April 11, 2021: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
I love the stories of the early resurrection appearances – to Mary Magdalene first, then the disciples (well, except Thomas), then Cleopas and the woman walking with him on the road to Emmaus (presumably his wife)[1], then Thomas, then the boys on the beach, and a lot more apparently than were ever recorded in our canon. Yet it is this story of Thomas that many of us, I think, feel a deep connection to, because in a lot of ways, Thomas is us.
Maybe that is why he is called “The Twin”…perhaps he is the twin of all of humanity, because it is Thomas that has a deep and honest faith. Now, I know that many through the centuries have heard this as a gospel story that admonishes those who need to see to believe. But if you have been coming here for awhile, you know that doubt is not the opposite of faith – it is essential to it. And besides, having doubt isn’t what this gospel narrative is all about.
As I say each time this gospel comes around, Thomas only had the same doubts that everyone but Mary had, yet through the centuries we have treated him like some sort of bad boy of the gospel crowd. Yes, I mean the other disciples too – for they also had to see the scars before they would believe that the one standing before them was the resurrected Christ. Yup – just go back a few verses and you will see that despite the fact that Mary had already told them “I have seen the Lord!” when Jesus showed up through a locked door, he still had to show them the marks on his body before they would believe it was really him. Now you may be thinking…but Thomas had to touch the wounds, not just see them! Not so. The text never says that at all. Thomas demanded to touch them, but when Jesus returned and invited him to do it, he immediately answered “My Lord and my God!” The invitation was enough.
So, if it is okay for the others, let’s just give poor Thomas a break already. I mean Peter actually denied Jesus three times, but what do we do with him? We give him the keys to the church! The thing is, there is nothing wrong with anything the disciples did – Thomas or the other ones – except for not believing Mary. No, where we get lost is forgetting how vulnerable they all were – locked up and isolated – and in thinking there is something wrong with having doubts about what we believe.
So casting aside doubt as important to the story for now, one of the things that we should take note of is what they were actually seeing, what Jesus invites them into. It is not a restoration, but a resurrection! He shows them not a perfected heavenly body, but one with the wounds of the crucifixion still present. The resurrection did not erase the crucifixion – it never will, nor should it. The resurrection transforms the crucifixion – and that is the new life we celebrate.
This is indeed good news for us today, isn’t it? For we are awash in the wounds of this pandemic. We grieve those we lost, and mourn the life experiences we cannot yet enjoy. When we one day have this pandemic behind us, the wounds of this time will not miraculously disappear – we will not forget what this time has been for us all. The wounds will always be there, but over time, scar tissue will form…we will see them in a new way. That is the resurrection that awaits us. We will be transformed into new life, wounds and all, by the grace of God!
And if we have any doubt about that, we need only open our own eyes to see resurrection all around us, for Christ the crucified one, is making himself known in our lives every day.
We see the crucified one in the oppressed, and the resurrected one in those who work for justice.
We see the crucified one in the hungry and poor, and the resurrected one in those who work to eradicate poverty.
We see the crucified one in the addicted, and the resurrected one in those who labor through to recovery.
We see the crucified one in the victims of war, and the resurrected ones in those who strive for peace.
We see the crucified one in the scars borne on this earth and on all the creatures who dwell in it through our abuse and neglect, and the resurrected one in those who labor on behalf of the environment.
Jesus, the crucified one, the resurrected Christ, is being revealed everywhere.
I want to tell you a story about one person who experienced the crucified and resurrected Christ. She was born in 1910 in Macedonia, and her name was Agnes. When Agnes was only 8 years old, her father died, and she became close to her mother, who was a woman of deep faith. While on a congregational retreat with her church, she felt a calling to a religious life, and when she turned 18, Agnes decided to become a nun and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin. That is where she took the name Sister Mary Teresa, later Mother Teresa.
She began serving at a girl’s school in Calcutta, India. Yet what we know of her work now did not happen for another 15 years. That was when she had what she later described as a “calling within a calling.” “She recounted that it was when she was on a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills that she felt as though Christ spoke to her, nudging her to abandon being an educator and instead dedicate her work to aiding Calcutta’s sickest and poorest people.”[2] And we all know about the incredible work she did among the poor there, but what you may not know is this: “When Mother Teresa went into the dark slums of Calcutta she was afraid. But in the face of the starving poor she saw Jesus. He was there already waiting for her.”[3]
She experienced the risen Christ speaking to her on that train, and the crucified one – his wounds very visible – in those children of God she was called to serve. And here’s the thing about Mother Teresa – she had her own doubts– times when she didn’t feel the presence of God.
