Acts
5: 27–32; Psalm 150; Revelation 1: 4–8; John 20: 19–31
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker
on Sunday, April 28, 2019.
“MAKING EAGLES OUT OF TURKEYS”
(Homily
text: John 20: 19-31)
Perhaps
the title of this homily might cause some wonderment (and perhaps, even some
head scratching).
It
comes from a saying that goes like this: “It’s awfully hard to soar like an
eagle if you hang around with turkeys.” That saying might be one I heard in the
Army, quite possibly so.
(At
this point, I ought to include a disclaimer….When this saying talks about
turkeys, it isn’t talking about wild turkeys, who are blessed with keen
eyesight and a high degree of intelligence, apparently. What is being described
are the domesticated ones, who don’t seem to have much intelligence at all.)
As
with many such sayings, there’s a kernel of truth in this saying. It informs us
that, if we want to grow, improve and move upward, no matter in what way we
might consider doing that, it’s going to be a whole lot better if we associate
with people who will cultivate upward ideals in us, people we can learn from
and be influenced by.
So,
then, if this is so, what’s going on with Jesus? He chose to hang around with
all sorts of disreputable people (disreputable by the standards of the culture
of His day, in some ways), people like tax collectors, prostitutes and other
sinners, people like those original twelve disciples.
If
we think about that original bunch, those twelve, we’d have to conclude that
they were quite a motley crew. There was Simon the Zealot, whose values would
have clashed with Matthew, the tax collector….after all, Simon wanted to kick
the Romans out by force, if necessary, while Matthew was working for those same
Roman, collecting taxes. That’s just one example of the differences that
existed among those originally called.
Then,
there is the matter of the many times that none of them seem to “get it”, not
at all. Consider, for example, Jesus’
interaction with the disciples at the Last Supper, as John narrates it for us.
It is Philip who says to the Lord, “Show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
In response, Jesus says, “Have I been with you so long, and you do not know me.
Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14: 8 – 9b)
Or,
we could consider Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. Only a short time later, Peter would turn around and rebuke the
Lord for the Lord’s prediction that he would be going to Jerusalem, where He
would suffer, die and be raised again on the third day. Recall that Jesus then
said this famous response to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16: 16–23)
Jesus
must have been blessed with infinite patience, working with those He originally
called, for more often than not, they tended to act like turkeys, not like
eagles.
The
tendency of some of the disciples to act like turkeys persisted even into the
time after the resurrection. That, in a nutshell, is the problem with Thomas,
doubting Thomas….Thomas demands physical proof that Jesus has risen from the
dead, saying, “Unless I put my fingers in the print of the nails, and put my
hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Thomas’
problem reflects one of the key problems that plagued the Jews of Jesus’
day…they wanted proof, physical proof, that Jesus is who He said He is. “By
what authority are you doing the things you are doing?” they ask. (Luke 20: 2).
“Show us some sign that we may believe you,” they say (John 2: 18 or 6:30)
We
shouldn’t be too hard on Thomas, on the Jews with whom Jesus had contact, or
with those of us living today. We, and they, want to have some valid and
reliable basis for believing the things that are to be believed. That’s a
normal and wise value to maintain. We want to avoid believing that something is
true which has no foundation.
Nor
should we single Thomas out for special scrutiny or even scorn, for what Thomas
demands is what each of the other disciples had already received: A
resurrection appearance and encounter with the Lord.
So
what’s the problem with Thomas?
For
one thing, the picture we have of Thomas in the Gospels is one of a man who
seems to be skeptical pretty much all the time. For another, he seems to have
had the quality of a killjoy.
For
another, Thomas doesn’t trust the witness of the other disciples, who tell him
that they’ve seen the risen Lord.
But
Jesus needs to transform Thomas from being a turkey into an eagle. And so the
Lord appears to Thomas, and says, “Put your hand here…don’t be faithless
(that’s what the Greek word actually means), but believing.”
I
love this account, for I see an imaginary blank in the text, into which I can
insert my name. You can do the same. When we do this, we can see ourselves in
this event, for Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen
me? Blessed are those who have not seen (that’s you and me, fill in the blank
______) and yet have believed. “
How
do you and I come to faith, to believing? We come through the witness of those
who associated with and who saw the risen Lord, people like Thomas, who were
transformed as a result of their encounter with the risen Jesus into being
eagles.
I
know of no more reliable proof of the resurrection than the miraculous
transformation of those original disciples who would soon become apostles,
those whom the Lord sent out carrying the Good News (Gospel) that God had
conquered death by raising Jesus to new life on Easter Sunday morning.
Indeed,
Thomas was transformed. Tradition tells us that he went as far as the
subcontinent of India, carrying the Good News of Jesus. Even today, there is a
church in India that bears his name and remembers his work, the Mar Thoma Church.
You
and I can become eagles, if we come to faith in God’s power to create new life,
to create a new, enduring and intimate love relationship with the Father
through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, we, too, can go out and
share the Good News of what God can do to change things. We just might become
eagles in the process.
AMEN.
