Year A
Acts 2:14a,22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people think\u2026 that when someone is ordained\u2026 they become theologically certain about all things\u2026 but for me\u2026 I’ve become more willing to wrestle with some kinds of uncertainty\u2026 I’m more willing to let the wind of the Holy Spirit\u2026 uncover hidden truths\u2026 even when it seems counterintuitive\u2026 ] some people wonder if this collar eliminates some kinds of doubt\u2026 and as a result\u2026 yes\u2026 I’m more certain of God’s love\u2026 and if I don’t feel it\u2026 well that’s on me and not on God\u2026 but I may experience some doubts about cosmic justice when I consider that bad things happen to good people\u2026 or vice-versa\u2026 ] and while some people’s doubts can be put to rest by even a little evidence\u2026 for others\u2026 not even video evidence can convince them\u2026 ] and for many of us\u2026 the paradox we must overcome\u2026 when it comes to doubt\u2026 is that \ud834\udd06 faith is a mystery of the heart\u2026 which the mind wants to solve\u2026 \ud834\udd07 but faith can’t be understood by rational thought\u2026 or by logic\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We think of sainted Mother Theresa as having unwavering faith\u2026 but in what was a bombshell revelation\u2026 and some of you may remember this\u2026 she expressed doubt\u2026 in a book published after her death\u2026 and which explored some of her letters\u2026 a terrible darkness was revealed in her\u2026 a profound doubt about the self-sacrifice of her mission to the poor\u2026 even about the existence of God\u2026 She wrote\u2026 The silence and the emptiness is so great\u2026 that I look and do not see\u2026 I listen and do not hear<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor John Kavanaugh tells about traveling to Calcutta to ask Mother Teresa to pray for him\u2026 so that he might achieve clarity. “That I will not do,” she told him. “I don\u2019t understand. Why not?” he asked. She smiled and said\u2026 “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to\u2026 and you must let go of it. I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faith does not exist without doubt. The purpose of faith is not to deny doubt\u2026 but to overcome it\u2026 Mother Teresa ignored the opinions of others who questioned the veracity of her efforts\u2026 and she worked through the great emptiness inside\u2026 to alleviate profound suffering for the world\u2019s most desperate\u2026 and out of her experience\u2026 we learn that doubt can either crush us\u2026 or inspire us\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In todays’s Gospel\u2026 some variation of the word believe\u2026 occurs six times\u2026 and the Greek word that John uses\u2026 pisteos<\/em>\u2026 could just as legitimately be translated as trust\u2026 we tend to think of something that’s believable as being true\u2026 as being trustworthy\u2026 but it’s not necessarily objectively true\u2026 something we can prove by measuring it\u2026 ] if I say\u2026 I love Joel\u2026 that may be believable but not provable\u2026 but if a Kent County Sherriff stops you along M-6 and says that you were driving 85 mph in a 70 mph zone\u2026 and that she measured it with a radar speed gun\u2026 whether you believed her\u2026 or didn’t want to\u2026 it would still be true\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Theologian Marcus Borg once pointed out that we’re asked to believe\u2026 to assent to things about religion\u2026 which are beyond our ability to comprehend\u2026 but that it made more sense to him that we’re invited to develop a trusting relationship with God\u2026 ] and I see this as a difference between trying to understand intellectual concepts which are light years beyond us\u2026 and trusting someone enough\u2026 to put your whole life in their hands\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 1990s television show The X-Files\u2026 FBI Agent Fox Mulder\u2026 who investigated the paranormal\u2026 had a poster in his office of a UFO with the words\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n I Want to Believe<\/em>\u2026 and it hung on the wall from the show\u2019s pilot episode through the series finale<\/em>\u2026 this poster gave insight into Mulder\u2019s character\u2026 because against nearly insurmountable evidence\u2026 he wanted to believe\u2026 and when forensic investigator Dana Scully \u2014 a voice of reasoned skepticism \u2014 arrives as Mulder\u2019s partner\u2026 the show\u2019s potent mix of faith\u2026 denial\u2026 and doubt was established\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week\u2019s Gospel about “doubting Thomas” has a similar explosive mix\u2026 yet Thomas\u2019 doubt doesn\u2019t tend toward Scully\u2019s denial\u2026 rather\u2026 like Mulder\u2019s\u2026 it springs from faith\u2026 Thomas is someone who wants to believe\u2026 This is really Jesus!