Bill Stroop Sermon, "The Gift of Resurrection" Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year A, 30 March 2008

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Major Michael Sterrett is a seventeen-year Army veteran currently serving in Iraq. But to his six year-old daughter, Isabella, he is someone much different. The Wednesday before Easter, Michael returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq, and went directly to his daughter’s school in Tulsa. Isabella did not know her daddy was returning home. To keep the visit secret, Isabella’s kindergarten teacher, Susan West, had her class gather by the front steps to greet a “mystery reader” who was coming to the school. At the appointed hour, her daddy arrived, and when she saw him, Isabella yelled, “Daddy!” and ran into his arms. “(He’s a) good daddy,” she exclaimed.[1]

There sat ten of the eleven apostles in that room in Jerusalem; locked away from the crowds, grieving for their friend Jesus who they had seen die a few days before, completely puzzled by the story of Mary Magdalene that Jesus appeared to her in the garden. They must have felt terribly alone, their brother, friend, and leader gone from them. And as suddenly as Major Sterrett appeared to Isabella, Jesus came among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Surprisingly, none of the disciples said anything to Jesus during that encounter. Maybe the writer of the gospel wanted to convey the kind of speechlessness that comes with the unexpected appearance of someone we thought was gone. But when Thomas heard of this he was anything but silent. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” he says.

Thomas is often called the doubting disciple because of this remark, but we must remember what else John’s gospel has to say about him. Going back a little bit, we remember that prior to the last week of Jesus’ life, Jesus and the disciples had learned that Lazarus was gravely ill. Jesus announced that he would go to Bethany to be with Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. Some of the disciples sternly warned Jesus that Bethany was in unfriendly territory, and that to go there would put his life on the line. But Thomas, the faithful and loyal one, said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (Jn 11:16b). Now that is love; exactly the kind of love we mean when we talk about loving our neighbors as ourselves. Thomas loved Jesus, and was willing follow him and to lay down his life for him if necessary.

After Jesus’ death, the disciples scattered for a while, but then re-gathered, probably in the same room where they had been with Jesus for his last meal with them. All of the disciples except Thomas, that is. Because of his deep love of Jesus, I think he preferred to remain alone, still very much in grief. I imagine Thomas locked in that emotionally stunned place, where all he could feel and think about was Jesus’ death. When the disciples found him and told him that they had seen Jesus, I imagine rage bubbling up in him, mixed with sadness so great that it impeded even his ability to cry. So completely overwhelmed at the loss of his friend Jesus, he couldn’t hear; he couldn’t think; he couldn’t comprehend what they said. He was in a profound state of denial.

Missouri has been called the “show-me” state. Most of us are spiritual Missourians. We want proof – and lots of it – before we are willing to commit ourselves to anything. The disciples had had an experience of the Risen Christ; but all Thomas had was his profound grief. They had some evidence; he wanted some too.

And when the eleven disciples gathered back together a week later, Thomas got what he needed. We can speculate forever about what happened in that room the two times that Jesus appeared, and never come to the same understanding. But the proof of the experience lies in the effect the Risen Christ had on the men and women who knew him as Jesus, and who continued his work in this world. Jesus’ gift to Thomas was his unconditional love. Jesus provided what Thomas needed in order to empower Thomas with the kind of generous, self-giving love that Jesus had shown throughout his ministry.

I like St. Thomas. He was someone who loved deeply, questioned deeply, and felt the pain of loss very deeply. He was someone who was very much alive in his own feelings, and who was transformed by his own personal experience with the Risen Christ.

The four gospels give different accounts of the appearances of the resurrected Christ. To Thomas he appeared with the marks of the nails in his hands and his side. In the gospel of John, he called Mary Magdalene by name; in Matthew’s account, he first appeared to and greeted Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and then later appeared to all of the disciples as they fished and ate their catch. In Luke’s gospel, he walked and spoke to two of them, but only appeared as the resurrected Christ after he broke bread with them; later he appeared to all of the disciples. And to prove that he was not a ghost, he ate a piece of fish in their presence. And in the original version of Mark’s gospel, he did not appear to them at all.

The fact that these stories contain variable accounts of Jesus’ post-Easter appearances speak to the fact that our understanding of the resurrected Jesus is an intensely personal experience. Each of us in this room has their own very unique feelings about the living Christ, and yet we come together to share in a common life that celebrates his life, his death, and his resurrection, because we very much feel his presence in us and among us.

There is a family among us this morning that has experienced the Risen Lord for themselves, and has committed themselves to him. And they have a young baby that they wish to raise with his own understanding of the mystery, the power, and the meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They have chosen to have their child, Burke, baptized into the Christian family – into our community.

The effect of the resurrected Jesus – those who knew him and the rest of us who came after – speaks to the transforming power of God’s love. From the very beginning Baptism describes an action involving the use of water that causes a profound transformation in the persons Baptized. Baptism provides a way to participate in the very death and resurrection of Jesus. Through the symbolic use of water, and in the presence of the Christian community, Burke will emerge from the water of Baptism as a new creation, incorporated into the Body of Christ. And all of us will renew our commitment to Christ and the Church and promise to support one another along our Christian journeys.

Today we gather to bless and welcome the newly baptized, and then to share the Eucharistic celebration with them. Both sacraments vividly recall events in Jesus’ life when he demonstrated by how we can spiritually reconnect and commit ourselves to be members of the Great Being of God. These sacraments events all of us can feel the presence of the incarnate God still with us, and still very much alive. We gather together and use ordinary water, oil, bread, and wine to create things that are extra-ordinary: a community united spiritually through him, and with him, and in him; a community that sees the love of God to be so powerful that even death cannot contain it. We are empowered by that love, a love that knows no boundaries of time or space. A love that will reach toward us, and sustain us especially when we least expect it – at times when like Thomas, we feel totally disconnected from each other and from God.

Isabella Sterrett knew her father was out there in the world somewhere, but she did not know when she would see him again. And then quite unexpectedly, Daddy came home, and she felt wonderfully reconnected with him, and she could embrace him and be embraced by him. And all she wanted to do was play with him this past week during her Easter break from school. What a wonderful gift her father gave her.

What a wonderful gift Jesus left us in the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper!

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the multitude, “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know-- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying , “He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”

1 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; *
I have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord,
my good above all other.”

2 All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, *
upon those who are noble among the people.

4 Their libations of blood I will not offer, *
nor take the names of their gods upon my lips.

7 I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel; *
my heart teaches me, night after night.

8 I have set the LORD always before me; *
because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.

9 My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *
my body also shall rest in hope.

10 For you will not abandon me to the grave, *
nor let your holy one see the Pit.

11 You will show me the path of life; *
in your presence there is fullness of joy,
and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith-- being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire-- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these 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.

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Mission of Trinity Episcopal Church is to be an open and diverse Christian family dedicated to serving God and all creation by fostering spiritual growth through worship, prayer, education, service, stewardship, and celebration.

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