April 28, 2019
Acts 5:27-32
John 20:19-31
Giving Campaign 1
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It is easy to hear those words as if they are directed to Thomas. In fact, they are directed to him according to the dialogue, and when we read them that way it sounds like a light slap on the wrist for Thomas, as if Jesus only begrudgingly appears to him and is somewhat disappointed that he couldn’t believe without Jesus making a second trip. This read, though understandable, contributes to a sense of shame around doubt that I don’t think we need to have. Thomas doubted, not because he was week or any more of a failure than the other disciples, but because he recognized the significance of resurrection. He recognized what was at stake – nothing less than the nature of God, the meaning of life, hope for the world, forgiveness for our sins, life everlasting – and so doubt wasn’t so much personal failure as it was an expression of insight and understanding. If resurrection is real, then life is different than I thought it was.
Angela and I had a surprise opportunity to have a lunch date the other day. As is our custom when we manage some alone time, we sat at the table together and expressed our extensive list of worries and fears about our children, all the alarming scenarios that could unfold and the potential obstacles to their success. It is very romantic, and we noted that it almost feels irresponsible not to worry. Then, it occurred to me. “You know, we could just have a little faith. We could try to trust that there actually is a God who loves them and us, and is at work in our lives, and will continue to be. Maybe we should pray more for them instead of worrying for them so much. Maybe that is the more responsible thing to do.” It struck us like it was almost a novel idea: In a world of resurrection, praying is more responsible than worrying.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” I don’t hear these words as a reprimand. I hear them as a description. We are blessed when we believe. Life is better, more sacred, and more full of promise, when we believe. This is what I believe Christ is saying, because while the dialogue is with Thomas the words are for the church. The Johanine church is gathered 60-70 years after Christ’s death. That’s when they are reading these words. They are those who “believe without seeing.” They never encountered the bodily post-resurrection Jesus the way the disciples did, yet they believe anyway and in their belief they experience themselves as blessed in ways they wouldn’t be otherwise.
This is the read that I think the author would want us to have because he essentially says so in the next verses. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples – of course, he is talking to the reader here – signs, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” He wrote his gospel so that we might believe, because when we believe we experience life differently. We have as Paul says, “the life that is truly life.”
But, how exactly is life different when we are in a state of belief? That’s the question I would like to think about for a moment.
There’s a Methodist publication, which I don’t really recommend, called the Good News magazine. It had an article in it one Easter season entitled, “Will I be Happier As a Christian?”
The article suggests that becoming a Christian actually does not lead one to a pain-free existence, if that’s what’s meant by “happy”. But it does lead people into a quality of life, a new life, that didn’t exist for them before.
Will I be happier as a Christian? A colleague of mine thought it was a good question and so she asked a woman she knew who was relatively new to the faith (but who still has plenty of problems) – are you happier as a Christian?
This is what she heard:
“Yes, I think I am. I have hope in my life that I didn’t have before. Hope in the possibility of personal transformation.
I also have peace that I didn’t have before – I’m no so fatalistic about life.
And I see humanity differently. I have more compassion and mercy.
You can ask my family – I’m not the same person that I was before – sometimes they can hardly recognize me.” …All of this because of belief.
For the first disciples of Jesus, resurrection life – life in a state of belief – meant a certain kind of boldness in proclaiming the Good News. It wasn’t long ago that they were cowering at the cross and denying that they ever knew him. But, today in the book of Acts, Peter and the disciples are radically transformed. They are told to stop their preaching, but they do not. They are called before the Council and questioned by the high priest who says, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name,” but they reply, “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…” The implication being that they could suffer the same fate, that the high-priest still had his power, but they didn’t care because of the life they had in Christ’s name. This was a life that freed them from fear’s power over them. It was an awakened life empowered by belief that Christ’s power was superior to the world’s power. Though the world could kill, it could not save. Though the world still speaks loudly, it doesn’t have the final word. That final word had been spoken and it was life, and it is life.
I would suggest that belief is our access point to a sacred world and a sacred self. It’s not a self-assured self, or an impressively confident self, but rather, it is the peaceful self. And, this, I believe, is why Jesus says it three times today, each time he walks through locked doors and the cloud of fear and lostness: “Peace be with you,” he says to the disciples. “Peace be with you,” he says to Thomas in his need.
It is peace that belief offers. Peace to be boldly peaceful in a violent world. Peace to be boldly compassionate in a hardened world. Peace to be boldly forgiving in a world that loves giving people their just deserts.
When we are actively believing in Christ we are most apt to be truly living. And, that’s where the church comes in. Thank God we have a community here at TCC, birthed by God’s Spirit, that helps us believe. The Church is that community of people that lives its belief through devoted worship, through compassionate service, through loving fellowship. We live our belief and grow in our belief and thereby fuel belief and offer it as a real, life-giving possibility for ourselves and others.
For the next few weeks of our giving campaign I’m asking you all to give some thought about how the church has fueled your belief in a living God, how that’s made a difference in your life, and how you can support our mission to make belief a deeper reality for everyone whose path we cross.