<\/em>\u2026 against insurmountable evidence that Thomas shouldn\u2019t believe\u2026 Dead people don\u2019t come back to life!<\/em>\u2026 Thomas has always gotten a bad rap\u2026 but he can be seen as a hero of the faith\u2026 it\u2019s not easy to be the lone voice expressing doubt among a confident crowd\u2026 in the end\u2026 I don\u2019t think Thomas\u2019 desire to see and touch the scars of his friend\u2026 was a desire for proof\u2026 I think instead\u2026 he was looking for connection\u2026 as we all are\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our typical understanding of this passage\u2026 is that disciples are hidden away\u2026 in fear of the authorities\u2026 afraid that they will come in\u2026 will break in\u2026 and do to them\u2026 what the authorities did to Jesus\u2026 because we tend to think they don’t believe the Good News\u2026 don’t believe in the resurrection\u2026 because just hours ago\u2026 Mary Magdalene told them about her encounter with the risen Christ\u2026 and yet\u2026 here they are\u2026 hidden away\u2026 and in fear\u2026 ] after all\u2026 just a few chapters before [ 11:7-9 ]\u2026 within the story about Lazarus\u2026 when Jesus said\u2026 Let us go to Judea again\u2026 the disciples said to him\u2026 Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again\u2026 <\/em>so their fear is at least somewhat warranted\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what if\u2026 as Bp. Satterlee suggests\u2026 what if they’ve locked themselves in\u2026 because they do believe the Good News\u2026 and what they’re afraid of\u2026 is that the authorities will come in\u2026 will break in\u2026 and show them Jesus’ crucified body\u2026 and prove that he is indeed dead\u2026 and that their faith is false\u2026 but instead\u2026 Jesus shows up\u2026 and they think\u2026 great\u2026 we’re in our locked room\u2026 we’re in our safe space\u2026 and Jesus is with us\u2026 and we’ll just stay in here\u2026 and tune the world out\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And wouldn’t we love to do that too\u2026 with all that’s going on in the world today\u2026 but Jesus doesn’t say\u2026 Pull up a chair and settle in<\/em>\u2026 he says\u2026 As the Father has sent me\u2026 so I send you<\/em>\u2026 to forgive the very ones who crucified me\u2026 ] and so maybe what Thomas doubts\u2026 is not that Christ is Risen\u2026 but that Jesus wants to send them all out into the world\u2026 out of the safety of the Upper Room\u2026 ] and if that’s the case\u2026 if Jesus was sending those in the Upper Room out into the world\u2026 then Jesus also sends us out of the comfort of our churches\u2026 to continue practicing the love and forgiveness that he embodied\u2026 you see\u2026 Easter is not about how we feel\u2026 the Good News from this morning’s text\u2026 is that Christ encounters each one of us\u2026 and we are sent out\u2026 to not only let go of clarity\u2026 certainty\u2026 and comfort\u2026 but to do God’s work in the world\u2026 even though we too\u2026 may carry some kind of doubt\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Acts 2:14a,22-32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 Some people think\u2026 that when someone is ordained\u2026 they become theologically certain about all things\u2026 but for me\u2026 I’ve become more willing to wrestle with some kinds of uncertainty\u2026 I’m more willing to let the wind of the Holy Spirit\u2026 uncover hidden truths\u2026 even when it seems counterintuitive\u2026 ] some people wonder if this collar eliminates some kinds of doubt\u2026 and as a result\u2026 yes\u2026 I’m more certain of God’s love\u2026 and if I don’t feel it\u2026 well that’s on me and not on God\u2026 but I may experience some doubts about cosmic justice when I consider that bad things happen to good people\u2026 or vice-versa\u2026 ] and while some people’s doubts can be put to rest by even a little evidence\u2026 for others\u2026 not even video evidence can convince them\u2026 ] and for many of us\u2026 the paradox we must overcome\u2026 when it comes to doubt\u2026 is that \ud834\udd06 faith is a mystery of the heart\u2026 which the mind wants to solve\u2026 \ud834\udd07 but faith can’t be understood by rational thought\u2026 or by logic\u2026 We think of sainted Mother Theresa as having unwavering faith\u2026 but in what was a bombshell revelation\u2026 and some of you may remember this\u2026 she expressed doubt\u2026 in a book published after her death\u2026 and which explored some of her letters\u2026 a terrible darkness was revealed in her\u2026 a profound doubt about the self-sacrifice of her mission to the poor\u2026 even about the existence of God\u2026 She wrote\u2026 The silence and the emptiness is so great\u2026 that I look and do not see\u2026 I listen and do not hear\u2026 Professor John Kavanaugh tells about traveling to Calcutta to