20^th April 2015

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 12 April 2015

Lessons - Psalm 16:5-11; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

     But Thomas said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails

     and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand in his side, I

     will not believe.' (v25) Then he said, 'My Lord and my God.' (v28)

Today's Gospel reading reminds us that hope becomes 'real' only when we face the awful power of evil! 

Doubting Thomases are not well liked. They challenge popular wisdom, unsettle accepted standards and undermine public confidence. They are negative, gloomy and backward looking. We prefer people who are positive about the future, know where they are heading and look on the bright side of life. We may be uncertain about many things and wonder whether life has meaning - but we do not like cynics! 

Committed atheists are likely to understand doubting Thomas better than positive thinkers. They know what it is to seriously doubt God. The first part of the story should appeal to them. But their scepticism stops them joining Thomas in his adoration of Jesus: 'My Lord and my God.' They do not see that it is a story of hope for all who have experienced severe doubt because of the absence of God. 

When every door seems 'closed' - as it was for the disciples after the crucifixion (vv 19,26) - and we are deeply sceptical about the endurance of love and goodness, the story of doubting Thomas who comes to faith is a source of hope. 

Hope is not the same as wishful thinking. It is not easily won. It comes unexpectedly and only after reality is faced. Unlike some sceptics, who could not care less about God and doubt everything except themselves, Thomas suffered doubt because he believed that God's goodness and mercy had been supremely displayed in the remarkable life and ministry of Christ. 

Thomas was one of the twelve disciples called by Jesus to share in God's mission to preach, to heal and to forgive (v23). Because his high hopes had been dashed, he cannot easily accept improbable reports of a crucified man being restored to life. In view of the depth of Christ's love for people in which he had glimpsed the very being of God, Thomas thinks that talk of resurrection is nonsense. He refuses to be consoled by glib or pious answers.

That is why he issues a fearsome challenge to the other disciples - and to God. 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.'

(20:25) Prove to me that God has not been overwhelmed by evil! Show me that God's goodness and mercy, embodied in Jesus, has defeated the dread powers of sin and death. 

All of us can identify with Thomas' scepticism. In a world where people suffer terribly because of the effects of evil and death - a world in which Jesus was crucified - it is very hard to believe in the enduring goodness of God. In such a world, as Thomas knew, it is foolish to believe in Jesus' resurrection. He does not shrink from drawing the logical conclusion from the horror of crucifixion. Hope is dead! 

In his scepticism, however, he is not completely 'closed' to the possibility that God has defeated evil. Instead of resigning himself to fate, Thomas demands proof of the crucified One's presence. He reasons that, if God has destroyed the powers that crucified Jesus, it could be known only by seeing the marks of crucifixion. Any other kind of 'presence' - say a ghostly vision - would be too unearthly. It would not take seriously the power of evil which had ended the life of the One in whom God's power over evil in all its forms had been so clearly demonstrated. 'Unless I see ... I shall not believe.'

There is much to admire in Thomas, not least because, in doubting the resurrection, he risks becoming a hardened cynic. He does not do what many of us do: push doubts to one side and just get on with life. He demands answers.

If there had been no answer to his ultimatum, he would have been justified in turning his back on God. If Jesus were only a courageous moral teacher who came to an abrupt and tragic end, there would be no hope. Evil would have defeated good - and God!  

But evil does not win and his cynicism is overcome. He is so overwhelmed by the unexpected presence of the crucified Jesus that he exclaims, 'My Lord and my God!' (20:28) He does not call Jesus 'teacher', 'friend' or 'prophet'. He does not say that Jesus' 'teaching lives on' or that 'the human spirit triumphs over adversity'. No! In the presence of the Risen Christ Thomas exclaims 'My Lord and my God!' He credits Jesus' resurrection to the Creator and Ruler of the universe. 

Such an event defies easy comprehension. It is the reversal of everything that we have come to expect in life. This is splendidly expressed in Together in Song 649. It is gritty, earthy and sensual. It is not pious. It does not spiritualise what happened. It portrays Jesus' humanness, the horror of the cross, the grimness of burial. It tracks the incredible change in Thomas from scepticism to faith. And it speaks to those of us referred to in 20:30,31 and

1 Peter 1:8 who, unlike Thomas, have not seen the crucified marks of the Risen Lord. 

We all need Thomas' bracing sense of realism! If we are to be a people of hope, we must face the awfulness of evil. When we see things, not in the light of our 'small world of fact', but in the light of the large fact of the resurrection of Jesus, the world is seen in a completely different light. In Christ crucified-and-risen, God radiates hope in the midst of darkness, faith in the midst of doubt, love in the midst of hatred. The world looks different when we see things in the light of the 'large fact' of the resurrection of the crucified Jesus. 

The resurrection of Jesus is an astonishing event - the reversal of all that we have come to expect in life. Thomas reminds us that we must face the horror of the cross to arrive at hope. When we see the resurrection in the light of the crucifixion, then, too, we will be able to stammer, 'My Lord and my God'. Then, and only then, we will be empowered to be a community of hope in a world where sin, evil and death cause so many people to doubt the splendour of the resurrection. 

Those of us who still have doubts should ask whether it is 'inconceivable' that the God who has created us to live lives that are full of good things should let bad things - like inhuman behaviour, affliction and death - ultimately stand in the way of his healing love? In view of Jesus' remarkable ministry, would not it really be 'unbelievable' if such terrible things meant the end of everything - the end of mercy for those who have done wrong, friendship between enemies and justice for innocent sufferers? Such an end would not make any sense. 

Therefore when we do have serious doubts about the resurrection of the crucified Lord, we should turn to Thomas. In facing the horror of Jesus' death and the terrible experience of God's absence, his 'small world of fact', like ours, is no match for this 'large and unexpected act' of grace.

     Thus, May we, O God, by grace believe

     and thus the risen Christ receive,

     whose raw, imprinted palms reached out

     and beckoned Thomas from his doubt.   (Together in Song 649, verse 4)

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Rev Dr Max Champion is Minister in St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia.

Dr Champion is a member of the Council of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.