Jesus Changes Everything for Thomas and Us
Aren't we all mixed bags?
*Often the delivered sermon is different than the written one. There may be only slight differences. Other times, the alterations are significant.
Jesus Changes Everything for Thomas
John 20:19-31
Pastoral Prayer: O Lord God, our Father, You are the light that can never be put out; and now you give us a light that shall drive away all darkness. You are love without coldness, and you have given us such warmth in our hearts that we can love all when we meet. You are the life that defies death, and you have opened for us the way that leads to eternal life.
None of us is a great Christian; we are all humble and ordinary. But your grace is enough for us. Arouse in us that small degree of joy and thankfulness of which we are capable, to the timid faith which we can muster, to the cautious obedience which we cannot refuse, and thus to the wholeness of life which you have prepared for all of us through the death and resurrection of your son. Do not allow any of us to remain apathetic or indifferent to the wondrous glory of Easter, but let the light of our risen Lord reach every corner of our dull hearts.
And all God’s people say, Amen.
Pastor and Theologian Karl Barth’s Easter Prayer, the prayer we just prayed for the Second Sunday of Easter, also known in the Christian Calendar as Eastertide, asks God to keep us from apathy or indifference to the glory of Easter, the reality of the Risen Christ.
Apatheism is a mood, an attitude described as apathetic and indifferent to any claims that there are or are not gods. Jonathan Rauch distinguishes this mood from a belief. For Rauch, atheists evangelize for a belief that there are no gods. Apatheism doesn’t really care one way or another. It is even different than what we term as agnostic.
In a recent interview about his just-released book, Cross Purposes, self-described apatheist Rauch asserted that secularism is not and has not been good for our Country. He noted in the interview that we need to return to the principles of Jesus. Rauch thinks the teachings of Jesus provide a way to counter our current unhealthy social and civic situation, even our government situation.
He is not concerned with the growth or spread of Christianity. Rauch is indifferent about whether or not there are gods. But, he finds in the history of our Country a semblance of Jesus’ teachings that do not make ours a Christian Country but a more savory, civil, and compassionate people.
You may find that as surprising as I did. The suggestion is that we need Jesus, but not really Jesus. We need a return to Jesus’ teachings, but we don’t need the Risen Lord.
Rauch is saying what many refuse to say out loud—even self-identified Christians.
One way to help make this distinction is highlighted in a story from the little book of essays, Jesus Changes Everything: A New World Made Possible, which inspired this series. Stanley Hauerwas, a retired professor of theology and ethics from Duke Divinity School, includes this story of two brothers.
In the 1950s, Clarence Jordan, the founder of Koinonia Farm, an interracial Christian community in Georgia, asked his brother, Robert Jordan, who would later be a state senator and a justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, to represent Koinonia Farm legally. Their conversation went something like this:
“Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”
“We might lose everything too, Bob.”
“It’s different for you.”
“Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”
“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.”
“Could that point by any chance be - the cross?”
“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”
“Then I don’t believe you are a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”
“Well now, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church, would we?”
“The question,” Clarence said, “is, ‘Do you have a church?’”
Do you have a church?
Robert Jordan had substituted his aspirations for his church. Reading his initial response to Clarence’s question about representing his community reveals some fears that informed Robert’s “No.” It might cost him his life.
“I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”
Rauch argues that we need more of what Jesus taught. Robert Jordan was willing to go only so far.
The story of the disciples is a mixed bag. Peter claims he will die with Jesus, only to deny him. Philip has been with Jesus from the beginning, yet fails to connect Jesus with the Father. Judas shares a meal with Jesus but betrays him with a kiss. Thomas doubts the ten who claim to have seen Jesus. Yes, the disciples are a mixed bag.
We hear the story of Thomas, and most always it comes with the descriptor, Doubting Thomas. But that is to reduce Thomas to a single story. Worse, it overlooks that Thomas was the one who heard Jesus say that, despite the threats, he would go to Judea and declared,
Let us also go, that we may die with him.
That is hardly the sentiment of a doubter. Circumstances change. Jesus does not. And with Thomas, we find that Jesus changes everything - even his doubts.
We do not know much more about Thomas from the Scriptures. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he shows up in the list of the Twelve. Luke includes him in the list of apostles gathered before Pentecost in Acts 1. John designates Thomas as The Twin. He does so without reference to a twin.
Thomas rallies the disciples to follow Jesus. In another moment, he tells Jesus he does not know where Jesus is going. And what he is most known for is needing to see before believing Christ is risen. Therefore, we have made Thomas his last story.
That’s it.
But is it?
Christian Tradition tells us that the one who saw and believed and declared, “My Lord and My God,” left that closed, dark room and by 52 A.D. arrived in India.
Clement of Alexandria, in Stromata, refers to Thomas’ mission to Parthia. Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History 3.1.1 confirms Thomas’ mission to Parthia. Jerome mentions Thomas’ work in India. Relics found in Mylapore, Edessa, and Ortona, Italy note Thomas in their historical records. Some link the Thalassery Cross to Thomas. The Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala, India, ancient Mylapore, claim Thomas as their founder. Thomas is recognized by both the Western and Eastern Churches with a Feast Day. It is said Thomas preached to King Gundaphorus in northwest India, modern Pakistan/Afghanistan, performing miracles and many were converted. It is believed that Thomas established seven churches in South India and was martyred by spear in Mylapore in 72 A.D. He died in the same place where he proclaimed the risen Jesus.
Jesus changes everything. It is not Jesus’ teachings, but the Risen Jesus, that changes everything.
What settled Thomas’s doubts? What countered the disciples' fears?
When Jesus entered the room of the fearful disciples, even the ones who had heard the Good News of the Resurrection, he did not scold them. He did not shame them.
He said, Peace be with you.
Jesus told them to receive the Holy Spirit and gave them the authority to forgive and retain sins.
Peace be with you . . .
When you doubt.
Peace be with you . . .
When you fear.
Jesus changes everything.
In his Gospel, John begins by connecting the Good News of Jesus with Creation. Just as Genesis begins with "In beginning," John begins with the same.
Looking back at Genesis 1, we find the unsettled chaos ordered by the Spirit that hovers over the face of the deep. When the chaos of the world unsettles us, the circumstances that spur our doubts, the events that give rise to our fear, Jesus tells all of us, Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit and forgive the sins spurred by the Power of Sin that rob us of the reality of the Risen Christ, attempting to replace the Light of the World with our best formulations of His teachings. For we Christians, the vindication of His teachings is not in how successfully we practice them, but that the One Jesus called Father raised him from the dead by the Spirit that enlivens us all.
Jesus changes everything.
Blessed are you who believe and have not seen.