|
Back to Sermon Archives
April 15, 2007
The Rev. Bob Olmstead
First United Methodist Church
Reno, Nevada
Scripture:
"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put
your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my
side. Do not doubt but believe.' Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God.'"
{John 20:27-28}
"MORE THAN DEATH AND TAXES"
This is chapter two of a story that started last Sunday. Last
Sunday, which was Easter, we remembered Mary Magdalene dragging herself to
Jesus’s tomb only to find it empty, how she ran and grabbed two of the male
disciples who confirmed that it was empty, and how Mary Magdalene lingered and
was the first to recognize the risen Christ.
Today – chapter two -- "On the evening of that day...," in other words it was
Easter Sunday evening, and the disciples were huddled together behind closed --
and locked -- doors. They were "home alone" (if you happened to see that horror
movie). They were afraid.
Despite locked doors, Jesus enters and stands among them. He says, “Shalom…”
“Peace…” "Peace be with you." And then he breathes on them. This is
not about halitosis. In Genesis God “breathes” on Adam and that’s what
gives humanity life. In Ezekiel four winds come to the valley of dry
bones and Israel’s dry bones are revived with flesh and sinews and new life.
Wind is the same word as breath in Hebrew. When Nicodemus asks how a
man can be born again, Jesus says “the wind blows where it wills.” On the day
of the Pentecost festival the Holy Spirit fills the disciples and they preach
with confidence, passion and charisma. Breath, wind, Spirit – all the
same word in the language of Scripture (Hebrew).
On the evening of that first Easter Jesus enters the room, he says, “Peace be
with you,” and he breathes on the frightened disciples and then
sends them out to forgive sins! . . . As people younger than I would say: Way
cool!
Thomas, meanwhile, was in the outhouse finishing a cigarette. Or maybe he was
ashamed to show his face after deserting Jesus just two days before - the day of
crucifixion. Whatever the reason, Thomas wasn't present. So when he returns,
the others babble excitedly, "We have seen the Lord!"
Thomas won't believe a word of it. He thinks they are nuts! “I’d have to put
my finger in the nail holes in his hands before I’d believe such a cock-and-bull
story”
Maybe I already told you about this – it happened while I was in Reno. Karla
Bowman was pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. She asked me if I
would lead a monthly men’s Bible Study at St. Paul’s. What could I say? She
helped us out by doing many of the weddings here at First Church. So once a
month, early on a Saturday morning, I met with a small group of men in the
parish hall at St. Paul’s. One of the devoted members of that group was a young
man named Bob. Bob was confined to a wheelchair, was blind and required kidney
dialysis.
On a Saturday after Easter we were discussing today’s Bible story and we got to
the point where Thomas says, “I don’t believe it.” Bob interrupted. From
behind those blind eyes, he asked, "Is that why they call him 'Doubting
Thomas?’"
"Exactly," I said.
"I think he was there just for me," said Bob.
"He was there for you," I said, "and for me, and for all of us.
Thomas was there for anybody who has doubts – who has trouble believing in the
resurrection, or Christianity, or the existence of God. Doubts are human,
normal, predictable and universal." Bob was still nodding his head in
affirmation as we went on with the story.
As do we – go on with the story. A week goes by. It was now the
Sunday after Easter. Like today. Which in our case falls on April 15. Have
you filed your taxes yet? When April 15 falls on a Sunday, you get an extra
day. Which is grace. It’s known as a grace day. Which is a theological term .
. . you see, I can make a sermon out of anything.
But back to our story! It’s the Sunday after the first Easter
Sunday and the disciples are again gathered behind closed doors. This time
Thomas is there. Jesus enters . . . again. "Shalom be
with you," he says . . . again. This time he turns directly to Thomas. "Put
your finger here," he says, showing his wounded hands. "...Put your hand in my
side."
Did Thomas actually touch the wounds of Jesus? It doesn’t say. It
says, "Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!'"
That . . . is the climax of the Bible!
I know – there’s more Bible comes after it - more New Testament books, the
spread of the Gospel, explaining what it means, making it more and more
complicated, but the climax of the Bible is right there in the twentieth chapter
of John, when doubting Thomas – standing in for you and for me -- says, "My Lord
and my God!"
