Thomas: An Advent Homily
By
Dan Rice
John 20:24-29
I want to thank our Rector, Jamie, for placing me third in
this series of
Advent homilies after Jean Sando and Amy Phillips. If you
heard either of
their homilies, you know why I feel like the swine before
whom the pearls
were spread! They are a tough act to follow!
I.
Each of us was able to select a person or topic to address
and mine is the Disciple Thomas.
I must say at the outset that as I was working on this
homily
today, the debate over the Impeachment of the President was
unfolding in the Congress. I tried to listen to the debate
but
just couldn’t. It was too frustrating, even maddening for me
to tolerate but I will say more about why that was the case
later in this homily. It is important to note as we gather
here
tonight in Christian worship, this is a historic moment for
our nation.
Of the original 12 Disciples, only a few are well known by
most believers.
Of course, there is Peter, the Rock, upon whom the Church
was built.
Peter the rock! The Catholics claim he was the first pope,
which would be
news to him.
And there is John, the beloved! John must have been a kind,
sweet sort of
guy, someone everyone liked. Some think that John was Jesus’
favorite
Disciple.
And then there is Judas Iscariot, the traitor, the turncoat.
The Apostle
everyone loves to hate. Judas, who betrayed Jesus with a
kiss. Judas is
the villain, the disciple easily tempted by money and power,
the one who
becomes disillusioned.
Everyone with a Sunday School education knows about these
Disciples.
And then there is Thomas, “doubting Thomas,” the skeptic,
the nay-sayer.
Thomas is commonly regarded as the Disciple most lacking in
faith,
although in second place after Judas. Thomas is sometimes
portrayed by
sermonizers as a blustering and arrogant contrarian.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
We need to take a closer look at this story that comes near
the end of the
Gospel of John.
The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown has argued that the
problem
being addressed by the Gospel of John, the Gospel that was
written last, is
that those who witnessed the life of Jesus are all dying off
or have already
died. The fledgling church is facing a crisis because it
will no longer be
able to rely on the eye-witnesses who were alive and could
attest to what
actually took place during the life of Jesus.
This story about Thomas is found only in the Gospel of John.
At this point in the Gospel narrative, the risen Jesus has
appeared to Mary
Magdalene. She reported her experience to the disciples, but
the Gospel
is silent about whether they believed her. Perhaps there was
some male
chauvinism at work here!
Next, the risen Jesus appeared to the disciples who were
gathered in a
room with the door locked. But for some reason, Thomas was
not present.
When the disciples told Thomas about the visitation by the
risen Jesus,
Thomas utters his demand that until he places his finger in
the nail print of
Jesus’ hands and his hand in Jesus’s side, he will not
believe.
Eight days later, Jesus appears again to the disciples and this
time Thomas
is present. Jesus invites Thomas to touch his wounds but
simply by seeing
Jesus, Thomas exclaims “My Lord and my God!”
We all know the response of Jesus, “Have you believed
because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
believed.”
In these words, all of us who come thereafter are given the
assurance that
even though we have not seen the risen Lord, we will be
blessed by our
belief.
Mary Magdalene had the benefit of seeing the risen Lord and
she believed.
All the other disciples had the benefit of seeing the risen
Lord and they
believed.
Once Thomas saw the risen Lord, without touching his wounds,
he
believed.
So, Thomas was a believer! Upon seeing the risen Lord, just
as the other
disciples, he believed.
I suggest we stop calling him Doubting Thomas. Thomas was
simply the
last disciple to see and believe.
While working on this homily, I reviewed Elaine Pagels’
book, The
Gnostic Gospels, and learned there is a tradition within the
Eastern
Church that holds Thomas in high regard as he was the
Disciple who was
sent to take the Gospel message to India.
Thomas may just be the right Disciple for our time.
II.
Advent in 2019 is a time when our country faces a crisis of
belief. The
crisis in belief is that many of our fellow citizens no
longer believe in the
truth or care about the truth.
