Sermon 4/15/07
Chicken or Egg? - John 20:19-31
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Last Sunday, we celebrated Resurrection, celebrated new life, and celebrated Easter Sunday. We talked about how the resurrection was something that happened by steps, by degrees, something that Mary Magdalene had to let “sink into her” – she had to take steps towards resurrection, steps that were filled with doubt, hesitation, even fear. But Mary stepped into resurrection, and became the first to hear, believe, and share the good news that life overcame death.
Today we’re still taking small steps toward resurrection. In fact, it would seem from our gospel lesson that the disciples are taking very small steps indeed. In fact, they seem completely stalled. Even though Peter and John had been to the empty tomb themselves, and even though Mary Magdalene had come and told them all that she had witnessed, told them of seeing Jesus, even still, we find the disciples on the evening of that first Easter day, locked together in a house, in fear of the religious authorities, seeming very unlike people who are experiencing resurrection.
Into this scene, Jesus suddenly comes, giving them the help they need to find resurrection a bit more quickly. Jesus stands among them and says “Peace be with you,” once, twice, and then, we read, Jesus “[breathes] on them,” telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. It seems that by these words of peace and by his comforting presence, the breath of his life, his soul on them, the disciples find themselves strengthened, comforted, and finally, they can rejoice in Jesus being among them, life out of death.
But Thomas, we read, was not with them for some unknown reason when all this was happening. The disciples fill them in on what happened, but as they did not really believe Mary, Thomas does not really believe them. He says that he has to see and touch Jesus himself, or he will not be able to believe. Some time later the disciples are again together, and again Jesus comes among them. Again, he brings strengthening words of peace, and this time, approaches Thomas. Thomas is able to see and touch Jesus, and finally has his own resurrection moment. “My Lord and my God,” he proclaims. Jesus asks him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Bless are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John closes his gospel saying that he writes with a purpose – that we too might come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that we have life – new life – through our believing.
I feel for poor Thomas. A one time event leaves him forever with an uncomplimentary nickname: Doubting Thomas. Peter didn’t have this same bad luck – he denied Jesus in the critical moment, but we know so much more about him and so we’re able to see a better picture of the ‘full Peter’. We know he’s more than that one event. But we don’t have anything much else about Thomas in the Bible. Some of his writings do exist – there is more to know about Thomas – but these writings are not part of the canon – the official collection – of scripture we call the Bible. To so many people then, Thomas’ whole discipleship is summed up in this one event – Doubting Thomas. Imagine if your life was summed up in a label like that, based on one event, one action you took. What word would describe you fairly? Fully? If you cheated or stole or lied when you were young – if you were forever Lying Thomas or Cheating Thomas – or if you were Clumsy Thomas or Chubby Thomas – how would you feel if your life were forever summer up that way? So I feel bad for poor Thomas.
Besides, “doubting” is hardly a label that Thomas deserves more than any of the others – he was the only one asked to believe for sure that Jesus had risen without the benefit of seeing him. Would the others have been convinced without seeing Jesus themselves? Well, Peter and the beloved disciple had already been to the tomb, as we read last week, and they were still confused and locked in fear in this room until Jesus appeared before them. Apparently, they weren’t so full of faith that they were ready to venture out of hiding. I think given the chance, we would have seen all of the remaining eleven disciples do just what Thomas did – ask for some more convincing proof.
But I think if we focus too much on these details, we’re missing the point. I think we find in this passage the point, the key teaching moment, the thing we’re meant to learn, regardless of the ‘setup’ for the lesson. The point? The conclusion that is practically the last word John leaves us with in his entire, jam-packed gospel? Jesus says to Thomas something that can apply to all the disciples: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not believed and yet have come to believe.” That’s the key of the passage. The point of all the other verses.
What do those words mean for us? Is it as simple as saying, “Ok, we’re supposed to believe in God without proof, believe in God without seeing God working in our lives, believe in God with out any reason to”? I don’t think that’s what Jesus means, what John is trying to convey. I don’t think God expects us to have faith based on – well, nothing. I think, that really, this passage is a chicken-egg question. You know – which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s that age old question – do chickens are born from eggs, but to get an egg you need a chicken. And to get the chicken, you need the egg . . . In this passage, we have a chicken-egg question. Which comes first, seeing, or believing?
Thomas answers this question honestly for himself. To believe, he must see. Seeing comes first. The rest of the disciples might not have admitted it, but I think they would have answered the same way. Jesus wants Thomas and the others to reorder things – to see, they must believe. Think about it. We’ve been talking a lot about vision lately, and I’ve been thinking about vision a lot. What is our vision for St. Paul’s? Where are we headed? What do we see for ourselves? Do we have visionary people among us? Frankly, I’ve found it to be a bit frustrating. I’m not sure I have a lot more clarity now about our direction than I did six months ago. And so I am wondering if I’ve been asking the questions in the wrong order. Maybe we need to start by asking what it is we believe here at St. Paul’s. What do we believe about ourselves, about God, about our fundamental purpose? What do we believe about our congregation, and about our individual lives and purposes? What do we believe?
If we start by asking what we envision, if we start by asking about what we can see, I think we’ll find we have a pretty limited vision. On our own, when we look around, when we think about what we can see for ourselves, for our congregation, for our community, for our world, our tendency is to underestimate things, to underestimate the possibilities. We can only see what is apparent, obvious. We don’t look hard enough, deep enough, or in the right places. And so if we base what we believe about anything only on what we can see, then we really don’t have a solid foundation for our beliefs, a firm grounding for what drives us and guides us. Like the icebergs I talked about in children’s time, what we see is usually only a part of the picture of what is real.
Our other choice is to put believing before seeing. How do we do that? We believe so many things because they follow rules or laws or patterns. We believe because we can test and prove. But what John is talking about is not just “believing” in the sense of something being “credible” – it isn’t “accepting something as true, against all appearances, just because some authority declares it to be true. ‘Belief’ in John’s sense” is belief because of “some direct encounter with the One in whom the believer believes.” (1) Some things we believe because we have lived them and known them to be true, even if we can’t see them. We know love. We know relationships. We know compassion. We know justice and when justice is absent. We know joy and we know pain. We know these things, believe these things.
Jesus asks us to know him – to know God, to believe in our own experiences with the One who created us, to believe that new life and resurrection are possible, to believe in what we experience as God’s children. What do we know and believe already? What do we know about ourselves? What do we know about St. Paul’s? What do we know about humanity? What do we know about our relationship with God?
I think when we start focusing on these questions, we’ll find that we have some answers already. And when we start here – start with what we believe – what we know – and how God knows us – then we’ll see much more than we even realized was there, because we begin to see not just with our own eyes, but with God’s eyes. We let our vision be shaped by God’s vision for us. Imagine, then, the possibilities. Imagine all the things we might see if we believe that God can show us.
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Amen.
(1) Paul S. Nancarrow, Process and Faith Lectionary Commentary,
http://www.processandfaith.org/lectionary/YearC/2006-2007/2007-04-15.shtml