Easter
C2 Sermon
The story in our Gospel begins with fear. The disciples were afraid that the
crucifixion of their Lord might be only the beginning of terror for them. So
they gathered behind the locked doors of a crowded upstairs room, as though
they were hostages trapped by a terrorist. They were afraid of the authorities
from the temple police. They were afraid of one another. But mostly they were
afraid of the consequences if what they had heard and seen concerning a risen
Jesus might really be true. What then? Better to remain hidden behind locked
doors that offer safety and keep out reality. People might laugh and ridicule
them if they actually voiced our belief in the resurrection. Better to keep our
doors locked.
But the locks can't keep out the reality of the Easter story of our redemption.
Angels had appeared to women who wept when they discovered that the borrowed
tomb in which they had so carefully laid the body of one they loved was empty.
They body was gone! The distraught women heard voices exclaiming, "You
will not find the living among the dead. He has risen, just as he said he
would." The women ran from the scene, both overjoyed and terrified, experiencing
in the same moment fear and joy. They hurried to find the disciples who were
still hiding behind their locked doors. Peter and one of the other disciples ventured
forth to see the tomb. But they came back to the safety and security of the
upper room.
The Gospel tells us: the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked
for fear of the Jews,
And then…
Jesus came and stood among them…
This
is how the disciples encounter the risen Lord.
To come to them, Jesus must pass through locked doors. When they encounter the risen Lord, first of
all he says, “Peace be with you”. Jesus
offers us peace and takes away our fear. Isn’t this what we wait for and what
we have always wanted? Don’t we each
have a secret hope, like a keyhole, that allows us to peek out from behind our
locked door of doubt and fear and catch a fleeting glimpse of the risen
Lord? In today’s Gospel each of us can
identify with Thomas because doubt is the easiest door to lock and hide
behind. We are intelligent, 21st
century humans who are too smart, too skeptical, and too savvy to take
seriously life after death. This is our
excuse and the way we barricade ourselves behind the doors of our minds. Like modern Sadducess who denied the
possibility of resurrection, we scoff at a possibility that defies science and reason. “If we could but touch his wounds or see the
nails that pierced him, then we would believe.”
Thomas makes perfect sense to us.”
But
Jesus comes to Thomas through the locked doors.
Finally Thomas encounters the risen Lord in the most important moment of
his life. Jesus turns to Thomas and
says, to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Each of us comes to this moment of choice
when all seems black except that little light shining through the keyhole of a
locked door. Maybe, our moment will be
in the hospital, or maybe it will be our time of greatest moral temptation, but
our moment will come for us as it did for Thomas. Thomas extends his hand and touches the wounds
that save him. Then he bravely gives his
yes. Doubt melts away and sin is
gone. All is replaced by the great
Yes. You are my Lord and my God.
How
do we get to Yes? First, it is
important to remember that the risen Lord comes to us. It may be in the breaking of bread. It may be in the least of our brothers and
sisters. But the risen Lord comes to
each of us, through whatever locked doors or barriers we create. The risen Lord gives us the choice, the only
choice that matters. We who have said “no”
all of our lives in all of our doubts are given the tremendous gift of choice. Jesus
whispers in our hidden places, the place where we have no hope, “do not doubt
but believe.” And We extend our hands
and touch the wounds of our wounded savior.
We touch the wounds that save us
and there is no going back. We bravely
say, Yes,
Yes, You are my Lord and my God!
Of
course, there will be a sequel, a day after.
You may fall, Heck we know that all of us will fall back into doubt and
fear. There will days when faith comes easily and days when we hide behind
barricades and locked doors. But today
is called the Second Sunday of Easter because
we are given a second chance. It is called the Second Sunday of Easter,
because each of is called to be a second Jesus, a second Christ, and the
wounded healers who help each other. We
are here together because we all have doubted and suffered and Chirst has come
to us through locked doors. We are here
in Church we have hope in one another and hope to give to each other. We have been through pain and sorrow and joy
together and we have made a commitment to each other, to lift each other when
we fall. In a few moments, each of us will say as Christ said, Peace be with
you.
We
will greet each other will a holy peace.
This is our pledge to be there for each other. This is our promise that we will humbly
accept a hand from our brothers and sisters.
This is our promise that we will offer a hand. We are in this together. Let us welcome the risen Lord, let us welcome
each other.