St. Thomas

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 20th Chapter

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 Jews, 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 Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father 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 Lord.” 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 Lord 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 Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Every second Sunday in Easter we hear about St. Thomas.  Now, I could tell you that I spent this past Friday on the ISLAND of St. Thomas to research this sermon, but to be honest, it being 30 degrees warmer and sunny had a lot more to do with it!  BEING THERE was wonderful.  Thank you for the opportunity to get away!

Being in St. Thomas on Friday, may not seem like it has much to do with this St. Thomas HERE today, but it shows the power of showing up… of being PRESENT.  On the island of St. Thomas, actually showing up was the ONLY way to experience the warmth of the sun, the sand, sea turtles and clear blue water and SHOWING UP was also the only way that the original St. Thomas was able to experience the risen Christ.  When he wasn’t there the first time.  He missed something!  When he showed up the second time… he saw Jesus! 

It may SOUND simple, just showing up, but it’s a great truth we often fly by in this lesson on the way to dumping on Thomas for not believing the fantastic story the disciples had to tell.  But showing up MATTERS!  Being present is POWERFUL!  It was true for Thomas and it’s true for us too.  When we’re present here on Sunday morning… we see and taste and experience Christ’s presence in the bread and the wine… we are present as part of the Body of Christ, all around us.  When we aren’t here… well, we miss it, like Thomas did.  But our presence doesn’t JUST make a difference in what we get.  It also makes a difference in what we can bring.  Being PRESENT matters, but really being PRESENT takes more than just being in the same room with someone.  It’s also takes being AWARE of what is going on around you… aware of WHO is around you… and remembering WHOSE they are. 

On our cruise, Kelly and I noticed the crew's name tags.  It had their name and the country they were from.  When we were TRULY PRESENT… not just in the same room, but SEEING the whole person… seeing both who and Whose they were, we could see them in a fuller way.  Our little way to recognize them was to thank them in their native language.  Now, Kelly and I are not fluent even in English, let alone all the other languages represented on the ship, but we figured out that we could say “thank you” in a surprising number of languages… obrigado, gracias, tack så mycket, danke, merci… we could even say it in English... thank you!  The most fun was to watch the reaction from someone from Indonesia when Kelly and I… OBVIOUSLY American, middle aged folks would tell them “Terima kasih.” They were universally surprised at first… which was fun… but then you could see in their face the appreciation of being SEEN… not as some invisible servant, but as a fellow, equal, human being with dignity… you could see the appreciation that someone had taken a moment to be TRULY PRESENT with them.  

Showing up is IMPORTANT.  Being TRULY PRESENT is important… Here in church, among the Body of Christ gathered around Word and Sacrament, for sure, but also among others, wherever you might be.  You will find that when you are truly present with them, you will more easily see that God is present with you as well.  

This lesson also reminds us though, that always being present… always showing up is hard.  Jesus’ entire ministry had been about showing up and reaching out to the lost, last and least of this world.  Moving TOWARD frightening people like outcasts, the diseased, and unclean… Moving boldly and fearlessly TOWARD the lowly and lifting them up.  That was the value the disciples had shared with Jesus throughout his ministry.  But, after Jesus’ death, showing up got hard.  They felt lost and scared and they reacted to that fear by dramatically moving AWAY from everything Jesus had been about in his life, locking away the world in fear.  

This was NOT how Jesus showed them to live and it wasn’t what he had told them to do at the Last Supper.  He had told them, when it all goes wrong… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!  When the path is blocked… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!  When things don’t go the way you want them to go… step through the fear be PRESENT and LOVE ONE ANOTHER!  But when Jesus was crucified they threw up their hands and locked themselves AWAY from the world.  

It took Christ’s risen presence… more than once… to move them IN SPITE OF their fear, back to the path he had always led them and was STILL leading them and leads us still today.  Even now, when things don’t go as planned, when life hits horrible, axle breaking pot holes and when there doesn’t appear to be a path ahead… Jesus continues to SHOW UP and calls us to take one more step in his footsteps, caring for the lost, last and least… moving THROUGH whatever difficulties and dangers and fears life throws at us, toward life.    

We live as disciples, not when we are free of fear, but when we invite all our worries, fears and disappointments to get on the bus with us and drive TOWARD the direction Jesus is calling anyway!  We live like disciples when we act like Donavan from Jamaica.  He was a waiter who circulated around the breakfast buffet carrying six carafes, singing a made up song about coffee and tea to a Bob Marley tune.  "Here's some coffee!  Here's some tea!  Every little thing, is gonna be alright!"  When his song ended, he pretended he was on the radio as the Celebrity Summit morning DJ, telling us the weather… I’m sure it was always a beautiful day in his eyes... and then he announced the time like any good morning DJ.  It was breakfast time!  

Talking with Donavan as he filled our cups, it quickly became clear that he did what he did as a disciple… his ministry was bringing abundant life to the breakfast crowd, cruise after cruise.  He simply could not be timid, or hide behind locked doors… he HAD TO pass on the presence of Christ he had experienced in his life to the people that God put in his path, with pots of coffee and tea!  He didn’t quote the scripture, “It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me,” he just boldly lived it!  I know he will continue to proclaim to the world, sometimes with words, but always with carafes of coffee and tea and abundant joy, the message every disciple has to share in the presence of others… that Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  May we be disciples like Donavan, being truly present wherever life might place us, with Christ’s living presence in us, bringing abundant joy to the world in all that we do.  Amen.