, he would rarely be seen wearing a clerical collar. Coat and tie is fine vesture for a Virginia priest. And, he would be just fine being addressed as “Mr. Carr”. “Father” wouldn’t have suited him at all.

One day, Dabney said this to me, “Gene, my prayer would be that God would give you what you need, not what you want.” Then he added, “Those two things are different.”

I’ve never forgotten what Mr. Carr said that day. I never will.

Getting what we need, not what we want….there’s deep spiritual truth in this understanding of how we are to walk the way of this life with Lord.

Essentially, as we consider the gospel text before us – which we hear every Second Sunday of Easter – the account of Thomas – “doubting Thomas” (or, more properly “unbelieving Thomas”), the matter of getting what Thomas wanted, and what Thomas needed, lies at the heart of Thomas’ demand and Jesus’ gracious provision for him.

Thomas said, “Unless I see the print of the nails, and place my hand in the print of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

In this statement, Thomas is stating what he wanted. But, it seems, he is also stating what he needed: Thomas needed proof of the resurrection.

You and I need proof, as well. More on that in a moment.

On closer examination, Thomas’ demand goes beyond what the other ten disciples had gotten in terms of what they needed, for the other ten said that they had seen the Lord.

Thomas says that he not only needs to see, but to touch.

In so doing, Thomas goes one better on his fellow disciples. Thomas also reflects the attitudes of the day which so many who had encountered Jesus held. On one occasion, they said to Jesus, “What sign will you show us?” They wanted proof, some miracle, which would give them what they wanted in order to believe that Jesus is who He said He is.

Not much has changed, has it, in this respect? We want proof that Jesus is who He said He is.

All of this begs the question: “Just why did Jesus provide Thomas with the proof that he wanted?”

I think the reason is that Jesus needed Thomas, and was willing to provide Thomas with the proof of the resurrection that Thomas demanded, was because Jesus had a ministry in mind for Thomas.

In order to be a witness (the Greek word for “witness” is martyr) for Jesus, and particularly a witness of Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas had to have a resurrection encounter with the risen Christ. The other disciples also were witnesses of the resurrection….Peter, in our reading from the Book of Acts, says that they are “witnesses of these things”.

That’s where you and I come in….

Jesus needs us to be a witness, a martyr, of His resurrection.

The Lord has a ministry in mind for each one of us. In fact, at our baptisms, we are ordained into a ministry. In our Baptismal Covenant, we agree to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.” (Book of Common Prayer, page 305)

How do we get the proof that we need?

One way is by reading and studying the Word of God written, the Bible. As John tells us at the end of chapter twenty, “But these (the record of Jesus’ teaching, miracles, death and resurrection) 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.”

Another way is by regular worship and receiving of the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. For when we regularly receive the Body and the Blood of Christ, we are strengthened for our journey, we are renewed in body, mind and spirit (we become what we eat!), and we receive a pledge of eternal life.

Still another way we receive the proof we need is in associating with other Christian believers, as we see the Lord at work in other’s lives. Sometimes, this work takes on dramatic proportions. Dramatic healings, deliverance from the powers of evil, or victory over addictions all qualify as dramatic proof of the Lord’s power over the forces of evil, sin and death. That same power that the Lord demonstrated on Good Friday and Easter Sunday over everything that would destroy us, and would separate us from God, is still His power today.

At other times, the proof can be seen in the slow and gradual reshaping that the Lord’s presence within a person brings about. We are being renewed, day by day, as the Holy Spirit reworks us from within.

How about you, how about me?

We need the proof that everything having to do with the Lord Jesus Christ is real. We need to see – with the eyes of faith – the print of the nails and the wound in the Lord’s side.

We are especially blessed, John tells us, if we come to believe, even though we have not physically seen.

Getting what we need – the proof that the written record which bears witness to the events in the Lord’s life – is the essential power source for the ministry that God the Father has in mind for each of us.

Each of us has been assigned some sort of a ministry, a ministry we cannot do on our own power. The power of the Lord’s resurrection lies behind all that we do, think or say. Returning to the idea with which we began, and applying it to the ministry God has in mind for us, we could say that we need the power of the Lord’s resurrection in order to carry out the ministry that lies before us.

May the Holy Spirit enable our believing, that we may serve the Lord with singleness of heart, and in His power alone.

AMEN.