And why is this story of Mother Teresa important on this day in which we hear about the resurrection appearance to Thomas? Because Jesus does not ask perfection of us. He does not require us to be without doubt, or to experience him as others have. He will always show himself to us – in unexpected ways and in unexpected places.
But, we need to get back to this story of Thomas and the others, because something else is revealed too in all of these early resurrection appearances, so let’s take a look at each of them.
First Jesus shows himself to Mary Magdalene. Now, not for nothing, but if you were going to return from the dead, who would be the first person you would want to go see? The person you loved most, I would expect. Let THAT sink in a bit. Still, as I have said before, I think it would have been awesome if Jesus had popped into the palace in front of Pontius Pilate and said “Here’s some truth for ya – I’m back!” Who knows, maybe he did. There were no hidden cameras in those days.
Anyway, he appears first to Mary who, like the boys later, also doesn’t recognize him initially, but when he speaks her name, she knows him. Then the disciples see him walk through a locked door, and he speaks to them, but he needs to reveal his crucified body before they know him. Then there are Cleopas and presumably his wife – oh for crying out loud, let’s give her a name…how about Judy. So Cleo and Judy, two disciples of Jesus, were in grief, and heading home to Emmaus, when Jesus begins walking with them. They felt something as he spoke, but it was not until he broke bread that they knew him…and then he vanished. They, like Mary, did not need to see the scars. And then we have Thomas, who thought he needed to touch them, but in Jesus showing his scars, he knew the truth of the resurrection – in fact, far more than all the others, for he proclaimed him God.
Jesus went to each of these: Mary, Thomas, Cleopas & Judy, and of course Peter and the others – and to each, he gave them what they needed, to see and to know, the good news. He met them where they were – Mary in her despair, the other disciples in their fear, Thomas in his doubt, Cleo & Judy in their hopelessness – and to each offered himself as they had need: for Mary, his voice, for Thomas, Peter, and the others, the sight of his wounds, and for Cleo & Judy he shared the word and broke bread with them.
And here’s the good news for us – he is doing this still.
When you are worn with grief like Mary, you will hear him speaking.
When you are huddled in fear like Peter, you will see him.
When you are trying to discern what direction God wants you to go, like Cleopas & Judy, you will experience him.
When you feel left out, pushed to the side, alone, like Thomas, he will come back for you.
Oh, it may not be like a body walking through a locked door, or a disappearing act happening at your kitchen table, but Christ is with you in no less a way than with those earliest of his followers.
For we know that Christ is made known to us in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the Word, in the eyes of the stranger, the imprisoned, the hungry, the sick, and the poor. And if you allow it, he is made known to you in the deepest recesses of your heart. You could be on a train ride, or a drive to the store, or when you are in deep prayer; and, it might feel like an irresistible pull to go in a new direction, or a reassuring sense that you are right where you need to be when you are doubting yourself. But no matter when or where, He will make himself known to you.
That is the good news of Easter my friends!
Jesus is inviting you to experience him. You are the one he comes back for – always and everywhere – throughout your life.
Jesus will always come to you – he will meet you where you are – he will not leave you behind.
Jesus, the crucified and the resurrected, will restore you in your pain, and transform you to be his light in the world.
And like those earliest followers, like Mother Teresa, what you do with that, with the transformative power of his resurrection, will change you, and all who come to know him through you, if you let it.
And oh, how he hopes you will let it, let him, the crucified and the resurrected, into your heart.
Amen.
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[1] For background on that, please see my sermon from Easter 3 in 2020.
[2] http://inspiringstoriestoshare.com/the-incredible-story-of-mother-teresa/
[3] https://preachingtip.com/archives-year-b/easter-year-b/easter-year-b/
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
April 11, 2021
The Second Sunday Of Easter
1st Reading – Acts 4:32-35
Psalm 133
2nd Reading – 1 John 1:1-2:2
Gospel – John 20:19-31
