Sunday April 11, 2010

First Presbyterian Church
Ripley Tennessee
April 11, 2010
2nd Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:27-32
John 20:19-31
My Lord and My God!


"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." - Lord Kelvin,
president, Royal Society, 1895.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who
would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" - David
Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the
radio in the 1920s.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas
Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not
Gary Cooper." - Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading
role in"Gone With The Wind."

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." – Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be
obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." -- Albert Einstein, 1932

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" - H.M. Warner, Warner
Brothers, 1927.

My mom used to be stubbornly insistent that I not be so certain of myself or of anything in particular. I look back on it now and realize she was raising me to have a healthy dose of skepticism. With a healthy dose of skepticism, we are not saying that a person is not open minded. No, in fact in order to have skepticism at all, one must be capable of thinking for one’s self. I was being raised to be somewhere between gullible and insistent.

I do not want you all to go along with the mass media just as so many cattle follow the hay wagon. But at the same time, skepticism keeps us from falling for anything at all. A healthy dose of skepticism can be a vital tool for survival.

Thomas had a healthy dose of skepticism. Now through the centuries, the term “Doubting Thomas” has developed. In our time it has taken on a less than favorable connotation. If someone is a “Doubting Thomas” today, we may see them in a way that makes them cagy or distant or untrusting. A doubting Thomas may be thought of as being closed minded or even judgmental.

But Thomas seemed to have a great and very healthy balance of realism and skepticism combined with a mind that remained open to all the possibilities the resurrection of Jesus could offer.

"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." Thomas declared!

I really think this story of Thomas adds credibility to the entire gospel account of the resurrection. For instance, if the synoptic gospels all agreed that the resurrection took place and reported no one wondering or doubting, it would seem that we were being sold a packaged pickled herring. But here, right in the gospel, we have it documented that one of the original twelve, stopped and said, “I don’t believe it! You are going to have to show me! Prove it!”

So we find Thomas somewhere between being gullible and naive on one end of the spectrum and being completely closed minded on the other end of the spectrum. Notice that Thomas DID NOT declare, “This is impossible; that can not be!” Instead, Thomas leaves that little crack in the door, “Show me and I WILL believe!” He left room for his faith to evolve, to be influenced.

I find good news in this passage. In fact I am comforted a great deal by what John offers us here.

Growing up, I had some influence from two different churches. My parents went to different churches, my father to one church and my mother to a different church. I remember that this was a really tough patch in my life.

Theology and adolescence and hormones get all mixed up and they certainly did in me. I’ll not say I ever lost faith, but holding two different churches up, side by side in comparison, showed me some pretty stark inconsistencies. I was being told how to talk to God and I hadn’t even figured out how to talk to girls! I still have trouble with that in fact. My biggest fear was doing something stupid and having to sit by myself in the lunch room / cafeteria!

At this point in my life, I had room for doubt. Neither church I was being taken to did a very good job of addressing the doubts I had floating around in my head. In fact I remember being made to feel worse because I did have doubts. Thomas had all this going on too! “What do I believe? I know what Jesus said…but…”

Is it alright to doubt? Is what Thomas did reprehensible or heroic or somewhere in between? Let’s read on.
27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Here is where we see the faith that Jesus commands. Here is where we see the grace and compassion of the Son of God. “Here, let me gently show you and help you, in your own way, in your own time. Stop doubting and believe!” We don’t see the vengeful God smite Thomas for having doubt. This is the new covenant and it demonstrates the compassion, grace and understanding toward His followers.
“My Lord and My God!” Thomas exclaims. But don’t you think you can hear Thomas barely capable of uttering those words as he shrinks to his knees. My Lord and My God.
Have you ever had a flash of insight? Sometimes it strikes you so hard that you can hardly speak. Once that sliver of doubt is resolved and the daylight of stark reality is allowed to flood into Thomas’ soul, all he can say is an utterance that bespeaks of total submission; My Lord and My God!
So what of me? I have had doubts in my life. Following Thomas’ bold example, I have had conversations with God. I don’t understand! I am Angry! I am HURT! Where are you??!! Why should I not doubt! I am scared! I am an orphan! I am alone!
I am reading a great book by Eugene Peterson called Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. In a segment of the book, Peterson takes a good look at the book of Lamentations. The book of Lamentations is an angry book. It is full of lashing out and discontent and pain. The anger in the book flows both ways. People are mad at God and God is mad at people.
Peterson makes the point that God is angry with his creation in the book of Lamentations, because of His love for His creation. If you care for your child, there is nothing that says you won’t get frustrated or even angry with your child when she disobeys. While if you have no fondness for your child, the results may differ.
If my faith falters or becomes weak, I am not abandoned. Come close, put your hand here. Let me help you. Christ is revealed to us in unlimited ways. Christ is revealed to us when we earnestly seek and have the courage to admit we are weak and in need. It is then that we realize just how helpless we truly are.
In order to doubt a fact, one must first consider the fact; to hold it in one’s mind and contemplate it. To consider fact is to allow room for the possibility for the fact to exist in the first place. I have always encouraged you to be inquisitive.
Don’t just accept what you are given, go out and learn it for yourselves. Research your beliefs, dig down and find out what you really believe and why. Don’t be afraid. Your faith, like Thomas’, will grow.
God does care for us. God Loves us! God knows that, during the seasons of our lives, doubt may creep in. There are spiritual peaks and valleys along our way. In spite of his doubts, Thomas is then given these words to share with all of us;
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"


AMEN