Sermon for 4/11/2010
Easter 2C
Easter 2C
John 20:19-31; Psalm 150
Doubting Thomas.... Poor Thomas gets such a bad rap. We read this Gospel story each year on the Second Sunday of the Easter season. Whenever I hear this story, the moniker "Doubting Thomas" comes to mind. Poor, Poor Thomas. One question, one request, and he is forever labeled a doubter.
This passage begins on the evening of the Resurrection, and then finishes up a week later. It provides two accounts of the disciples encountering the resurrected Jesus. It's an important passage within the Gospel of John, and Thomas' doubt tends to be the focus. I prefer to see Thomas as an Inquirer. He asks a question that is important. He wants evidence of Jesus' resurrection. He's a good scientist, and wants data before he proves the theory correct.[1]
Do you like to ask questions? Craig in his children's sermon last week invited the children to ask tough questions, and boy did they ever! Questions are a good thing. Questions help us to understand what is going on and make good decisions based on what we learn. Questions help us receive answers, or at least help us to ask further questions.
In today's text, Thomas is stating his question in a request to see the wounds of Jesus in order to help him believe in the Resurrection. For whatever reason he was absent from the rest of the community when Jesus appeared the night of the Resurrection. A week goes by, and Jesus appears to the community of disciples again, and this time Thomas is present. Jesus sought him out to help him believe. [2] Jesus pursued him to provide the answers to the questions he had. When Jesus shows up, Thomas changes from one with questions to one with answers. Through Jesus' providing Thomas with evidence and answers to his question, he is able to believe. That was Jesus' purpose. He showed up that night to help Thomas believe. Jesus invites him, "Do not doubt, but believe."
Thomas does believe. One of the most important parts of this whole passage comes next. Thomas provides a confession of believe in the Risen Christ. Thomas proclaims, "My Lord and My God." This is HUGE. Thomas gets it. He understands. His questions have been answered, and it has changed his life. "MY Lord and MY God!" Thomas has new life through his confession of Christ Jesus as Lord and God. Thomas is no longer a doubter, but the first person to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and God in John's Gospel.[3] What a significant thing to be remembered for.
When Thomas proclaims Jesus as Lord and God, he is hearkening back to the beginning of John. Remember the prologue to John that we heard at Christmas. John 1 says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." (Jn 1:1) "The word became flesh and lived among us." (Jn. 1:14) Now we hear the connection between Jesus as the Word of God proclaimed for the whole community to hear.[4] Not only is Jesus the Word that became flesh and lived among us, but as John 20 tells us, "Through believing, you may have life in his name." The Gospel has come full circle, and the circle of life now extends to us as well. We can have life in Christ's name, when he is our Lord and God.
The Gospel writer tells us that the signs done in the presence of the disciples are written so we may come to believe in Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God (vs. 31). Not just Thomas, but all of us. The community of disciples were present those days when Jesus appeared, and this passage is clear that the witness and proclamation extends to the whole community. Belief isn't end of the journey here, either. Belief leads to life--Life in Christ's name.
Life in Christ's name. What does that look like? What does life mean after the resurrection? We receive one clue to what life means in Jesus' blessing in this passage. "Peace be with you." (Vs. 21) Shalom: Peace, wholeness, completeness, health. The peace that Jesus bestows on the gathered community in this passage is complete, whole peace. Peace that only Jesus fully gives. Peace gives life, but just not any life. Resurrected life. Life anew. Life in Christ's name.
The other evening, Steve and I watched a movie that documents an important story of new life in our world's history in the last 100 years. [See blog post for 4/9/10]. We saw "Schindler's List." For those who might not be familiar with this 1993 Oscar award-winner, it's based on the life of Oskar Schindler. He was raised as a German catholic who moved from Czechoslovakia to Poland to run a factory during World War 2. In Krakow, he employed Jews in his factory. Though he was technically a Nazi, he befriended the Jews and worked keep them in his factory in order to save them from death. Schindler's List documented the names of 1200 Jews that he saved during the war from the Shoah, the Holocaust. He resurrected them, if you will, by placing their names on the list of workers and giving them a chance at a new life after the war. Schindler bribed, blackmailed, persuaded, and paid off Nazi officials to keep his workers in his factory, and at the end of the war, he sent them off as Free Jews with 3 yards of fabric and vodka to sell for money to start their new lives. He amassed a fortune and spent every last Reichmark saving their lives. He fled to Argentina completely broke at the end of the war. The Schindler Jews, as they are know, were so appreciative of him saving their lives, that they supported him financially.
