THE CHANGE THAT IS EASTER

(Preached on Sunday, May 30, 2008)

Then he said to Thomas, APut 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, AMy Lord and my God!@                                                -John 20:27-28

 

It=s the week after Easter.  Most of the lilies are gone from the sanctuary.  Last Sunday=s crowd isn=t matched by today=s gathering.  In fact, on the traditional Church calendar this Sunday is often tagged ALow Sunday.@  There seems an inevitable let-down from the high of Easter.  Welcome to the community known and revealed by the Gospel of John.

 

Last Sunday we read John=s account of Mary Magdalene running to announce to the disciples the news of Jesus= resurrection.  AI have seen the Lord@ she cries out!  We often think of those first eyewitnesses with jealousy.  AHow I wish I could have been there on that first Easter.  It would have been so much easier to believe!@   But that is not at all the way the gospels tell the story.  It was not easy for those first eyewitnesses.  As we heard last week the empty tomb did not produce faith.  And John tells us that however they responded to Mary=s news earlier in the day, by Easter evening the disciples were gathered behind locked doors, huddled in fear.  Easter news did not unleash the disciples immediately on the world to change it.  It took time for Easter to transform them.

 

Easter is like that.  Our problem is not really one of history, of a gap between our time and the first Easter.  What we have is a problem of faith.  Not faith as blind belief in something, but rather faith as the ability to overcome our fear through trust; faith as trust in God=s ability to create life out of death; faith as trust that God can really transform us and the world.  After all, here it is 2,000 years after Easter and this world is still a very frightening place.  Every day there is news of war and rumors of war; every day there is news of greed and corruption; every day there is news of suffering and tragedy.  It is so, so easy to live in fear. 

 

Fear is the real enemy of faith, not doubt.  Bible translators have done Thomas and us a disservice for years by translating Jesus= words: Ado not doubt but believe.@  There is a perfectly good verb in Greek for Adoubt,@ but John does not use that word here.  He uses the word that is the negation of faith.  The consequence of faith=s opposite has already been revealed in the opening of this story: fear.  That is why, in any number of Bible stories, the first word spoken by God, or Jesus, or angels is: ADo not fear.@  When it comes to faith or trust, fear is the problem, not doubt.  Fear locks doors; doubts merely raise questions.  Fear paralyzes us into inaction; doubts simply engage us in conversation about what course of action should be taken.  Fear is what enslaves us to habit, routine, the predictable and the patterned.  Fear is what prevents us from being open to real change and real transformation in our lives and in the world today.

 

The message of Easter, though, is that Christ has a way of breaking down doors and dismantling fears.  In his ministry, that could be seen in his openness to sinners and Samaritans, to women and outsiders.  Jesus welcomed anyone and everyone, he released people from the chains that bound them, from their fears, from disease, from cultural expectations, from death.  On this first Easter evening, Jesus breaks down doors so he can squeeze into church.  And what is the first thing Christ says?  He does not scold.  He does not berate.  He does not say, ACome on you old fogies and get with the program.@  He simply says, APeace be with you.@  And he does it again, eight days later, to give Thomas what he needs, the assurance of his eyes and his own touch, and again, he does not scold Thomas, but he calls him to faith, to trust, offering peace to overcome fear.

 

As a result of Jesus= visits to them the first disciples were able to overcome their fear and they were transformed.  They were changed.  They went out and turned the world on its ear.  It didn=t happen because of their hard work, earnest effort, long range planning, or heavy-duty giving.  It happened because of what God, through the risen Christ, was able to do in their lives, as they began to trust.  As they experienced the power of the resurrection in their lives, they came to know the peace of Christ, the peace of trusting God to take care of their fears.

 

How did this happen?  Because of what the risen Christ brought to them.  He brought peace; he brought a mission, a purpose for their lives; he brought the power for their mission and lives, the Holy Spirit; and he brought a community based on forgiveness.  Through the resurrection of Jesus God completed the work Jesus began of creating a community that could transform lives and transform the world.  

 

The community of faith, the Church, is still the vehicle God uses to transform our lives and our world.  It was in the early church, as they broke bread and worshiped together, that Jesus= first followers experienced again the presence of the living Christ.  The great preacher, Harry Fosdick, tells of a man who came to him when he was pastor of Riverside Church in New York and asked for membership.  He said: AI am not even sure what I think about God, but I should like to work out my spiritual faith inside the Christian fellowship, not outside.@  The church accepted him on those terms.  Three years later, he said to Dr. Fosdick: Ano words can estimate what this has meant to me; each year, clearer insights, deeper assurance, and life more and more worthwhile.@  Here was a man who needed to believe, wanted to believe, and benefitted from believing.  And came to believe because he planted himself within the community of believers.

 

Are you looking for answers to overcome the fears that have you trapped this morning?  Those anxieties and worries that have paralyzed you or are preventing you from fully living the life God has planned for you?  Are you wondering how you can find that trust to strengthen your faith so that you can find real change in your life?  Let me offer you some insight from a school science project we have probably all seen.  Many of us can remember making electromagnets in elementary school science class.  You take a big old iron nail, wrap a piece of wire around it, and attach both ends of the wire to the terminals of a dry-cell battery.  In no time at all, that electrified nail is attracting all manner of paper clips, thumbtacks, and iron filings.  Is the nail itself changed?  Not one bit.  It=s the power flowing through it that makes the difference.  Remove the wires from the battery terminals and that magnetic nail suddenly becomes de-magnetized and can no longer attract other metal objects.  As long as that piece of iron remains in contact with that source of electric power, it continues to function as a magnet and attract other pieces of iron to itself.

 

That is the way it is with faith.  It isn=t a possession of ours, but it is a gift of God to each of us.  It is a spiritual power that originates with God and comes to us as a gift.  If you want to have more faith, if you want to be able to more fully trust God, if you want to be able to turn your life over to the power of God in Jesus to transform you and make you an agent of transformation able to make a difference in the world, then stay connected to the source of power.  Make sure your are hooked up to God=s battery terminals, so the surge of spiritual energy will flow into you C and through you, to others.

 

How do you do that?  By being more deeply, more strongly, more intimately, connected to Christ=s community of change, the church.  Make sure that every time you can be, whenever the community gathers that you are here, too.  Make sure that you claim your place in the work of mission outreach of this community.  Make sure that you claim your place of being nurtured within the fellowship, warmth, and caring of this community.  Make sure that you pray often for this community and for the work of this church in the world.  Become more deeply involved in the Church and you will discover the change that is Easter growing within you.