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Second Sunday in Easter – April 18, 2004
Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29
Revelation 1:(1-8)9-19
John 20:19-31
Psalm 111
Two messages: to those doubting (believe!) and those believing (go!)
One of my less productive habits is reading many comics each day. I read
them on the internet so I am not sure if Funky Winkerbean is in the
Times-Picayune or not, but in yesterday’s strip (see above)…
If you are anything like me, or Funky, then not infrequently you find
yourself wondering how to just make it through the everyday, the mundane
moments of this life. I often feel that I am still “trying to figure out
life after birth” much less life after death. Of course, this is precisely
what Eastertide is all about and our readings for this morning bring this
home to us as the disciples struggle to understand what it means for them
to live after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
When Jesus came on the scene and began to preach their lives were changed.
Some left their jobs, some were healed of debilitating diseases, most left
their families, and all were forgiven of their sins. This Galilean rabbi
preached like the prophets of old, calling all Israel back to the spirit
of the Law, the spirit of mercy and justice. He was charismatic, in both
senses of the word; people were at once attracted and repelled by the
force of his character and he had the divine gift of healing and casting
out demons. A ministry that began with changing water into wine culminated
in a triumphal entrance into Jerusalem preceded by palms and shouts of
“Hosanna!”
And then he was executed.
The depths of despair are all too easy to imagine. Most of us have lost a
loved one, someone dear to us. Some have lost children in whom we placed
so much hope and expectations. Jesus was the hope of Israel! He was the
Messiah! God’s anointed one who was to bring in a new era, the coming of
God’s Kingdom when the first would be made last and the last first. The
Romans and all of Israel’s enemies would be destroyed and the Son of David
would again sit upon the throne.
Jesus is dead. Those who followed him are branded insurrectionists and
heretics. Not only must they cope with their grief but also they know that
their own lives are at risk as well and so they hide. Then word comes that
he is alive! Quietly, powerfully he bursts into their midst: “Peace be
with you.” Those who are there see him and believe. Some, who saw only the
empty had already believed (John 19.8), but those who were not there, like
Thomas, refused to believe until they had physical proof.
We live much of our lives in that moment in-between locked in that room
with the disciples. We have heard Jesus’ teachings and we know he died and
let’s be honest, most of want to believe that he is alive, but we wonder,
“Is he really?” Our society and culture is based upon knowledge gained
through experience, scientific proofs, and verifiable facts. We are
trained from our earliest days to demand proof before we will accept
anything. This is not a new phenomenon. Thomas Didymus, “the one called
the twin,” he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the
nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in
his side, I will not believe.” You will not be surprised when I tell you
that I know of more than one organization of skeptics called “The St.
Thomas Society” in honor of this doubting disciple. A healthy dose of
skepticism is generally believed to be a virtue in today’s world.
There have been many, many sermons preached and books published to try to
answer the needs of our proof-driven society. Just this past week Fr. John
and I were talking about Josh McDowell’s, Evidence that Demands a Verdict
and similar works (there are at least 2 I know of that are by lawyers who
feel they are the most adept at proving the matter). These books all seek
to provide incontrovertible proof that Jesus rose from the dead. I am
sorry; the whole point of the resurrection is that the evidence is no
longer there! The tomb is empty and Jesus has ascended to the Father! This
is the truth, whether evidence to satisfy the court of my heart exists or
not, the truth remains that Jesus rose from the dead, “the firstborn of
the dead.”
But like Thomas, no matter how much you doubt if you are willing to look
upon Jesus, not with your eyes but with your heart, and you will see his
hands and his side, you will know that he lives. And you will be all the
more blessed because even though we have not seen his physical body we
believed. This is the beginning of Easter, the confession that “He is
risen!” Yet it is just the beginning.
Did you notice who each time Jesus stands before his disciples he says,
“Peace be with you”? Granted, this is the normal greeting, as it is to
this day, in Hebrew or Aramaic. But there is something more to Jesus’
words. Remember the scene.
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors
of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he
said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples
rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
The disciples are scared, frighten for their lives, not daring to believe
the words of hope that Mary Magdalene had brought them declaring that she
had seen Jesus risen from the dead. So he says, “Peace be with you.”
Notice that his words do not immediately have the intended effect. Jesus
shows them his wounds and then the rejoiced “when they saw the Lord.”
They, like Thomas, refused to allow themselves to believe until they saw
with their own eyes that it was he. Once again Jesus says, “Peace be with
you.”
What is this peace? Once, shortly after we arrived in New Orleans, just
before Isabel was born, before I had completed my doctorate and had a
permanent job at Tulane, I was trying to make it through this “time of
transition” by repeating to myself “the peace of the Lord be with you.”
Finally, in a time of forced reflection, I realized that peace, God’s
peace, is not a cessation of struggle. True peace does not mean that the
war has ended. God’s peace is the peace that comes with the knowledge that
even though we remain in times of conflict we know that the Father is with
us and that the ultimate battle for this world and for our souls has been
won through Christ.
Jesus enters the room and says, “Peace be with you.” Yes, he says to them,
there are people who will persecute and kill you for following me, but be
at peace. “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15.54). And then
Jesus sends the disciples out to proclaim the good news of Christ, to
baptize in his name, and in bringing eternal life to the world they faced
their own mortal death. In it all they had peace, “peace the world could
not give.” The Church, built upon Christ by the hands of the apostles,
that is the proof of the resurrection.
We live in those in-between times. We come together in a room, but we do
not have to lock the doors. Yet we still worry about what the world will
say if we leave this place and go into the courts of commerce, into the
halls of our office or school, and declare that Jesus is Lord of all. We
all do. We don’t want to risk the promotion or “damage the friendship.” In
this Eastertide we read from Acts and remember the actions of the early
church. They risked and gave up their lives! We are called to do no less.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,
so I send you.’”
Amen.
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