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This week we are greeted once again with the news about poor Thomas.

"It's All About Our Doubts"     Jack Keating          John 20: 19-31

Cicero United Methodist Church          March 30, 2008.

   This week we are greeted once again with the news about poor Thomas.  It happens every Second Sunday of Easter in our lectionary and, therefore, every year we hear again about "Doubting Thomas"; poor old Thomas.  This poor guy has caught grief for some 2000 years and my guess is that he will continue to catch grief for the next 2000 years or until the Lord returns.  And to be honest folks, I feel kind of sorry for the poor guy.  Our tradition has singled him out as having an inferior faith because he dared to express his doubt about the resurrection.  He made his reservations known out loud.  And because of that he has the dubious distinction of being the "poster child" for skepticism.  But you know what is even worse for old Thomas is that most people know what a "Doubting Thomas" is... even if they have never read the scripture account!  His name is simply interchangeable with and forever linked with doubt.  All you have to do is pick up Webster's Dictionary and there it is.  Actually, it's in two places: under "d" for doubt and under "t" for Thomas.  According to Webster, the definition of a "doubting Thomas" is a habitually doubtful person.  Habitually?!  Why we don't know a lot about Thomas, but the only time - the only time - we see his doubtful side is in this morning's scripture.  So, maybe ‘habitually' is overstating the case just a little bit.

   But in any case, we are left with a man who it appears has a crack in his wall of faith through which a little doubt is oozing out.  And can you really blame him?  The story he is asked to accept is pretty fantastic.  Keep in mind here folks that he's hearing about the resurrection second hand.  The other disciples had the advantage of seeing Jesus in person just a few days before.  So, for Thomas, not having had the encounter with the risen Lord, this tale told by the delirious disciples is pretty unbelievable.  Even for those of us who know the rest of the story, this seems pretty unreal.  It's not every day that we hear about folks rising from the dead.  In fact, I might go out a bit on a limb here and suggest that it's a fairly rare event.

   So, Thomas, having heard the news that the disciples saw Jesus alive, was understandably skeptical.   Let's try to put ourselves in Thomas' shoes here for a minute.  Just like Thomas pretend that you have never heard about the story of Jesus resurrection.  And one day, after attending the funeral for a friend, someone comes up to you and says excitedly, "You'll never guess who I saw in Wal-mart today.  Boy, she looks great!  Heck, to look at her, you'd never guess that she died last week."

   Now, think how you would react.  I think my first concern would be for the person's emotional well-being.  My second thought might be that whoever the friend saw bears a striking resemblance to my deceased friend.  The idea that someone could be walking around after having died the previous week is so far beyond the realm of possibility that I wouldn't even entertain the thought of it.  And my guess is that not many of you would either.  And yet, somehow we expect Thomas to accept this news in a matter-of-fact way; like it was no surprise at all. 

   For 2000 years Thomas has become the scapegoat for the church which sometimes says that doubt is wrong; or that it is less faithful to need a sign, or a touch, or a vision, or a personal encounter.  We get the impression that we are not allowed to ask the hard questions without being labeled a cynic, or a skeptic, or a non-believer.  Since when are questions bad?  Since when is it wrong to admit that we don't understand everything?  Since when is it wrong to ask God to clarify something for us?  Read the account of Job, or the Psalms.  Both are filled with uncertainties, complaints, and questions of God.  Even Jesus, while hanging on the cross cried out to God, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Thomas is just one of a long line of faithful people, who have raised their voices to ask the hard, yet faithful, questions. 

   Well folks, I think faith lies in conversation.  What I'm saying is that faith is really what prompts the conversation. 

   As a pastor there is this preconceived notion that we have all the answers to life's great questions.  But like anyone else I have the same kind of questions you do.  In fact, I have this famous list of questions I intend to ask God about when I reach the gates of heaven.  And it seems to me that faith is when we are willing to embrace the doubts, ask questions, and face the answers.   Faith is believing in something beyond our ability to comprehend, but none-the-less trying to do just that.

   Maybe this story about Thomas is really a story about the difficulty of faith - how hard it sometimes is to believe.  Faith takes work, because it puts us in uncomfortable places and begs us to ask tough questions.  When I was a new Christian, years ago, my faith existed in a "black and white" world.  Things were either right or wrong.  There was no other choice to the dilemmas I faced.  But the longer God and I have been together on this journey of my faith, the more God keeps showing me that there's a lot of gray in my world.  And it's during these struggles in the "gray" times, that my faith seems to grow the most.  Thomas' story reminds me that very little is cut and dried about the Christian faith.  It cannot be reduced to a mere set of rules, where everything fits; everything makes sense, where all we have to do is connect the dots.  That's what the Pharisees tried to do.  They tried to explain everything in a formula; to make it so that all of life could be answered by a set of rules.  And, if it didn't fit within that set of rules... they rejected it a heresy or blasphemy.  And consequently, their hearts were closed to the renewing of Christ simply because he didn't meet their criteria.  Their unwillingness to look "outside the box" blinded them to the miracle of Jesus Christ who stood in the presence. 

   God comes in places where we sometimes least expect it, showing us that "possibility" has nothing to do with our ability to explain it.  Sometimes our faith asks us to look outside the box; to color outside the lines and believe some things that the rest of the world says are ridiculous. 

