Sermon

Sunday, May 4, 2008

My Lord and My God

“My Lord and my God!” This was the statement of Thomas when he realized that the man in front of him was indeed Jesus, risen from the dead. He had heard from the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead, but, doubting their account, said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.” Eight days later, Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas being there this time and told Thomas not to be faithless but believing.

There is always somewhat of a let-down after Holy Week for the person who has made the entire Lenten and Holy Week journey. For the one who half-heartedly makes the journey, life isn’t much different than it was two weeks ago. But for the person who came to many of the services and who kept the fast, Renewal Week or Bright Week, as the week after Easter is called, brings with it sadness, in some ways. The added services give us added focus and direction for one week of the year. They bring a spiritual intensity. They also bring validation—it’s encouraging and motivating to see others making the same journey, with the same joys, the same struggles and the same questions. All of a sudden, those people are removed by the passing of time, and the Orthodox Christian finds himself or herself largely alone once again, pondering the question, what does this all mean?

I went to the mall yesterday to do some shopping and as I looked around at people gazing at the flower displays, carrying large cups of coffee from Starbucks, getting a head start on shopping for Mothers’ Day, and all the other things people do at the mall, I wondered how many of them look at Jesus Christ as their Lord and as their God, and how many perhaps don’t give Him a second thought. Some people look at Jesus Christ as their friend or as their pal. The relationship might be a daily one, but it is with the casualness of friends. Friends like and sometimes even love each other. Sometimes they serve each other. But friends don’t worship each other. We don’t call a friend a god, or a lord, or a savior.

Some people have a difficult time with the concept of a Savior, Lord and God—something so much greater than themselves, an unseen entity to whom we are to devote our lives, working our way to the mysterious destination of salvation. And because of this, many look at Jesus Christ as a philosophy, a moral code, or the force behind some concept of a purpose-driven life. For many, having Jesus kind of makes things fit together—the glue that holds together a sense of morality, of purpose, of conduct.

Thomas the Apostle gets a bad rap, it seems. We’ve even given him a diminutive name, “Doubting Thomas.” And yet, in examining the person of Thomas, at least for myself, I find that of all the disciples, I probably most closely relate to him. I confess, there are moments of doubt when I look around and wonder, “Why” and “How” and “so what” and why does the rest of society not seem to care, why so little encouragement. Thank God Thomas had the other disciples, to tell him the good news, and when he doubted them, they encouraged him to seek Christ himself, even made sure he was with them until they saw Christ again. I would be lying if I said I never felt like a doubting Thomas. And then, there are moments when I feel so touched by God’s power that it reduces me almost to tears. This is not just another friend or buddy, but my Lord and my God, one who I want to serve, one who I want to worship, one who makes my heart soft at the same time He fills it with love and makes it so large it wants to love many people.

We know that overall, Thomas got his act together. He took the Gospel of Christ far from where he received it, he ended up in India and founded the Christian church there. Years removed from Christ’s Ascension into heaven, he never again wavered in his faith and his trust. He didn’t preach a message of friendship or good feelings or even morality, but a message of salvation. And ultimately he gave his life for Christ as a martyr. Two thousand years later, people may think of Thomas as the one who doubted, but the church reveres him as one who was a dedicated servant of God.

Friends share joy, good times, make each other feel good and even act as a moral barometer for each other sometimes. But friends can’t provide friends with salvation. That comes from God alone. And so the message of Thomas Sunday is that like Thomas, we need to get our act together—that it is a blessing to believe without seeing, to trust completely, to move forward with joy and on the days where we don’t have joy, at least just show up. Thomas wasn’t sure about the Resurrection, but when invited by the disciples to continue to stay together, he kept showing up and his effort was indeed rewarded.

Our world sends us such mixed messages about God—Some say God is our buddy, our friend, our pal. Others believe that God is a tall man with a booming voice. And some feel that God is an essence, like the sun or like a flower but doesn’t have personhood. Many corners of the world just don’t care about God at all—it’s all about what on the resume, in the wallet and on the wall that counts. That’s where our world is going—Imagine the trust is takes to be a Christian-to believe in what you can’t see. And look at our world—we can’t believe in what is right in front of our own eyes. Our neighbors, our co-workers, our spouses, our children. How can we trust in the unseen God when we can’t trust in those right in front of our noses!

Easter takes us back to the beginning—As we heard in the Gospel of John on Easter night—in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and apart from Him was nothing made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory and to as many as received Him, He gave them the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. The Church doesn’t tell us on Easter night, have a great summer, or see you on Christmas—it says to as many as receive Christ, they have the right to become children of God, so we ought to be steadfast and strong in our faith, to that each day we grow more and more into God’s children, in His image and likeness.

Easter is not the time to set down the cross for a long rest, but to pick it up with renewed enthusiasm. Easter is a time for everything to begin anew, including our faith journey which begins with faith in the message of Jesus Christ, which begins with an acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God, and putting ourselves in a posture to be His servants, serving Him, which begins with serving our fellow man, which begins with us being honest, being people that can be trusted by our fellow man, so that as there is trust between people, there becomes love, and as there is trust between people, there becomes trust between us and God, and this is where faith, hope and love begin to take root and grow.

The journey we took last week was not just to make us feel good, but was to renew our enthusiasm, because being a Christian is tough in 2008—no they won’t kill you for doing it in the United States, not this year anyway, but they certainly won’t encourage you. And while you won’t get physically killed for being a Christian, there are plenty of people trying to kill the enthusiasm and resolve of the Christians. So, let’s work on believing in what we can see—the good in people around us, the good in God’s creation, the powerful fellowship that occurs not when two or three are gathered for fun, but when two or three are gathered in HIS name. And as we restore faith and trust in each other, we must encourage one another to have faith and to trust in God. This morning after church, we are having a community picnic, an opportunity to have fellowship with other Christians, to talk, to laugh, to make new friends, so that when the day comes that you feel like a doubting Thomas, there is a group around you that says, “We have seen the Lord! We believe” and doesn’t let you go until you too have had your faith in God restored. The word community includes the words common and communion. We have in common that we are Orthodox, we have in common that we receive Communion and we have in common that our Christian community is a subset of a largely unchristian world. In this morning’s Gospel lesson, Jesus tells His followers, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We are supposed to see ourselves in the same way, called by God to be His children, called by God to bring others to Him, called by God to make sure that this community is united in purpose—that He is our Lord and our God and that it’s all about moving one another closer to Him, so that as we heard in the Gospel lesson, that we “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that believing we may have life in His name.”