Readings: Acts
4:32-35, John 20: 19-31
We pray:
May we hear your word in our hearts and our lives O God, may we be
challenged, assured and encouraged in our faith, just as we are now and who you call us to be. In Jesus name. Amen.
We’d not been expecting him … and yet, we
had. We were frightened, because he had
been killed by the authorities - and
they might be looking for us. Then, when
some of the women said that they had seen him, we were more frightened than
ever. We had denied him, abandoned him,
watched him die at a distance, and kept quiet about our previous
association. He had come and showed
himself to us as the risen Christ once already – that’s what Thomas had missed
out on – but here we were again, sitting, huddled in an upstairs room, locked
away from the world, afraid of ‘them’, afraid of him, sitting silently with the
snib down. What would he do with us
now? But he came and unlocked every door
with his unexpected words, ‘Peace … Peace be with you. I am sending you … out. And then he breathed the Holy Spirit on
us.....
The peace of Christ, a peace achieved in
the death and resurrection of Jesus, is an unexpected peace, and unexpected
gift to the frightened disciples behind the locked door.
It is not the peace that the world knows –
an absence of conflict, a shutting oneself into a place of safety, a
peacekeeping role from a distance.
It was not a peace that the disciples were
particularly seeking –they were frightened, uncertain, hidden away from the
turmoil and chaos.
But peace was what the risen Jesus offered
them.
What was this peace that Jesus gifted to
those frightened disciples?
The peace of the resurrected Jesus is a
peace that breathes the holy spirit into our lives, that assures us of God’s
presence, that empowers us to participate in Christ’s victory over death. In the reading from Acts we hear of how that
peace of Jesus can change lives, of how the community of believers were living
out their lives in care for each other, that no one had more than was needed
and neither did anyone have less than needed. A community of Christ
indeed. For we hear that a great grace
was upon them all’ in the power of the risen Christ. That grace, that peace, enabled an otherwise
diverse band of believers to live in a community together in peace, a community
where no one was needy, where oneness in Christ was found and celebrated, where
each was valued and cared for. Where the
overwhelming sense of purpose, mission and values was that found in the peace
and unity of Christ. Almost unbelievable
you might say – Jesus would say – believe it – this is what happens when you
make Christ the centre, peace the focus and grace the gift of the everyday.
Every Sunday we share the peace of Christ
with each other – it’s a special time full of chatter and greeting and
welcoming, deeply embedded with a sense of being the people of Christ here in
this place. But, says Jesus, I now want
you to take that peace – out – out to the lonely Matthews, the doubting
Thomas’, the frightened Peters, the worried Marthas.
For Christ’s peace is not a peace that is
to be celebrated, believed in, lived into only behind the closed doors of a
upper room, of a church, of a faith community.
Jesus makes that abundantly clear.
That one little three lettered word ‘out’. Peace be with you, I am sending you out.....
This peace of Christ is not one of staying
safely here with the door shutting out the demands of the world, much as we
would sometimes like it to be. Christ
takes our private and personal faith, the healing and wholeness that we
experience here in this time of worship out from behind the door, propels us
into engagement with what is outside. It
changes our status, breathes new life into us, and forces us outside into a
world of needy people and situations.
For without going ‘out’, what price Christ’s victory over death, what
price Thomas’ courage and tenacity, what price the fear of following and the
wonder that we do so anyway – for Christ walks with us.
Let’s talk a bit about Thomas – one of my
favourites.
Why oh why do we single out Thomas for his
doubting? The term ‘a doubting Thomas’ is well embedded in our language. It is
almost as if we are expected to believe that the rest of the disciples had
worked it out and he had to catch up, his unbelief was somehow to be tolerated
because that was just Thomas.
Um what were the rest of the disciples
doing when Jesus came through the locked door?
Hiding, frightened, worried, doubting and alone – and this is despite
the fact that they all but Thomas had encountered the risen Christ just a week
before! They were back in panic mode,
hiding, feeling safe, they thought, behind closed doors.
And what does Jesus do – the Easter story
tells us he comes to them again – and again and again. No words of condemnation, no chastising them
for their lack of faith. Jesus comes
again and again to confused and frightened disciples, he offers them again the
gift of his presence and his peace – and to Thomas he gently and completely
offers what ever it is that he needs to believe. Jesus offers himself to those who want to see
again and again.
This is the good news of the second Sunday
of Easter and no doubt of the third and the fourth – however long it takes for
us to open that door and step out to engage and entangle our lives of faith
with the need for grace and peace in a troubled world.
And we remember that there are times when
we need to bolt back inside, when we do a Thomas and ask for a bit more proof,
be as the disciples hiding behind a locked door, for that is the reality of a
life of faith.
It is interesting how much more I can
relate to this band of quivering disciples rather that the community spoken of
in Acts. This is much more my story, I
would have to say. I understand that the
early community of Jerusalem is what can be when the grace and peace of Christ
is embraced but the reality is that we stuff up, we experience fear and
despair, we doubt and we question and we shut God out – we are a people who
will not all suddenly have a eureka moment and never look back – that is not
who we are. We journey in the very real
ups and downs of life and faith, we all have a bit of Thomas, a taste for the
locked door in us at times.
Here is a way to think of Thomas – I have
heard him described at the incredulous
non believer who hides inside every believing Christian, the questioner in us
who resists the easy answers to hard questions of faith, who always wants to
dig a bit deeper, get more proof, encounter the living Christ again and again.
This is the resurrection story, the Easter
gospel that we celebrate again and again – to realise that within all doubts
and fears, uncertainties and lost directions, Jesus will be standing there in
front of us gifting us his peace for as often and as long as we need it. And here’s a thing - as our fear increases so
his grace increases, till there is no place to go but out that door and into
the world.
He’s touched us, talked to us, met us on
the road, eaten with us and even cooked breakfast for us on an open fire. But he’s going soon. And he leaves us his peace, that we can be
assured of his presence, full of grace and mercy for his work is finished and
ours can begin. In the name of the risen
Christ. Amen.
Margaret Garland
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