Psalm
16 / I Peter 1: 3–9 / John 20: 19–31
This
is a homily provided for the people of St. John’s Church, Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker, for Sunday, April 19, 2020. This homily was not delivered as part of our
Sunday morning worship, because the church building is currently closed due to
the COVID – 19 viral outbreak. Instead, it was provided via electronic means
and in hard copy to those without email.
“A FOUNDATION FOR FAITH”
(Homily
text: John 20: 19–31)
If we think about it, just about everything we do
requires a foundation, a basis, for whatever we might build or construct, for
whatever theory or understanding we arrive at, and – yes – also for faith.
For example, no building would be stable if it
didn’t have a solid foundation, one that is firmly anchored in the ground, one
that rests on solid soil or on rock. (In that regard, I often think about the
arduous work, all done by hand, of those who constructed the great cathedrals
many centuries ago…they took enormous steps to ensure that the stonework that
rose up from the ground had a firm foundation.)
Or consider what we know, or what we believe.
Whether we realize it or not, those sorts of things require some basis, some
foundation, for what we have come to understand. For example, in the current
viral outbreak, researchers are working to find a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Their work rests on their own training, knowledge and background, on the
research they and others are doing, and on the results of the trials that will
follow. Using all of these things, medical personnel will come to know
something about how to proceed in order to protect people. Their efforts, and
the efforts of others, will form the foundation for a path forward.
On this first Sunday after Easter, we encounter the
record of “Doubting Thomas”, for it was on that first Sunday after the Sunday
of the Resurrection that John tells us that Thomas had his own resurrection
experience. The Gospel text appointed for this Sunday each year is highly
appropriate.
Turning to our text, we can sum up Thomas’ demand
that he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he was able
to put his hands into the print of the nails and into Jesus’ side by saying
that Thomas needed some basis, some foundation, for believing that Jesus’
resurrection was a reality. After all, the other disciples had had their own,
in-person encounter with the risen Lord. Thomas wanted the same basis in order
to believe.
But before we look a bit more closely at Thomas’
demand and Jesus’ response, we should recall some of what we know about Thomas’
character. It always fascinates me that we know so little about a good number
of the other disciples, other than their names. But we know more about Thomas.
For example, he seems to have been a somewhat literally-minded man, a character
trait that is reflected in his demand that he, himself, would have to see the
risen Lord in order to believe. For another, he seems to be a bit of a
“downer”, a pessimist….He is the one when told that Lazarus was ill and had
died, said, “Let’s go, too, so that we may die with him (Lazarus).” (John
11:16) During the Last Supper, Thomas seems to be concerned that he doesn’t
have enough information with which to go forward: When Jesus tells His
disciples that He is going to leave them, in order to go to prepare a place for
them, so that they may be where He is, it is Thomas who says, “Lord, we do not
know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
Now, let’s return to this morning’s text.
Thomas not only demands to see the Lord, but also
to put his hand into the Lord’s wounds, into His hands and His side. Here,
again, it seems to me, we have Thomas’ literal-mindedness on view. In one
sense, Thomas is saying that he can’t believe that the resurrection is a real,
actual event if the proof of Jesus’ continued existence is only in the form of
a dis-embodied spirit or a ghost. In this morning’s text, John tells us that
the Lord had appeared to the disciples (other than Thomas) earlier in Easter Week,
but the Lord didn’t tell them to handle or touch Him.[1]
However, having the basis for belief that the Lord
had risen with His body completely intact and whole (but, interestingly enough,
still bearing the marks of His wounds, which now have no detrimental effect) was
critical to the foundation of faith of those original disciples and to the
early Christian community. Such an understanding is critical to our foundation
for faith today. It was and is critical to the foundation of knowing that the
Lord’s resurrection represents a Reality (with a capital “R”) which surpasses
all other realities that gave those original twelve disciples-soon-to-become
apostles the ability to go out into the world, proclaiming the truth of what
God had done in the person, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of
Jesus Christ. So convinced were those original apostles of this Reality that
not even the prospect of a martyr’s death could dissuade them from keeping that
great, good news to themselves.[2]
Thomas’ demand is met with Jesus’ foreknowledge of
what he had said. (This is a common theme all throughout the Fourth Gospel: That
Jesus, He who is “one with the Father” (see John 10:30), possessed all of God’s
ability to know all things.) Jesus comes, on the eighth day, appearing to the
disciples, and especially to Thomas, and invites Thomas to do exactly what he
had demanded to be able to do. Jesus meets Thomas’ demand head-on.
But notice that Thomas won’t go there. Thomas won’t
put his hand into the mark (the Greek word is topos
= “place”) of the nails, or into the Lord’s side.
Instead, Thomas exclaims “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
Now, Thomas knows that the Lord is no disembodied
spirit. The Lord had risen, indeed, with his whole being intact, fully human,
fully alive, fully divine.
No longer would Thomas be disbelieving or
faithless. (The Greek actually means “disbelieving” or “faithless”, and that
translation is better than “doubting”.)
You and I need some basis for believing that the
things that Holy Scripture tell us are true and trustworthy. Or should I say
True and Trustworthy (both with capital “T”s). It is helpful for us to know the
record of what those who have gone before us in the walk of faith have come to
believe. But, like Thomas, we’ll need actual proof ourselves.
Where can we find such proof? Certainly, the record
which has been preserved for us in the pages of Holy Scripture is helpful.
After all, that record forms the most basic level of support, the foundation of
all foundations, for what we have come to believe and know. Beyond that, we can
look at the record of those original apostles, and their faithfulness in the
face of difficulty and even death, for we are their spiritual descendants. And
then, we can look for evidence of God’s acting in our own lives and in the
lives of others. There, we can see God’s power most at work in the edges of our
normal human experience, in situations in which there seems to be
little-or-no-hope of new life and a better day. For when God acts, the signs of
His acting are unmistakable: Those who had been in bondage to some form of
addiction are delivered, set free, guaranteed a new life in Christ. People are
delivered from illness and death in circumstances when medical science says
that it has done all that it is capable of doing to preserve life and to offer
a new day. When God acts, people who are passing from this life into eternity
often see Jesus waiting to take them home. (I have witnessed this phenomenon
myself.) These are just a few of the ways in which we know that God’s truth,
made known to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is Truth (with a
capital “T”).
We Christians are, after all, a resurrection
people. We believe and have come to know that that same God who raised Jesus
from the dead can also raise us to a new and better life, a life which is
“full” in the completest sense of that word, a life that will extend from this
present life into eternity, for our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered our
greatest and final enemy, death.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
[1] The reality of Jesus’ resurrection, a rising
from the tomb with His body completely intact, was important to the early
Christians. It is also an important concern for us, today. In Luke 24:36–43,
Jesus appears to the disciples after His resurrection, and invites them to
touch Him, telling them that He is not a spirit, but that He has “flesh and
blood”. Then, He asks them for a piece of fish to eat.
[2] Tradition tells us that only one of those
original twelve, John, died a natural death. There is also a hint of this truth
in the final chapter of the Fourth Gospel…..see John 21:23.