ask Mother Teresa to pray for him\u2026 so that he might achieve clarity. “That I will not do,” she told him. “I don\u2019t understand. Why not?” he asked. She smiled and said\u2026 “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to\u2026 and you must let go of it. I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.” Faith does not exist without doubt. The purpose of faith is not to deny doubt\u2026 but to overcome it\u2026 Mother Teresa ignored the opinions of others who questioned the veracity of her efforts\u2026 and she worked through the great emptiness inside\u2026 to alleviate profound suffering for the world\u2019s most desperate\u2026 and out of her experience\u2026 we learn that doubt can either crush us\u2026 or inspire us\u2026 In todays’s Gospel\u2026 some variation of the word believe\u2026 occurs six times\u2026 and the Greek word that John uses\u2026 pisteos\u2026 could just as legitimately be translated as trust\u2026 we tend to think of something that’s believable as being true\u2026 as being trustworthy\u2026 but it’s not necessarily objectively true\u2026 something we can prove by measuring it\u2026 ] if I say\u2026 I love Joel\u2026 that may be believable but not provable\u2026 but if a Kent County Sherriff stops you along M-6 and says that you were driving 85 mph in a 70 mph zone\u2026 and that she measured it with a radar speed gun\u2026 whether you believed her\u2026 or didn’t want to\u2026 it would still be true\u2026 Theologian Marcus Borg once pointed out that we’re asked to believe\u2026 to assent to things about religion\u2026 which are beyond our ability to comprehend\u2026 but that it made more sense to him that we’re invited to develop a trusting relationship with God\u2026 ] and I see this as a difference between trying to understand intellectual concepts which are light years beyond us\u2026 and trusting someone enough\u2026 to put your whole life in their hands\u2026 In the 1990s television show The X-Files\u2026 FBI Agent Fox Mulder\u2026 who investigated the paranormal\u2026 had a poster in his office of a UFO with the words\u2026 I Want to Believe\u2026 and it hung on the wall from the show\u2019s pilot episode through the series finale\u2026 this poster gave insight into Mulder\u2019s character\u2026 because against nearly insurmountable evidence\u2026 he wanted to believe\u2026 and when forensic investigator Dana Scully \u2014 a voice of reasoned skepticism \u2014 arrives as Mulder\u2019s partner\u2026 the show\u2019s potent mix of faith\u2026 denial\u2026 and doubt was established\u2026 This week\u2019s Gospel about “doubting Thomas” has a similar explosive mix\u2026 yet Thomas\u2019 doubt doesn\u2019t tend toward Scully\u2019s denial\u2026 rather\u2026 like Mulder\u2019s\u2026 it springs from faith\u2026 Thomas is someone who wants to believe\u2026 This is really Jesus!\u2026 against insurmountable evidence that Thomas shouldn\u2019t believe\u2026 Dead people don\u2019t come back to life!\u2026 Thomas has always gotten a bad rap\u2026 but he can be seen as a hero of the faith\u2026 it\u2019s not easy to be the lone voice expressing doubt among a confident crowd\u2026 in the end\u2026 I don\u2019t think Thomas\u2019 desire to see and touch the scars of his friend\u2026 was a desire for proof\u2026 I think instead\u2026 he was looking for connection\u2026 as we all are\u2026 Our typical understanding of this passage\u2026 is that disciples are hidden away\u2026 in fear of the authorities\u2026 afraid that they will come in\u2026 will break in\u2026 and do to them\u2026 what the authorities did to Jesus\u2026 because we tend to think they don’t believe the Good News\u2026 don’t believe in the resurrection\u2026 because just hours ago\u2026 Mary Magdalene told them about her encounter with the risen Christ\u2026 and yet\u2026 here they are\u2026 hidden away\u2026 and in fear\u2026 ] after all\u2026 just a few chapters before [ 11:7-9 ]\u2026 within the story about Lazarus\u2026 when Jesus said\u2026 Let us go to Judea again\u2026 the disciples said to him\u2026 Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again\u2026 so their fear is at least somewhat warranted\u2026 But what if\u2026 as Bp. Satterlee suggests\u2026 what if they’ve locked themselves in\u2026 because they do believe the Good News\u2026 and what they’re afraid of\u2026 is that the authorities will come in\u2026 will break in\u2026 and show them Jesus’ crucified body\u2026 and prove that he is indeed dead\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[241,161,242],"class_list":["post-2035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-doubting-thomas","tag-faith","tag-jesus-sends-the-disciples"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/doubtingthomas2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2037,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions\/2037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}