Every year on the second Sunday in the Easter Season
we have this Gospel reading.
The main part of it, so memorable, is the story of Thomas,
absent from the other disciples the previous week - hence his doubts,
then his encounter with the Risen Lord,
and subsequently his response to the Resurrection.
This should be a lesson to us all of the importance
of being in church every Sunday.
Who knows what you might be left out of if you miss even one Sunday!
Well, of course, that really trivializes this story and does Thomas a disservice.
He performs an important role, shows us his humanness,
so that we can readily identify with him
and thus see ourselves in this encounter with Jesus as well.
Thomas, the “patron saint of Episcopalians!”
Well, there’s more in this Gospel reading we can also look at.
The first part of the reading is the same one we will hear on May 23,
for Pentecost Sunday,
the day more associated with the reading from Acts 2.
This first part of today’s Gospel reading often gets overlooked.
overshadowed by the saga of Thomas today,
I think it might be good to spend some time, therefore,
with this section of the Gospel reading,
and in particular with the part about forgiving sins.
Jesus appears to the disciples (all except Thomas) and says to them:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus breathes into them Holy Spirit,
and then he commissions them into the ministry of reconciliation
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Well, we may want to back away from this statement, sounds too much like:
"I forgive you, but I don't forgive you."
So let me help unpack this.
Two key Greek words here: forgive and retain –
forgive, which literally means to send away, send forth, emit,
an action that involves separation.
Sins are sent away and separated from a person;
the action is done on the sins.
Retain, or better translated restrain – to lay hold of, keep under reserve,
hold fast, bind them,
hold back, hinder their action.
To send away the sins and to bind them from happening.
This is the spiritual action of liberation.
What an incredible thing the apostles were to do!
And by logical extension, what an incredible thing WE are called to do!
I think we see very little of this being done in the church,
and heaven knows the world sure needs this kind of reconciliation,
the forgiving of sins,
the sending away of sins and the restraining of sins in the first place.
The first is a response to sin, and the second is a preventative action.
And sin, what all is included in the definition of sin?
What is the most important aspect about sin that we need to remember?
Sin is a violation of the basic human relationships –
with each other, with God and with ourselves.
That covers everything from murder
to something as seemingly minor
as begrudging another’s joy because you do not have that yourself.
So notice: there is a two-fold aspect to the ministry of reconciliation.
Forgive or take away sins – responding to the occasion of sin,
reactive reconciliation.
And retain or hold back sins - proactive reconciliation.
We can have a restraining effect on sin!
Think about the implications of this for us in daily life:
What we say,
what we do,
the attitudes we have,
the opinions we express,
how we live out relationships
– all can be proactive reconciliation.
We who are called by his Name,
have been sent, and
have been given an awesome power and force in the world for good,
a force that is as desperately needed now as ever.
We are called to ministry of reconciliation through our baptisms;
Book of Common Prayer, page 855, from a section in the Catechism, Outline of the Faith:
Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church;
to bear witness to him wherever they may be
and, according to the gifts given them,
to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world;
and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
There is much more to say about the ministry of reconciliation
but we also have the other half of this gospel reading.
Someone forgot to tell Thomas about the meeting last Sunday.
Despite all the other disciples corroborating their story of seeing the Risen Christ
Thomas says he must not only see, but also touch.
He would not trust just his eyes.
He wants to see the wounds; he wants to see that which killed Jesus.
Maybe he wants to make sure
that it is absolutely apparent that Jesus is risen from the dead,
not just a survivor of the ordeal of crucifixion.
So Jesus shows up,
and apparently unseen the Risen Lord had overheard Thomas’ conversation.
Jesus shows great compassion to Thomas
and he gives him a special invitation to touch the wounds.
The text doesn't say if Thomas then did touch.
But what Thomas said is very significant: "My Lord and my God!"
Thomas was not just looking at Jesus as his rabbi, or teacher, or master,
but as GOD. This is bold declaration of faith.
Thomas goes from doubt to calling Jesus God.
This even goes beyond what the others told Thomas.
Thomas' declaration, "My Lord and my God!" is both a creed
and an act of devotion or worship, a response to the Holy.
Then in verse 29 from the Gospel reading Jesus says:
Blessed are those who have not seen,
and yet believe.
Now here is another place where how the Greek gets translated into English
is tricky.
There are nuances of meaning around any Greek word
that may overlap with the many nuances of meaning
around a corresponding English word,
and the Greek verb pistew is one of them.
It gets translated believe and have faith in.
In English for us here in a church setting
believe has a creedal sense to it
– such as in a tenet of belief or a doctrine.
It can have a sense that having gathered so much evidence
one can now reliably believe something.
Have faith in as a translation is more relational.
We say we have faith in someone
because our experience of that person shows us
that he or she is trustworthy.
It’s a matter of trust level.
Being willing to trust what is not in my control.
Trusting what I cannot prove, what I cannot dictate as verifiable,
only what has been revealed to me,
what I have experienced so subjectively.
Faith, in this sense then, is a participation in relationship
with the God of the resurrected Lord in us.
Now listen carefully to what I am going to say.
We are not saved on the basis of what we believe.
We are not saved on the basis of what we believe.
If that were the case, then purity of theology, the content of belief
would be of primal importance,
and only those who believed rightly would be saved,
would be reconciled to God.
That makes for a pretty scary situation,
since with all the different denominations
and all their different belief systems,
knowing what is right belief is problematic.
If someone didn’t know the right formula of doctrine, then too bad.
This would leave out most children,
those of low mental capacity and the ageing mind that is forgetful.
But that is not the case.
It is a matter of trust, that kind of faith, rather than belief.
So can you see that it is not what you believe, but what Jesus did.
As you have heard me say before:
God doesn’t leave anything as important as salvation,
up to us and our response alone.
Even our faith is a gift.
Now back to what Thomas said and its connection with the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is a concrete and specific Resurrection appearance of Jesus.
In the Eucharist we say that we have before us the Body of Christ.
These are the words as the bread is placed in your hands, right?
So do you realize what you take into your hands during Communion?
The very presence of the Resurrected Lord,
tangible, touchable.
That is why we make such a point of the moment of silence
at the breaking of the Bread.
This represents the very wounds of the crucifixion,
the very thing Thomas wanted to see and to touch.
And we get to touch and see and taste and eat.
When the bread and the cup are lifted up, and the Presider says
“The Gifts of God for the People of God” these are words of invitation:
come forward to see and touch and taste
that our faith, our trusting may be nurtured
and our spirits and whole being are nourished
and strengthened for the ministry of reconciliation.
Take the Mystery of the Resurrection into your own hands.