The story leaves me with three questions:
How did Thomas “get it” so fast?
And what did he do with it, once he got it?
And what are we supposed to make of it?
How did Thomas "get it" so fast? One minute he's a doubter, the next minute
he's a believer. One minute he's a sensible human asking for evidence, the next
minute he's a born again Christian. One minute he's like you and me, wanting to
believe there’s more to this life than death and taxes, hoping to believe,
skeptical of other people’s faith stories . . . and a minute later he's on his
knees with a profession of faith! “My Lord and my God!”
How did he get it so fast?
Well, he was there. He got to touch the wounds in Jesus’s hands and side. To
which Jesus responds (with utmost gentleness), “Have you believed because you
have seen? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” {John
20:29}
That’s us. We do not get to touch the flesh of the Risen Christ,
but blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Thomas reached out to touch the hands that will heal the world. He felt the
wounds those hands held. He was so close he felt the breath of Christ upon him
– the breath that brings shalom. Jesus breathed shalom on him.
“Peace be with you.” The peace that passes understanding. This shalom –
this peace – is not the mere absence of war. God’s shalom – the peace
proclaimed in Scripture, incarnate in the human person Jesus of Nazareth, who
was crucified because we humans cannot bear the light of day, who was then
resurrected to new life because God’s shalom will not be
defeated by human sin – this peace is the complete fulfillment and perfect
harmony of God’s entire creation realized.
The hardest lesson to learn in life is which bridges to cross and which bridges
to burn. When Thomas reached out his hand to touch the wounds of Jesus, he
stepped onto the bridge that leads to shalom's distant shore. When he
said, “My Lord and my God,” he burned behind him the bridges that say, “not
until you prove it to me,” “not until I see how many of the others make it,”
“not until I’m sure this is the right way,” “not until you show me what’s on the
other side,” “not until somebody else goes first.”
Thomas “got it” – he “got” that we don’t get a four part plan with
guaranteed results, we don’t get the answer sheet to life’s most perplexing
questions, we don’t get a AAA road map with the best routes marked with yellow
high-lighter. We get Jesus. That’s what God gives us. A man with wounded
hands and a bleeding heart.
An adventuresome American wanting to explore places “white men” had
never gone before, hired native guides to take him into the African jungle.
Several of the guides disappeared until only one remained, hacking his way
through thick vines and jungle bushes. The American tried to suppress his
rising anxieties until panic gripped him and he shouted, “Where is the path?
Where is the path?” His native guide replied, “Bwanna, I am the path, the only
path; you must come with me.”
That’s what Thomas agreed to when he blurted out to Jesus, “My Lord
and my God!”
So what do you suppose Thomas did with that, once he got it? Did he
reach shalom in his lifetime? Did he find the peace that passes
understanding? Shalom is much more than peace of mind. Remember? It is
the complete fulfillment and perfect harmony of God’s creation fully realized.
Thomas did not reach shalom in his lifetime. And we haven't
seen it in ours.
While I was pastor here in Reno, I baptized Alycia Wong-Stuart.
Alycia is now old enough to have fascinating and complicated American history
assignments in school. One assignment asked her to interview someone who had
taken part in an historical event. Her mother reminded Alycia that she had been
baptized by a pastor who went to Selma during the Civil Rights Movement and took
part in the March on Montgomery led by Martin Luther King. So Alycia
interviewed me.
The Civil Rights Movement was about many things, but its principal
focus was on gaining the right to vote for African American citizens throughout
the segregated South.Sharing some of those memories with Alycia reminded me of
the pre-civil rights African American community in Florida that every year
rented a voting machine and went through the voting process. They knew their
votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the
white community why they did this every year, they replied, “Oh, just
practicing. Just practicing.”
They were sinfully denied the basic rights of citizenship, but they
practiced the ways of citizenship while waiting for the time to come.
That’s what the Church does.
That’s what the Church is. A community of people practicing
shalom – “just practicing, just practicing” - until the time
comes.
It was Martin Luther King who said, “Faith is taking the first step
even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
That’s a clue to what Thomas may have done next.
Those first disciples saw two tasks immediately ahead of them. One
was to tell others, to preach the Word, to become evangelists, to proclaim
shalom. The other task was to create communities of people who would
strengthen each other, support each other, encourage each other, remind each
other, while they practiced shalom.