Itzhak Stern, Schindler's Jewish Accountant, assisted with the business and typed the List of names of the Jews. Once he realizes what Schindler was doing, he exclaimed, "The List is an absolute good. The List is life." Numerous survivors have recounted via video and written documents about the good that Oskar Schindler did through his list. He was not perfect, but he risked his life for the sake of others. He provided peace for these Jews--peace from the war--food and health care for their sick bodies----shelter from the storm raging around them--peace and wholeness for them during the worst of times. The List was Life--New life. Today decedents from the list number 7000. (http://www.auschwitz.dk/Schindlerslist.htm)
Today, April 11th, is Yom HaShoah--the International Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust. A day we pause and remember all those lost around our world because of genocide. And a day we pause and give thanks for those, like Oskar Schindler, who did what they could to provide life and peace from the death around them.
One of my favorite scenes from the movie was when Schindler, near the very end of the war, reminds the Rabbi that it is almost sundown on Friday and it is time for him to begin preparing for the Sabbath. The Rabbi gathers the wine and leads the community in the prayers of their faith, giving thanks and remembering all God had done and was doing in their midst. The voices of the community in prayer are heard as candles are lit. The sign of God's presence is revealed through the light, and they proclaim what they believe.
Doesn't Thomas do the same for us today? Thomas, no longer the doubter, is now the proclaimer. "My Lord and My God." He names the sign of God's presence in our midst. Just as Jesus gave peace, shalom, to the gathered community and gave new life through his resurrection, Schindler gave peace to his Jews through their jobs in his factory, and gave them a new chance at life through the list.
In the Gospel passage, Jesus is there with the community. We get so focused on Thomas that we easily loose sight of the community around him. The disciples are gathered. Nowhere does it indicate it was only the 11--I believe it was a much larger group. [5] The peace and life that Christ breathed into the disciples extends to us through the gathered community. Christ gives us peace and sends us out to share the good news of God living with us. New life comes from death. The Word has become flesh and indeed, STILL lives among us.
We practice this faith as a community and live into it together. We live out life in Christ's name each time we celebrate and worship as a community. We live out life in Christ's name each time we speak peace to one another. We live out life in Christ's name every time we bring a child forward for Baptism. This morning we proclaimed our belief in God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together and shared together as a community in Winston's Baptism. We mark this step in his faith journey and live out life in Christ's name together.
[Photo by David Cherveny of RMC's Easter Sunrise Service at Oakwood Cemetary, Raleigh NC, 4/4/10]
Last Sunday we celebrated life in Christ's name. We proclaimed, "The Lord is risen" while the birds chirped and the sun rose. Next Sunday we will celebrate life in Christ's name. We will celebrate another baptism, and share together in the Lord's Supper. We will gather as a community to eat and drink and remember Christ, and live out life together in Christ's name through the Sacraments. Two Sundays from now, on April 25th we will gather to celebrate the Confirmation of our youth as they proclaim their own faith and mark the next step in their faith journey. We will be here celebrating with them and living together into life in Christ's name.
Each time we gather as a faith community to worship, pray, study, learn, make music, eat, or spend time together, we are living life in Christ's name. We are practicing shalom, God's peace, and enacting it in our world. The more we practice living life in Christ's name with His peace and the Spirit in us, the more we can share it. We are taking it with us from this place to wherever we go from here--work, school, home. We are sharing Christ's life and peace with everyone we meet. Christ gave the gathered community His peace and then sent them out with the Spirit to a world longing to hear and see and know Christ's peace. Christ gives US peace and sends US out with the Spirit to a world longing to hear and see and know his peace. We live life together in his name and we must share it with those around us. May we share Christ's peace and live life in his name today and always. Amen.
[1] Martin E. Marty, "Theological Perspective on John 20:19-31" in Feasting on The Word (Year C,Vol. 2) eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 396.
[2] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 849-850.
[3] Gregory A. Robbins, "Exegitical Perspective on John 20:19-31" in Feasting on The Word (Year C,Vol. 2) eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 401. Gerald Sloyan, John. Interpretation Series (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1998) 226.
