Prayer of Blessing: Shannon Cook Hymn of Joy *That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright* The Witness of Scripture: John 20: 19-29 Anthem *Down In the River to Pray* arr. Kevin McChesney. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *Have You Believed Because You Have Seen Me?* David Spain
Recorded on April 16, 2023
Last Sunday we travelled with Mary to the Garden. Remember we were there because as John wrote, the disciple whom Jesus loved—and that includes all of us—was there for awhile with Mary and then later heard her exclaim, “I have seen the Lord!” This week John invites us into a room with the disciples—one story with two scenes happening one week apart. The first scene is from the night of Jesus’ resurrection and the second is one week later, just as we are also one week after Easter’s celebration. Both scenes reveal the resurrected life whether that is Jesus, or we who live in the long light of resurrection.
The first scene, on the night of Jesus’ resurrection after Mary had seen the Lord and shared that greatest of good news, finds the disciples in a house in Jerusalem, huddled behind locked doors. They are afraid and we would not be too quick to critique them. No doubt the Roman soldiers on tomb duty and some of the religious authorities are on edge with rumors swirling about the one put to death on Friday alive again only 3 short days later. It stands to reason that the disciples are thinking since they came after Jesus, they might come after them now. To be sure, it is a joyous gift to follow Jesus, to be his disciple; but we also know that following Jesus means that sometimes we end up challenging powers that do not act in Christ-like ways, whether that power is civil or religious or privileged or oppressive. It takes courage to follow the risen Christ who does not settle for death-dealing ways.
As John tells the story, Jesus comes to the disciples, which admittedly seems like an odd choice. He returns to the ones who left him, denied him, betrayed him. Surprising as that decision is, his words are even more surprising. He does not ask why the disciples were suddenly scarce when he needed them most; does not ask why they did not live up to their earlier professsions of loyalty when the fires of hatred started to burn hot. Instead, what Jesus does is speak peace to them—giving his disciples not the comeuppance they might deserve but the peaceful gift of Christ’s ways which is now theirs to have and to give—peace that is not necessarily the absence of conflict but the presence of love that restores, renews, redeems, reconciles, recreates. Apparently the disciples were a bit in shock—not only at seeing Jesus when they had locked themselves away but also hearing his words of reparation rather than condemnation.
Unanticipated and wondrous as all this is, what Jesus does next is why we are here today.He breathes on them and he commissions them. Resurrection is not Christ’s alone, for his resurrecting spirit inspires every disciple.Quiet as a human breath, but not just any human breath, Jesus conspires with his disciples that they will continue what he has started, which is to live the grace and love of God in this world and with each other. Jesus tells the disciples that they now embody his Body, his breath, his spirit, his peace, his love. Ever since that night, Christ’s breath has been part of the air we breathe. We can hold our breath, turn our nose up at it, but we can’t unbreathe this gift of love resurrected and respirated into the world, into any who would be his disciples—
and who knows the myriad ways Christ aspires to be with the world God so loves.
The day of resurrection was a full day—the fullest day as any resurrecting moment always is —and one week later the disciples are again together. This time Thomas is with them. He had heard the reports of Christ alive but wanted his own eyes to see, which as John tells the story happens. It is curious that in both scenes, what clues the disciples into Christ’s presence with them is when he shows them his wounds. It is a clue that discipleship, that Christianity is always marked in some way by compassion. Thomas sees and proclaims, similarly to Mary, and then Jesus asks and answers his own question – “Have you believed because you have seen me?Blessed are those who have not seen yet have come to believe,” which of course is Christ’s statement that includes every disciple after Thomas. It is important not just for its inclusive invitation, but also for its picture of faith as that which we “come to believe,” which is to say faith is not something that happens instantly, but is crafted, grows, changes over time, over our life’s time. Coming to believe is something all disciples are always invited to do.