Some of the disciples put more emphasis on evangelism, telling
others about Jesus, introducing them to the invisible but Risen Christ. Others
put more emphasis on developing communities of believers, on practicing the
disciplines of Christian living, developing and celebrating sacraments to
sustain the practicing Christians on the paths of their new lives: baptism,
which marked the entry into Christian community, and communion, which provided
bread for the journey, strength for practicing shalom.
We don’t know which of these – proclamation or pasturing – Thomas
was best at. But it was one or the other.
Leaving us finally with the third question: what are we to make of
it? We, the ones Jesus had specifically in mind when he told Thomas, “Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet believe.” However dimly that belief may
burn in us, it’s there, and it’s what got us here this morning.
You sing the answer to that question every Sunday morning. Words
from the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of you? Do justice. Love
mercy. Walk humbly with God.”
Focus on those three things and your life in Christ will be
fulfilled. Or focus on just one of them. Choose the one that appeals to you
the most. Make it central in your prayers and in your living. That will be
sufficient.
What is expected of us as a church?
Someone has said that the Church has three tasks: Gather the folks;
break the bread; tell the stories.
Does that sound too simple? Do that and we will change the world,
remaking it in God’s image. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done . . . Peace be
with you.”
Gather the folks. Break the bread. Tell the stories.
Carol and I believe that so firmly that we bring you the first 10%
of your Capital Campaign goal. Here’s a check for $25,000. We were going to
wait to die. But you need it now. So take it and use it to gather the folks,
to break the bread, and to keep telling the stories.
This place is part of our lives. We LOVE this place and the PEOPLE
who have ENRICHED our lives. We were here during stressful family times and you
were here with us and for us. It’s a familiar story. We had two teen-age boys
who were pushing the limits of our endurance, a daughter’s divorce, a bout with
clinical depression … and you were here with us and for us. We love this place
and the people who enrich our lives.
Clarence Jordan has a wonderful way of telling the story, making it
so homely we can’t help but understand it. He says, “God raised Jesus not as an
invitation to us to come to heaven when we die, but as a declaration that he has
now established eternal residence upon earth. The good news of the resurrection
is not that we shall die and go home with Jesus, but that Jesus has risen and
come home with us for a fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings.”
Where else can I find people who believe that, except in a Methodist
Church?
And if that’s true – that the Risen Christ comes home with us for a
chicken dinner with all the trimmings - what could be more important?
What could possibly be more important?
Do you know those horse races where one rider comes out at a time
and jumps her or his horse over hurdles, barriers, obstacles. “Seasoned
teachers of the sport will tell you that even the greatest riders face a common
obstacle: their own perception. Some of the most respected equestrian study
guides devote whole sections to the subject of a rider’s perception. Unless the
rider can manage to approach the barriers with a certain anticipatory
confidence, he or she will never become adept at jumping. One author shares
this no-nonsense advice for overcoming hesitation: ‘Take your heart and throw it
over the fence. Then jump after it.’”
Take your heart and throw it over the fence. Then jump after it.
That’s not about horse racing – that’s about Thomas.
Thomas allowed his hesitations to hold him back, until Jesus stood
directly before him, hands outstretched, and said, “Go ahead. Touch me.”
That’s when Thomas threw his heart over the fence, and jumped (doubts and all)
after it.
Thomas was lucky enough to have Jesus breathe shalom directly
on him. For me it’s the Church that breathes shalom.
And for me the Church is the church where I grew up and the churches
I’ve served. In Shrub Oak, in Oakland, in Santa Rosa, in Palo Alto, in Reno.
So very different, and so very much the same – gathering the people, breaking
the bread, and telling the stories. I’ve thrown my heart. And I’m so glad.
Folks need a place to gather, to break the bread, to tell the
stories.
This place needs to be here.
And it needs to be maintained.
You can look at it as paying the bills – bills are as certain as
death and taxes. Or you can approach it differently. This is the place where
Jesus breathes on us. This is where Jesus joins us for chicken dinner with all
the trimmings. This is the place where we practice God’s shalom.
I love this place, and the people who enrich my life – we all enrich
our lives here, together.
top of page
Archives
| 