Sermon Texts

March 30, 2008

It's just not fair. Some of you know that I was given the nickname "Sparky" on my first Appalachia Service Project trip. I admit that I am prone to doing uncoordinated things, but how could I know that there was an electrical wire right behind the place where I was drilling? It wasn't really my fault that while I was doing my drilling assignment I hit that wire, set off sparks, and short-circuited the electricity coming into that home. Being nicknamed "Sparky" wasn't fair.

Poor Thomas. Being nicknamed "Doubting Thomas" isn't fair to him either. The Greek text of our Gospel doesn't use a word for "doubt." A more literal translation would be something like "Don't be faithless, but faithful" or "Don't be untrusting but trusting." Perhaps the difference is subtle, but I don't think that Jesus is criticizing Thomas for doubting or questioning what to believe. Rather Jesus is challenging Thomas not to let his questions keep him ultimately from reaffirming his faith and trust in God. Doubts and questions are a natural part of the faith process, but Jesus is urging Thomas nevertheless to recognize what his fellow disciples have been telling him - that Jesus is now risen. Did Thomas touch Jesus? We don't know. The presence of the risen Christ clearly overwhelmed him and prompted his great confession, "My Lord and my God!"

The people Peter writes to in today's Second Lesson don't have a nickname exactly, although he calls them "exiles of the diaspora," implying they are like foreigners or aliens, not living in their own homeland. "Diaspora" is a term commonly applied to Jews who were forced to live outside of their homeland. During this Easter season we will be hearing readings from this First Letter of Peter, and I plan to refer to these readings in my sermons. What might keep these people from believing? We hear references to their suffering. Peter is writing to new Christians living in what would be today north-central Turkey. We know that Romans considered Christianity an illegal religion and that Roman officials sporadically persecuted Christians in that region. Whether the recipients of Peter's letter were actually persecuted or not, we know that they were in a minority - they were like "foreigners and aliens" -- and their faith would have caused opposition and conflict with others in their communities. Their suffering might have been an excuse not to believe, but Peter suggests that it strengthened their faith. The difficulties they faced confirmed the genuineness of their faith.

Are we so different? Perhaps we are like Thomas, whose questioning leads to the boundary between faith and unfaith, between being trusting or untrusting. Did you see the commentary by Garrison Keillor in the Tribune the Wednesday of Holy Week? On "A Prairie Home Companion" you get the impression that he is Lutheran; his comments about Pastor Ingqvist at Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church show a lot of familiarity with the Lutheran liturgy and church year. But in his article he confesses that this Holy Week and Easter he faced it all with much doubt and skepticism. He doesn't doubt God's existence; he doubts that God really cares about him. He asks the question, "Do we really believe in the story of Holy Week and Easter, or do we just like to hang out with nice people and listen to organ music?" Perhaps at one time or another we have shared similar thoughts and feelings.

Are we so different from the people Peter wrote to? We don't suffer from persecution, and we're not some foreign minority in our own country, but more and more our country's culture is secular and suspicious of, if not hostile to, religious faith. Is that changing? I thought it might be, since religious faith has been discussed more openly than in previous years by the presidential candidates of both parties, but the whole flap over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has demonstrated to me a lack of willingness or ability to understand the complexities of someone's theological position, even if you might disagree with some particular statements. So, even we may suffer because of our faith - "suffer" in the sense that others may distance themselves from us, or even ridicule us, because of their opposition to religious belief. As Peter suggested that their suffering testified to the genuineness of their faith, so perhaps whatever opposition or difficulty we encounter may show the genuineness of our faith - a faith that isn't innocuous or inoffensive but real faith that challenges those who oppose it.

How do we move with Thomas from being faithless to faithful? How do we move with the people Peter wrote to from alien minority to God's own people, filled with genuine faith and a living hope?

I could rehearse the reasons for believing in Jesus' resurrection: the testimony of the Gospels and the other New Testament writings, the transformation of the disciples from frightened followers to mighty missionaries, the continued existence and growth of the Christian Church.

I could do that but that's not what our Lessons do. In the Gospel, using imagery recalling God's creation in Genesis, we are told that Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. Thomas responds in faith after an encounter with the risen Christ. Notice that both appearances in today's Gospel occur on a Sunday, suggesting to some that John is intentionally referring to the time of Christian worship. Peter echoes these words by talking about God giving them a new birth, using words like this throughout his letter that suggest a reference to Baptism.

Where do we encounter the risen Christ? Where does the creative power of the Spirit touch our hearts and minds? Yes, in our Baptism, and therefore during the Easter season we begin our worship with thanksgiving for our Baptism where we have been sealed by the Spirit forever. Yes, in our worship together, where we hear God's Word speak to us and where our music and prayer lifts our spirits. Yes, in Communion, where Jesus promises to be present with us and touch us with his new life of love and forgiveness.

And at least one more place. Jesus tells the disciples, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." We encounter the reality of the risen Christ as we express Christian love to one another and to others. As I hear how people on our prayer list have felt supported by our prayers, as I have seen people in the hospital encouraged by being wrapped in our prayer shawls, I believe I have witnessed encounters with the healing power and new life of our risen Lord.

Peter says that God has given us a new birth into a living hope. I see that living hope, not as some idle wish, but as an underlying foundation for our lives - strong enough to handle questions and doubts - encouraging enough to face suffering and difficulty - and nourished by our life together of worship and prayer and mutual love that offers real encounters with the risen Christ. Amen.