Acts 5:27-32
When the guards had brought
Peter and the apostles, they had them stand before the council. The high priest
questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you
have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this
man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our
ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God
exalted him as Leader and Saviour that he might give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy
Spirit whom God has given to those who obey God.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected
by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short
time. Then he said to the council, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to
these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a
number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who
followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the Galilean rose
up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished,
and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you,
keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this
undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not
be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” They were convinced by him, and when they had called in the
apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the
name of Jesus, and let them go. As they left the council, they rejoiced that
they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name.
John
20:19-31
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 religious
leaders, 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 Saviour. Jesus said to them again, “Peace
be with you. As the Creator has sent me, so I send you.”
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We
have seen the Saviour.” But he
said to them, “Unless I
see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the
nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
A
week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace
be with you.” 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 Saviour
and my God!” Jesus said
to him, “Have you
believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
have come to believe.” Now Jesus
did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is
the Messiah, the Child of God, and that through believing you may have life in
his name.
Message
Will
you pray with me? God of the living and the dead, immerse us in your
resurrection life. Give us the desire to be patient as you have been patient
with us, to be merciful with doubters as you are merciful, to encourage and
enable those who waver, even as you have encouraged us. Through Christ Jesus
our risen Saviour, amen.
I
have to say, first of all, that I have a certain sympathy for Thomas. It is a
pretty wild tale the others are telling. Jesus, alive? When the power of the
Roman Empire crucified him? How can this be? It simply makes no sense.
Through
the centuries, Thomas has been criticized for this attitude. He is called
"Doubting Thomas," and tradition says he went to what we know today
as India, to bring the gospel to people who had never even heard of Jerusalem
or Judaism and to whom even Rome was only a rumour, as was fitting for someone
who had to see to believe, that he preached the Gospel to people who not only
had not seen but had no context for what he was teaching.
But
I think Thomas is wiser than we usually consider him. He won't believe
something others tell him, even though he wants to believe. He won't follow the
crowd, won't believe just because he wants to believe. He needs to find out for
himself, needs to know the truth for himself, not what Peter and John and Mary
and James are telling him.
It
must have taken some courage to do that; to say, "I don't care what you
think you saw, or heard, or experienced. That was your experience, not mine. It
would be beyond wonderful if it were true, but I need to know for myself."
And
then when he does see Jesus, how does Thomas reposed? He says, "My Lord
and my God!" He doesn't need to do
what he had claimed he wanted to do--touch Jesus' wounds to know it was really
him.
There
is a lot to be said for someone who will not fall into something without careful
consideration, who needs to know for themselves. Thomas found the truth out for himself, not as a result of
someone else's work or theory or experience. It comes from his heart. Even a
weak speech sounds better when it comes from someone who truly believes what
she is saying. We have all heard bosses, politicians, even pastors, say things
they didn't truly believe. One of the reasons I came out was because I found
that I had to be fully my authentic self, if I was going to be any kind of a
pastor. I had to be able to speak all my truth, and to preach and counsel and
lead from a place of authenticity.
So
Thomas is doing exactly what he needs to do here. He is testing what he has
been told, not daring to trust to what he wants or hopes, but needing to know
the truth.
This
is the glue that fastens belief to our hearts--our own experience. I can speak
truly to people about coming out because I have. I can speak authentically
about cancer survival, to parenthood. However, I cannot speak of recovery, for example,
because that is not my story. I can be supportive and encouraging and
sympathetic, but I have not lived that experience.
Thomas
and Peter are the disciples that give me the most hope for myself as a follower
of Jesus. Thomas struggled to believe- but when he knew what he believed, he
went literally to the ends of the earth to share the good news he had found.
Peter denied Jesus three times--and yet became the leader of the early church.
The
question is not how quickly a person believes, but how strongly and truly. A
sudden faith can fade as quickly, burned out by the excitement of new belief. A
faith that has grown slowly, through tests and trials and pain and doubt is a
tested and strong faith.
A
strong faith is like a brick wall, built carefully, one brick at a time. If you
look carefully at a brick wall, you can see that some of the bricks are turned
sideways, so the short end is exposed instead of the long side. That:s called a
"bond," and there several of them, depending on the pattern of the
bricks. They are there not merely to make the wall more attractive, but because
they make the wall stronger. Without the bond, the pressure of the top bricks
would push the lower ones out of line and the wall would collapse. The bond
redistributes the pressure, and the wall stands firm.
Thomas's
doubt is the bond in the wall of faith. Those doubts, which seem out of
place--they don't go the same direction as the others--are in fact what makes
the faith stronger. Knowing what you do not believe makes what you do believe
stronger.
I
was once warned against seminary, because, I was told, it would make me doubt
what I believed, and turn me away from Christianity. Yes, I did have to
question the basis of my faith in seminary. I had to dig deep and really look
at why I believed, and what I believed and what the consequences were of that
belief. Think about it for a moment--would you really want as your spiritual
leader--which is who seminaries are training--someone who hadn't examined their
beliefs, hadn't tested them, didn't know the basis of their faith? Because into
every life come some times of doubt and questioning, if we are honest, and if
we have done that work of examining and testing and hard work of doubting, then
we have a surer foundation to stand on, we know that even though we are
uncertain and afraid, we know why we believe and it is a little easier to hang
on to our faith. We have created that bond in our wall of faith, and while it
may sway, that wall won't fall.
As
we go out into our week, have faith in your doubt. It leads to a stronger
faith. In all God's names, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment