Standing with Thomas in our questioning and in our faith
Second Sunday of Easter: 11th April, 2010
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
Hope is at the centre of it all. That is what is at the centre of the gospel for today where, in the middle of all this turmoil and discussion, Jesus appears amongst them. Astonishment, fear, doubt and uncertainty certainly, since Thomas is right in the middle of it all, but also joy. More teaching and a commission to go out and preach this good news. Repentance and forgiveness. Hope. Tell others so that they can share in this grace.
Now which part of this story is going to be the more convincing for each one of us? It is going to differ. Perhaps that is why the various gospel writers have taken different directions, emphasised different aspects. Perhaps that is why some will concentrate on the tomb and the absence of the body. Others will concentrate on the very human touches such as the sharing together by the risen Lord and his fishermen disciples of that fish barbecue up by the Sea of Galilee. Others will be right in there today with Thomas, and perhaps be convinced by his heart wrenching "My Lord and My God" from this gospel. This too would be to focus on the resurrection of the body, which is an article of the creedal faith of the Church. Thomas, as we remember, was invited to place his hand on the wounds so that he could be sure that it was the same Jesus who had been crucified. He then believed.
Immediately though, this gospel moves to the place that every succeeding generation is in. We are not in the position to actually see that risen Lord, let alone to take his hand or to eat with him or talk with him. How blessed are those who have not seen, who cannot see, and yet do believe. This is the gift of faith.
Now that becomes something that in the first instance was at the centre of the preaching of Peter and then Paul. Others could see and hear that these were utterly convinced that the Lord had risen from the dead. That this was the promised Messiah. That this was therefore the way to reconciliation with God, that this is indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that here there is forgiveness and a totally fresh start. The movement is in every sense from death to life. People could see and hear that this is what these apostles believed and if necessary were prepared themselves to die for. And yet to die in hope. The blood of those martyrs, like Peter our own patron, was as the saying goes, the seed of the Church. Others immediately arose to take their place and the community of those who wished to follow in this way grew.
But what about us? How might this connect with the way we might live and believe and hope? We hear the accounts of what happened then and in particular all these post resurrection stories that are in the gospels and Acts and in the letters of Paul. This testimony does have an impact and offers inspiration. So too do the stories of the saints great and small of every generation. We will each have some favourites. But as well we can see it and know it in our own lives, now. We can also see around us, every now and then, the experience of this resurrection in the lives of those who themselves have experienced it, are experiencing it. The Risen Lord in them. Experiencing and sharing that Easter hope.
This is particularly the case when we are being sorely tested. When things are really difficult. When things go badly wrong. The Easter faith is the faith that will carry us in those times. So it is that the lessons for these post Easter Sundays, starting with Easter Day itself, build up our memories of the composite record of what happened that day, as those who were there reported it. And they make it clear that it was something that for some took a while to be able to be absorbed and understood. But when it was, fear and doubt and disillusion were replaced with a great and exuberant joy, that nothing was able to contain. Yes indeed God was with them. A life can be lived on that basis!
That was then. That was the beginning of the exciting and extraordinary events that the Acts of the Apostles directs us to. That was the start of this creaking and groaning institution we call the Church, which even today, against all odds, exhibits some glimmers of that early first life. We are ourselves here because we acknowledge that there is also a 'now', that we ourselves are part of. And we know very well that if the prime demands and needs are to be summed up in words such as loving and feeding and following, then there is indeed much to be recovered and restored and renewed, if we are ourselves to be faithful in this our own generation.
Today's gospel reminds us by way of the Thomas story, of the task for the succeeding generations of Christians who were not actual witnesses of the Lord after he rose from the dead to yet believe. We cannot walk along the road to Emmaus alongside him, we cannot be invited to examine the wounds, to touch his hands and his side, and we cannot watch him eat a nice piece of freshly grilled fish. But we can, through this sacrament we offer every day, experience the presence of the risen One. The sacrament instituted on that Holy Thursday evening in the upper room is with us still. That is the clear point of connection that we have with the Lord, with that first generation, with succeeding generations and with each other. This is how we may know him and recognise the presence. This is where we meet. This is how we are spiritually fed and nourished. This is how we can get the strength to go on.
The hope, the renewed hope that was given to the disciples on that Easter morning, re-fired their faith, their belief and trust in their Lord, and filled them with an overwhelming and powerful love, for him and for each other. That in turn is held up as the basis of every subsequent Christian community and congregation. Without the resurrection there would assuredly have been no Church. And the continued existence of the Church down the centuries, through thick and thin, bears witness to the truth which it was first summoned to proclaim: God is with us. The risen Lord is with us. Every book of the New Testament bears witness to this.
God was in Christ, says St Paul: God is in Christ, reconciling us to himself.
The Easter proclamation that Christ is risen, is in fact the starting point for a whole new way of looking at life. A whole new way of ordering our sense of meaning and purpose. And a whole new basis of motivation for action.
In Christian teaching, everything extends out from this point. Everything extends from the acceptance in faith of the working of the power and purpose of God in this way. It is the principle of the new, bursting from the ruins of the old. Of life where there was death. Of good where there was evil. Of closeness to the love and mercy of God, where formerly there was separation. Of service and outreaching care to each other. Of commitment to living and working for justice and peace.
God in Jesus Christ shows us the nature of God. The nature of God is love. God in Jesus Christ shares our humanity. God knows our hopes. God knows our failings and our fears. And God is with us.
So today we continue in our Easter celebration. It was the proclamation of and profound acceptance of this resurrection that gave to the disciples (who had, we are told, all forsaken him and fled,) that complete revival of faith, which was to so characterise their living and sharing of the good news in the years to come. It was this teaching, this belief, this reality, which was in the firmest way to give authority and legitimacy to everything that the Lord had beforehand said and done and taught. May we find it within us to stand with Thomas, both in our questioning and in our response in faith.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!
|
Views is a
publication of
St Peter's Eastern Hill, Melbourne Australia.
|
