April 8, 2018 – John 20:19-31
John 20:19-31
The Patron Saint of Those Who Yearn
Second Sunday of Easter – April 8, 2018
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
When I was 19, I went to India and travelled around for a month or so.
We went everywhere: east, west, north, and south.
When we went as far south as Madras – today known as Chennai – we toured around and eventually got to see the sight where St. Thomas was martyred,
way back in about 72 C.E. – about 40 years after the resurrection.
See, the story goes that Thomas sailed to the west coast of south India, to Kerala,
in about the year 52 where he established several church communities.
He eventually made his way to Mylapore, near Madras, on the east coast,
where he was ultimately martyred 20 years later.
We went and visited St. Thomas Mount, the site where he supposedly died,
where there is a church and shrine dedicated to his memory.
I remember thinking how incredible it was, that Thomas – whom we call “doubting” –
travelled all this way, far far from home, and worked for years and years to
share the good news of Jesus’ love for all people,
eventually to die a death like Jesus.
It was very moving, somehow.
That Thomas, all those years ago, would become a stranger in a strange land,
simply to share the love of God he’d come to know in Christ.
The Christians who are descended from those who Thomas worked among are to this day
known as St. Thomas Christians, and they consider themselves one of
the most ancient Christian communities in the world.
Not bad work for a guy we call “the doubter.”
But is that completely accurate? And is doubt necessarily a bad thing?
For one thing, Thomas only wanted the same experience all the other disciples had.
He just wanted to know the resurrected Jesus.
He just wanted to have his own experience and not have it second hand.
Well – don’t we all?
Like, when somebody tells you there is a movie you just have to see and that it is
the greatest movie ever: in order to know what you believe about the movie,
you have to see it yourself, right?
Moreover, there is actually quite a bit to admire about Thomas.
While the others were locked up behind closed doors and afraid, where is Thomas?
Why wasn’t he there the first week, the Sunday evening of the resurrection?
He is out!
He is not afraid, like the others apparently are, of being struck up like Jesus.
He is the bravest of them all – which kind of squares with the idea of him journeying
way off to India years later to take the good news there.
He’s the one going to get groceries, or stamps, or whatever the fraidy-cats need.
I don’t know – I just know that he is the one who is not afraid.
Finally, Thomas is not afraid to be honest about his doubts.
He is secure enough in himself to admit in front of others that he needs his own experience.
He won’t just go along with what everyone else is doing.
He needs to know for himself.
Thomas was a person who wanted to experience the risen Jesus for himself.
He was a person who stuck around in the hopes of having his own experience of resurrection,
rather than relying on someone else’s.
He was a person who recognized Jesus as God because of Jesus’ woundedness and scars,
not because of his glory.
He was a person whose experience inspired him to serve Jesus by sharing the love of God
as widely as he knew how.
Well: can’t we all identify with Thomas?
Isn’t he the saint for us?
A few months ago I had you all share what it was that you were struggling with.
Quite a few people wrote down that one word: “doubt.”
It’s a strong word, a powerful word.
But it’s a word that we learn this morning is nothing to be ashamed of.
You know why?
Because most of us know it well.
Because Thomas was not ashamed of it.
There is nothing to be ashamed of in wanting to experience first hand the
resurrected Jesus.
Thomas is not afraid or ashamed of it, so why should we be?
What we can take away from Thomas is that it’s important to stick around,
to keep yearning, to not be afraid.
What we can take away from Thomas is that God worked through this person who
admitted his doubt, and who still – 2000 years later! – is still working through him.
God is still working through the witness of this person who wasn’t sure,
who doubted, who found faith very difficult and hard.
And who eventually experienced the risen Jesus – not in glory,
not maybe as he would want or wish God to be, but as a wounded, scarred, poor
Jewish peasant, whose hands broken for love he touched.
I think John is trying to tell us that, like Thomas, it’s okay to yearn for our own experience.
We all want to see the movie ourselves to decide what we think.
I think John is also telling us that in order to experience the living God,
we need to let go of who we think God ought to be –
and simply let God be the one revealed to us in Jesus.
Who suffers with the suffering, who includes those who are excluded,
who feeds the hungry poor – all without a lot of fanfare.
If you want to experience that Jesus, I often tell people, come to food bank,
come to community meals, come deliver the hampers at Christmas.
If you want to experience that Jesus today, take your neighbour’s scarred, broken
hands during the peace today.
If you want to experience that Jesus today, take the broken bread into your hand.
I believe many are sceptical of church because they can’t see Jesus – just like Thomas.
And the truth is – and we all know this – they won’t see Jesus if they don’t see Jesus in us.
People are looking for – yearning – for Jesus in our lives.
They are wanting to see Jesus in church communities that look a lot like the
church community in Acts this morning:
church communities that care for and feed the needy,
that sacrifice rather than hoard,
that include rather than exclude,
and that listen before speaking.
As Lutheran pastor Diane Roth says,
“They are looking for us to hold out our hands to see if we have wounds.”
(https://www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/sundays-coming/showing-world-our-wounds-acts-432-35-john-2019-31)
But it’s tough, right?
It’s not easy – it’s not easy for any of us.
Which is why we have one another.
Which is why you have me this morning telling you:
it’s not straightforward this business of the resurrection.
Like Thomas, it’s okay to waver and it’s okay to take your time.
It’s okay to hope for more.
Debie Thomas, a descendant of St. Thomas Christians,
calls Thomas “The Patron [Saint] of those who yearn.”
(https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=1745)
The patron of those who yearn for more.
Who yearn for inspiration.
Who yearn to know God as God truly is, not as we would wish God to be.
Who yearn for God to be busy and active in the world,
making a difference, feeding and healing and sharing God’s love with all people.
Thomas wanted that.
And eventually, Thomas found it.
So may we all.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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