They doubt the truth of events that are factually provable.
On the other hand, they believe what they are told by a
pathological liar.
I am alarmed by everyone who has taken on this cloak of
denial but I am
especially disturbed by our fellow Christians who have
chosen to deny the
truth.
I hold those in the community of faith to a higher standard.
In a time when the Christian Church in our country is on the
decline, when
people are rejecting organized religion at alarming rates, a
large segment
of those who identify as Christians have misplaced their
faith in someone
who is faithless.
They believe in someone who is unbelievable.
They trust in someone who is untrustworthy.
And by so doing, they bring ridicule and scorn on the very
faith they claim
to cherish, the Christian Faith.
For me, this is about more than Donald Trump. It is a crisis
of truth within
the Christian community.
What are the limits of what one can believe and still call
one’s self a
Christian?
As Christians, we have faced this question before in our
collective history.
From the time of the founding of our country, we avoided
dealing with the
issue of slavery. It caught up to us by the middle of the
nineteenth
century.
The question hotly debated in the church was could one
believe in the
institution of slavery and still be a Christian? Many
Christians pointed
out that slavery is sanctioned in the Bible, as it certainly
is. The Apostle
Paul either accepted or condoned slavery, at least as I
understand his
writings. In the Gospel reading for tonight (not the text
for this homily) a
slave is mentioned.
Our nation was torn apart by this question, families turned
against one
another. More Americans were killed in our Civil War than in
all our
other wars combined.
There were those who stood up and said, there are some
things that are
incompatible with being a Christian, a follower of Jesus,
and slavery is
one of them.
I am not suggesting we engage in another Civil War but I am
saying that
there are times when people in the Christian community need
to stand up
and say, “This is not acceptable for those who follow Jesus
Christ!”
I am distressed by the harm that many of our fellow
Christians are
permitting or condoning to so many people; to refugees,
children, the
hungry, the poor, transgender people, people of color,
women. People’s
careers and reputations are being ruined. People’s lives are
being
threatened.
I am filled with fear and dread at the harm being done to
our planet; our
home, our only home and the home of future generations, if
there are to be
future generations. I fear for my grandchildren and great
grandchildren.
What kind of world will we leave them?
Recently I saw a book titled, “There is no Planet B.” (A
play on “plan B.”)
To be fair, there are some leaders in the Evangelical
community who are
framing the Christian faith in terms of stewardship of the
earth.
And I am heartened by the courageous statements by the
Episcopal House
of Bishops on the issue of climate change and many other
crucial issues of
our time. Thank God for them!
In Germany in 1934 the Confessing Church was formed to
resist the
efforts by the Nazi party to centralize and control the churches
in
Germany. Should we be thinking about forming a Confessing
Church
Movement in the United States, especially if the country
continues in the
direction favored by those I have been addressing. 2020 may
be the year
when we find out how far segments of the church will be
dragged away
from the truth of the Gospel.
III.
Which brings me back to Advent, if you are still with me.
You have
probably been wondering how this all relates to Advent.
Advent is a time of waiting, of anticipation. The scripture
lessons we read
and the hymns we sing during this liturgical season evoke
these deep
longings.
Here in North Dakota even the weather conspires in creating
the mood for
Advent.
Advent is a time of yearning.
This Advent in the year of Our Lord 2019 this is how I am
feeling and, I
hope with your agreement, we can say that:
We yearn for One who will save us from corruption, greed,
self-serving,
and the false.
We yearn for One who will save us from tawdry, crude, and
debased
politicians who have betrayed the public trust.
We yearn for One who will save us from falsehood,
shallowness, and
spiritual emptiness.
We yearn for One who embodies the truth, the way and the
life.
We yearn for One who embraced pain, suffering and even death
in an act
of self-sacrifice.
The truth is, we yearn for One who can save us from
ourselves.
With apologies to Charles Wesley, I want to end with a
stanza of one of
his hymns, by changing one word.
Come thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our TRUTH in thee!
Amen.