   But, like Thomas, faith begins with an encounter.  And it has to begin with an encounter, because without it, we are often unable to believe.  Without an encounter with God, the resurrection seems as silly as seeing Elvis in Wegmans buying peanut butter or jelly doughnuts!  It is ridiculous.  But an encounter with the risen Christ changes all of that.  Suddenly the absurd becomes a new reality, and rules which once governed our believing - and our disbelieving - are blurred.  And even the lines between life and death, which once seemed so absolute, are crossed.

   Make no mistake about it this is a story of doubt, but it also a story about God's ability to change that doubt into faith - not erase the doubt, but overcome it with an irresistible encounter with the "impossible".  Faith is that crazy thing that allows us to believe when everything else says, "impossible."  This story is important because when we see the possible through our own cloudy, disbelieving eyes, we suddenly can see an entire world of possibility far beyond what skepticism would allow.   God has overcome the grave, and now God overcomes even those things that lead to our death - things like disbelief, fear, hatred, and narrowness. 

   And even though this story is a story of doubt, it is the miracle of faith that we are ultimately left with.  Minds are opened, hearts swell with the words, "My Lord and My God!"  All because of a personal touch and a vision of our Lord.  Without it, we just continue to wallow around town in our own doubt, or remain a hostage by the world's rules that cling to the impossibilities of our own lives.     

   I began this sermon by sticking up for poor, old Thomas.  And I think his reputation needs a little polishing.  He really wasn't such a bad guy after all.  In fact, he was no different than the other disciples; he was just a week late!  The other disciples also needed a personal encounter with the risen Jesus... JUST AS MUCH AS THOMAS DID.  Read the story again and I think you will see that all of them reacted with fear and disbelief at first.

   Faith and understanding began only after Jesus made himself personally known to each of them.  And isn't it exactly the same for us?  We remain solidly happy in our own skepticism until the Lord breaks through the locked doors of our own hearts.  The miraculous news in all of this is that God searches and finds us even when we don't want to be found.  Even when we lock ourselves away from the world; even when we try to keep out the good news, Jesus breaks through that door.

   The stone door that barred the tomb couldn't restrain him.  He had conquered death and he was going to make it known to his friends and to the world.  And no flimsy wooden door could stop him from coming into the disciples' room.  And when they saw him they rejoiced.  They cried out in faith.  And for the rest of us as well, the Lord appears breathing his Spirit into out hearts and literally blowing away the mountain of our own doubt. 

   We all need a personal encounter with the Lord before we can declare, "my Lord and my God."  A second hand Jesus will just never do.  We need God to break into our locked hearts and to give us that encounter.

   I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have all been "Doubting Thomases" at some point in our lives.   But it is into our doubting and our searching hearts that Jesus breaks in and reveals himself to us.  God knows our need for a first-hand encounter.  That is why God came to us in the person of Jesus - took on flesh so that we could see him, touch him, hear him, and be touched by him.  And he died for all of us - died on a cross and was raised up for all to see.  We have been given a vision of God's sacrificial love in the person of Jesus.  And we are touched by God's Holy Spirit, who breaks through and breathes life into our faithless and doubting hearts, causing us to join Thomas in his cry, "My Lord and My God."

   The end of the scripture reading this morning declares, "These things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."   After the Lord breaks into our hearts and we have declared "My Lord and My God," there is a life that proceeds from that point.  God calls us out of our locked rooms into the world.  When we declare our faith we can no longer sequester ourselves in the safety of silence and detachment.  We are called to show our faith for the sake of others.  So, when others hear our testimony, may they not simply hear words, but may they see Jesus alive in our hearts and lives.  The ways we love each other; the ways we respond to those in need; the ways we are responsible with all that God has entrusted to our care, will be visible evidence of Jesus' presence in our lives.

   Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water.  He stumbled on an old shack - a ramshackled, windowless, roofless, weather-beaten old shack.  He looked around the place and found nothing but a little shade from the heat of the desert sun.  As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away - an old, rusty, water pump.  He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down.  Nothing came out.

   Disappointed he staggered back and noticed an old jug off to the side.  He looked at it, wiping away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, "You have to prime the pump with all the water in this jug, my friend.  P.S.: Be sure to refill the jug again before you leave."

   He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, it was almost full of water!  Suddenly he was faced with a decision.  If he drank the water, he could live.  But if he poured all the water in the old, rusty pump, maybe it would yield cool, fresh water from down deep in the well, all the water he wanted.

   He studied the possibility of both options.  What should he do, pour it into the old pump and take a chance on fresh, cool water or drink what was in the jug and ignore its message?  Should he waste all the water on the hopes of those flimsy instructions written, no telling how long ago?

   Reluctantly he poured all the water into the pump.  Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump, squeak, squeak, squeak.  Still nothing came out!  Squeak, squeak, squeak.  A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed!  To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump.  Eagerly he filled the jug and drank from it.  He filled it another time and drank its refreshing contents. 

   The he filled the jug for the next traveler.  He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: "Believe me, it really works.  You have to give it all away before you can get anything back."    

  Others will come to faith, not by what we say, but by the way we live God's love.  Like the man in the desert, you have to sometimes invest everything you have before you see any results.  So be a vision of Christ for someone today.  Let each of us try to help someone have a first-hand encounter with the living Christ in the way that we open our hearts to others.    Amen.