How does one “come to believe” we might ponder and there are untold ways but one of the best ways is to stay curious not judgmental, be wondering not cynical, think in possibility more than probability. Over the past several months Donna Brown and I have had the sacred joy of gathering with 5th graders to talk about baptism, communion, the church, and they have been a most curious group, asking at least 36 questions that are wide-ranging—some practical and some unanswerable. What glorious curiosity they have—disciples in ‘a reverent, thoughtful, loving quest for faith.’ They wanted to know about baptism—can a person be baptized more than once and what about those baptized as infants and can you be baptized at any age, and is the water holy. We talked about this church’s understanding of baptism—that we baptize into the church universal not just a local church and that baptism whenever it happens is an act of God’s grace and love in our lives. Whether or not the water is holy may have much to do with church definition or tradition, but we do know that water is sacred because without it there is no life. The waters of baptism are special because they symbolize life from Christ’s breath-enlivening view, they remind us that to be baptized is to be ‘clothed in Christ’ as Paul wrote, and we wear that garment from now on. The group then waded a bit deeper into the baptismal pool and asked what will happen after you are baptized and what are you agreeing to when you get baptized, to which the simple answer is that we look to Jesus and what he teaches about God and how he shows God’s life in the world to be our way of living as well. We believe Jesus is the Christ and we follow him in a life of love and service. It is a simple answer, but no one said it is always easy. Perhaps the 5th graders said it best “baptism means being under God’s name.”Baptism recognizes God’s loving claim on us and God’s covenant call to us, and we spend a lifetime coming to believe that.
This group had a lot of questions about the Garden, the story of Adam and Eve, the story of Eve’s punishment as the question was asked, and how the Biblical story and the story of evolution relate. These are foundational questions and so it is important to understand that religion and science are always asking different questions—science asks when, how, what and religion asks why and for what purpose. Our young people do not need to be forced into a false choice between science and religion, for each dwells in truths, each at its best is curious to learn, and all truth no matter its source is a gift from God.Mostly what these stories tell us about is God’s relationship to us and our relationship to one another and to all God has created. We learned there are two creation stories in Genesis and not one, and that each story has important truths to tell us. So much depends on where we focus, and it is always striking that even after the idyllic is lost, God is knitting together clothes for the first couple so they can live beyond shame and hurt and loss. God’s redeeming work begins very early in the Bible.
This group was particularly curious about heaven—where is it, what does it look like, are we still connected with people who have died, has anyone seen an actual angel, can you die in heaven and what about hell? These are powerful questions, and it reminds us to deeply respect our children and youth, who are as curious about huge questions as are those 70 years their senior. We reminded them that, as per a biblical understanding, an angel is a messenger and that could come in any form—including the presence of a loved one now deceased because death cannot end a relationship. When it comes to heaven our faith proclaims that heaven is to be fully in the presence of God whose covenant love is forever; that heaven is where life is made right and good and well; that when we die we are embraced by God’s love that will not let us go; and that whether or not the streets are paved with gold, the biblical writers description of heaven was their effort to say it is the unimaginable best, which is to say that the love of God never gives up and never gives in to anything that stands against God’s love—and that every now and then something like God’s kind of love happens on earth, which is what Jesus told us to pray for in the prayer he gave his disciples, a prayer we pray every week.
There were questions about God’s age and we all realized it is hard to understand the word eternal, but it at least means that before the galaxies were formed and after this galaxy has come to an end, God still is and nothing is ever lost to God—not the sparrow that flies, not the person who soars, not the galaxy that whirls. Space may be deep, but we are not alone. Our 5th graders were curious about what Jesus looked like, what God looks like and it gave us the chance to talk about how images might point to but can never contain or fully describe. This group loved to talk about metaphors and they love the Bible’s broad metaphors when speaking of God. They also had great empathy for Jesus, wondering how he felt to have been rejected, how he felt knowing that some wanted to kill him. Empathy is a crucial human capacity—the ability to perceive life in some measure from other people’s perspective. Their empathy is encouraging.
Time does not permit all the questions, but two are worth a lifetime of pondering, and they go together. “How come humans and not animals took over the world?” and “Why did God make us in the first place?” God made us because love creates, and God is love; and as the Genesis story tells us, while God created all that is, God breathed life into the humans. The breath of humanity is the breath of God, which means we are here to love and care and inspire and steward this world with the breath of God flowing through us. Just as God did in Genesis, so Jesus does in John, breathing peace, love, shalom, hope into us once again. That’s why we are here—to breathe that out for the world God so loves, and to spend a lifetime doing that.
There was actually one more question and I love it – “Are we the class that asked the best questions?” Come back in about 70 or 80 years, and we’ll decide!