[4] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 850.
[5] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 846.
Doubting Thomas.... Poor Thomas gets such a bad rap. We read this Gospel story each year on the Second Sunday of the Easter season. Whenever I hear this story, the moniker "Doubting Thomas" comes to mind. Poor, Poor Thomas. One question, one request, and he is forever labeled a doubter.
This passage begins on the evening of the Resurrection, and then finishes up a week later. It provides two accounts of the disciples encountering the resurrected Jesus. It's an important passage within the Gospel of John, and Thomas' doubt tends to be the focus. I prefer to see Thomas as an Inquirer. He asks a question that is important. He wants evidence of Jesus' resurrection. He's a good scientist, and wants data before he proves the theory correct.[1]
Do you like to ask questions? Craig in his children's sermon last week invited the children to ask tough questions, and boy did they ever! Questions are a good thing. Questions help us to understand what is going on and make good decisions based on what we learn. Questions help us receive answers, or at least help us to ask further questions.
In today's text, Thomas is stating his question in a request to see the wounds of Jesus in order to help him believe in the Resurrection. For whatever reason he was absent from the rest of the community when Jesus appeared the night of the Resurrection. A week goes by, and Jesus appears to the community of disciples again, and this time Thomas is present. Jesus sought him out to help him believe. [2] Jesus pursued him to provide the answers to the questions he had. When Jesus shows up, Thomas changes from one with questions to one with answers. Through Jesus' providing Thomas with evidence and answers to his question, he is able to believe. That was Jesus' purpose. He showed up that night to help Thomas believe. Jesus invites him, "Do not doubt, but believe."
Thomas does believe. One of the most important parts of this whole passage comes next. Thomas provides a confession of believe in the Risen Christ. Thomas proclaims, "My Lord and My God." This is HUGE. Thomas gets it. He understands. His questions have been answered, and it has changed his life. "MY Lord and MY God!" Thomas has new life through his confession of Christ Jesus as Lord and God. Thomas is no longer a doubter, but the first person to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and God in John's Gospel.[3] What a significant thing to be remembered for.
When Thomas proclaims Jesus as Lord and God, he is hearkening back to the beginning of John. Remember the prologue to John that we heard at Christmas. John 1 says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." (Jn 1:1) "The word became flesh and lived among us." (Jn. 1:14) Now we hear the connection between Jesus as the Word of God proclaimed for the whole community to hear.[4] Not only is Jesus the Word that became flesh and lived among us, but as John 20 tells us, "Through believing, you may have life in his name." The Gospel has come full circle, and the circle of life now extends to us as well. We can have life in Christ's name, when he is our Lord and God.
The Gospel writer tells us that the signs done in the presence of the disciples are written so we may come to believe in Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God (vs. 31). Not just Thomas, but all of us. The community of disciples were present those days when Jesus appeared, and this passage is clear that the witness and proclamation extends to the whole community. Belief isn't end of the journey here, either. Belief leads to life--Life in Christ's name.
Life in Christ's name. What does that look like? What does life mean after the resurrection? We receive one clue to what life means in Jesus' blessing in this passage. "Peace be with you." (Vs. 21) Shalom: Peace, wholeness, completeness, health. The peace that Jesus bestows on the gathered community in this passage is complete, whole peace. Peace that only Jesus fully gives. Peace gives life, but just not any life. Resurrected life. Life anew. Life in Christ's name.
The other evening, Steve and I watched a movie that documents an important story of new life in our world's history in the last 100 years. [See blog post for 4/9/10]. We saw "Schindler's List." For those who might not be familiar with this 1993 Oscar award-winner, it's based on the life of Oskar Schindler. He was raised as a German catholic who moved from Czechoslovakia to Poland to run a factory during World War 2. In Krakow, he employed Jews in his factory. Though he was technically a Nazi, he befriended the Jews and worked keep them in his factory in order to save them from death. Schindler's List documented the names of 1200 Jews that he saved during the war from the Shoah, the Holocaust. He resurrected them, if you will, by placing their names on the list of workers and giving them a chance at a new life after the war. Schindler bribed, blackmailed, persuaded, and paid off Nazi officials to keep his workers in his factory, and at the end of the war, he sent them off as Free Jews with 3 yards of fabric and vodka to sell for money to start their new lives. He amassed a fortune and spent every last Reichmark saving their lives. He fled to Argentina completely broke at the end of the war. The Schindler Jews, as they are know, were so appreciative of him saving their lives, that they supported him financially.
