Sermon for the 7th of April - Second Sunday of Easter
Is it a bad thing to express doubts?
There is a body of opinion in business school circles that doubt can play a useful role in making decisions.
Yet the phrase - “They are a doubting Thomas” is probably not a label that many of us seek.
Listening to today’s Gospel, you have probably focused on St. Thomas, and that’s fair enough.
St. Thomas being reunited with Jesus is a reuniting unlike any other.
But it’s worth pointing out that the reading is not just about St. Thomas but also another hugely important event.
Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the ten disciples (Judas Iscariot is dead and Thomas, for reasons we do not know, is not present).
This morning I want to reflect briefly on three things:
1. The Gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. A perspective on St. Thomas
3. Thirdly, a prayer for those whose faith journey is going through the valley of doubt.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit:
which we have received by divine descent from the Father to the Son, From the Son to the First Disciples.
From the First Disciples to the early church and from the early Church to us today.
Let us give thanks this morning for the gift of the Resurrection and the early church, and for all who have made it possible for us to inherit the Way, Truth and the Life.
A perspective on St. Thomas
William Temple in his commentary on St. John’s Gospel, describes St. Thomas thus:
Thomas is literal, prosaic, tending to see the gloomy side of things in his sincere resolve to face realities; and he is utterly loyal (to Jesus):
When Jesus says: Lazarus is dead, it is Thomas who says: “Let us also go that we may die with him.”
When Jesus says: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also and you know the way to the place where I am going.”
It is Thomas who says “Lord, I do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?
To which Jesus responds: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. “
Poor Thomas. He is seen as gloomy and questioning. For Dad’s Army fans, he is perhaps a reminder of Private Fraser.
I wonder if Thomas’s qualities of being both literal and loyal, led to the other disciples playing pranks on him. Ironically, perhaps the cruellest prank would be to tell “Thomas, guess what, when you weren’t here just now, you won’t believe it, the dead Jesus came and stood here among us. He really did…”
Except this was not a prank. It was true.
No wonder Thomas would respond that he would have to see for himself to believe.
Perhaps, these words of Jesus (Mark 13 v6) had been ringing in Thomas’s ears:
“Many will come in my name and say “I am he!” and they will lead many astray.”
Thomas has a very reasonable desire for verification.
Thomas also may have had a special place in Jesus’ heart.
It is interesting that only four of the disciples are credited with second names,
Only those disciples whom Jesus singles out are given a second name;
Simon becomes Cephas or Peter
James and John become Boanerges - sons of thunder - as a noun, a fiery preacher
Peter James and John - the inner circle At the Transfiguration.
The writer of the Gospel of St. John always notes that the second name when referring to Thomas - is Didymus - meaning twin.
Perhaps Thomas was like a twin to Jesus in the way he taught.
The profession of faith by Thomas “May Lord and my God” is one of the climactic events in the fourth Gospel.
Gregory the Great wrote:
“After his resurrection Jesus allowed this disciple to doubt, and he did not desert him in his doubt. Thomas became a witness to the reality of the resurrection.”
Here at the United Benefice we understand that doubt is part of faith,
that the opposite of faith is certainty.
Our journeys of faith will sometimes pass through difficult terrain, sometimes maybe even a parched desert.
I have here a prayer for doubters from Brian McLaren’s Faith After Doubt
It contains this benediction modelled after the Beatitudes.
McLaren reminds us that our honest doubts are not a curses but, rather, a blessing:
Blessed are the curious, for their curiosity honours reality.
Blessed are the uncertain and those with second thoughts, for their minds are still open.
Blessed are the wonderers, for they shall find what is wonderful.
Blessed are those who question their answers, for their horizons will expand forever.
Blessed are the those who often feel foolish, for they are wiser than those who always think themselves wise.
Blessed are those who are scolded, suspected and labelled as heretics by the gatekeepers, for the prophets and mystics were treated in the same way by the gatekeepers of their day.
Blessed are those who know their unknowing, for they shall have the last laugh.
Blessed are the perplexed, for they have reached the frontiers of contemplation.
Blessed are they who become cynical about their cynicism and suspicious of their suspicion, for they will enter the second innocence.
Blessed are the doubters, for they shall see through false gods.
Blessed are the lovers, for they shall see God everywhere.
Let me close by returning to Thomas.
Jesus said to Thomas and the disciples:
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
Seven days after the resurrection in that locked room, the risen Christ took Thomas to himself.
Where Christ is, we are also.
So, today when we celebrate the Eucharist, I will hand you the bread, with the words:
Receive what you are, the Body of Christ.