Itzhak Stern, Schindler's Jewish Accountant, assisted with the business and typed the List of names of the Jews. Once he realizes what Schindler was doing, he exclaimed, "The List is an absolute good. The List is life." Numerous survivors have recounted via video and written documents about the good that Oskar Schindler did through his list. He was not perfect, but he risked his life for the sake of others. He provided peace for these Jews--peace from the war--food and health care for their sick bodies----shelter from the storm raging around them--peace and wholeness for them during the worst of times. The List was Life--New life. Today decedents from the list number 7000. (http://www.auschwitz.dk/Schindlerslist.htm)
Today, April 11th, is Yom HaShoah--the International Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust. A day we pause and remember all those lost around our world because of genocide. And a day we pause and give thanks for those, like Oskar Schindler, who did what they could to provide life and peace from the death around them.
One of my favorite scenes from the movie was when Schindler, near the very end of the war, reminds the Rabbi that it is almost sundown on Friday and it is time for him to begin preparing for the Sabbath. The Rabbi gathers the wine and leads the community in the prayers of their faith, giving thanks and remembering all God had done and was doing in their midst. The voices of the community in prayer are heard as candles are lit. The sign of God's presence is revealed through the light, and they proclaim what they believe.
Doesn't Thomas do the same for us today? Thomas, no longer the doubter, is now the proclaimer. "My Lord and My God." He names the sign of God's presence in our midst. Just as Jesus gave peace, shalom, to the gathered community and gave new life through his resurrection, Schindler gave peace to his Jews through their jobs in his factory, and gave them a new chance at life through the list.
In the Gospel passage, Jesus is there with the community. We get so focused on Thomas that we easily loose sight of the community around him. The disciples are gathered. Nowhere does it indicate it was only the 11--I believe it was a much larger group. [5] The peace and life that Christ breathed into the disciples extends to us through the gathered community. Christ gives us peace and sends us out to share the good news of God living with us. New life comes from death. The Word has become flesh and indeed, STILL lives among us.
We practice this faith as a community and live into it together. We live out life in Christ's name each time we celebrate and worship as a community. We live out life in Christ's name each time we speak peace to one another. We live out life in Christ's name every time we bring a child forward for Baptism. This morning we proclaimed our belief in God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together and shared together as a community in Winston's Baptism. We mark this step in his faith journey and live out life in Christ's name together.
[Photo by David Cherveny of RMC's Easter Sunrise Service at Oakwood Cemetary, Raleigh NC, 4/4/10]
Last Sunday we celebrated life in Christ's name. We proclaimed, "The Lord is risen" while the birds chirped and the sun rose. Next Sunday we will celebrate life in Christ's name. We will celebrate another baptism, and share together in the Lord's Supper. We will gather as a community to eat and drink and remember Christ, and live out life together in Christ's name through the Sacraments. Two Sundays from now, on April 25th we will gather to celebrate the Confirmation of our youth as they proclaim their own faith and mark the next step in their faith journey. We will be here celebrating with them and living together into life in Christ's name.
Each time we gather as a faith community to worship, pray, study, learn, make music, eat, or spend time together, we are living life in Christ's name. We are practicing shalom, God's peace, and enacting it in our world. The more we practice living life in Christ's name with His peace and the Spirit in us, the more we can share it. We are taking it with us from this place to wherever we go from here--work, school, home. We are sharing Christ's life and peace with everyone we meet. Christ gave the gathered community His peace and then sent them out with the Spirit to a world longing to hear and see and know Christ's peace. Christ gives US peace and sends US out with the Spirit to a world longing to hear and see and know his peace. We live life together in his name and we must share it with those around us. May we share Christ's peace and live life in his name today and always. Amen.
[1] Martin E. Marty, "Theological Perspective on John 20:19-31" in Feasting on The Word (Year C,Vol. 2) eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 396.
[2] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 849-850.
[3] Gregory A. Robbins, "Exegitical Perspective on John 20:19-31" in Feasting on The Word (Year C,Vol. 2) eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 401. Gerald Sloyan, John. Interpretation Series (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1998) 226.
[4] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 850.
[5] Gail O'Day, "John" in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 846.
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