A Faith That Touches, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO, by Rev Steven R Mitchell

A Faith That Touches
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 4/15/2012

Have you ever thought about “how you are known” or “how you are recognized” beyond your given name? All fifty states of these United States has a state name, yet if I said, “the evergreen state”, most people would relate that to Washington state, if I said, “big sky country”, people would immediately assume I am speaking about Montana. When I tell people that I’m a “Jayhawker”, you know that I come from Kansas. Missouri is often referred to as the “show me state.”
I have come to believe that the apostle Thomas must have come from Missouri. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Come on guys, do you really think I’m so naive as to believe what you are telling me? Nobody comes back from the dead. Or do they?
In the movie, Young Frankenstein, the grandson of Baron Von Frankenstein, young Fredrick Fronkenstein, (he didn’t wish to be associated with his crazed grandfather) takes up the family business of trying to create life from dead tissue. So with the help of his assistant Igor, they find a freshly executed criminal and prepare the body for a transplant of the brain of deceased Hans Delbrook, a brilliant scientist. As Igor attempts to steal this brain for his employer, lightening flashes, scaring Igor so much he drops the jar which contains the brain. Igor quickly grabs the closest jar, which contains another brain and takes it to the young Fronkenstein, at which time the Dr transplants this brain into the body of a seven foot corpse. After the Dr. completes his experiment and brings the body back to life, the new creation is determined to have a flawed brain, at which point Igor admits to not bringing professor Hans Delbrook’s brain, but rather the brain named “Abby Normal.”
In this morning’s Gospel reading we find a continuation of the Easter Sunday story of Jesus being alive after he was determined to be dead and buried. In the first part of this chapter, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, she runs to the disciples and tells them that she has seen and talked with Jesus. They do not believe her.
Our reading this morning takes up on the evening that Mary shared this unbelievable news. The disciples instead of running out to the tomb to check out her story sit behind locked doors, in hiding, not believing Jesus has risen from the dead. Then mysteriously, Jesus appears among those safely behind locked doors and bringing belief to those present. When Thomas shows up, they like Mary, tell Thomas that Jesus is alive. Thomas like the disciples does not believe their story and goes so far in his resistance to say that before he will believe this outlandish story, he would have to personally touch the wounds that Jesus had from his crucifixion. A week later, as scripture reads, Thomas was with the rest of the disciples, still behind locked doors and Jesus appears to them all again, specifically singling out Thomas, who immediately exclaims, “My lord and my God!” Now all of the disciples have had the opportunity to see Jesus post resurrection.
We in the church love Thomas. He is the incredulous nonbeliever who hides inside every believing Christian – the questioner in us that resists easy answers to hard questions of faith, who always wants a little more proof. Feasting on the Word, yr B, Vol. 2, pg 400 Serene Jones As Western Christians, who live in a world that demands empirical evidence in order to prove an event or substantiate a belief, stories like this still come up short in proving a fact that Jesus physically raised from the dead. But if we look to this story as one that shares the unique character of resurrection faith and its relationship to doubt, then we can start to relate what this story can mean to us personally.
We have a group of people who are riddled between guilt, fear, and doubt as they hid for their lives behind closed doors. Guilt for deserting Jesus in his greatest hour of need, fear that they too might be killed as followers of a man who had been pronounced a criminal against the state and the religious community, and doubt about the future of the movement that Jesus had been teaching, a movement about a world lived out through love.
Then Jesus shows up, somehow gaining passage through closed, locked doors. These men do not recognize Jesus until Jesus speaks to them saying, “Peace be with you”. After showing them his wounds, Jesus once again says, “Peace be with you. As God has sent me, so I send you.” Then Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. A week passes by, a second time Jesus, passes through closed doors and this time goes up to Thomas and offers Thomas the proof that is needed before Thomas can believe.
The interesting thing is that the disciples, after encountering Jesus a week earlier and being given the gift of the Holy Spirit, still were behind closed doors. They still didn’t recognize Jesus on the second visit. When Jesus went specifically to Thomas, it is Thomas who says, “My Lord and my God!” We did not hear this proclamation from the disciples.
How often are we like the disciples or Thomas in particular, demanding proof that Jesus is alive and not recognizing the presence of Jesus when Jesus is right in front of us?
Referring back to the movie Young Frankenstein, there is a scene in which the young Dr, finally accepts his birthright and identifies himself no longer a Fronkenstein, but rather a Frankenstein. With this claim to his blood line, he then goes to the creature that he has created, the creature that has become known as the “monster” and proclaims to the creature that he is not unloved, unwanted, or evil as the world labeled him, but rather is worthy of love and is accepted and loved by the one who created him. Then they learn a song and dance routine to prove to the world just how lovable the monster can be. Yet, this wasn’t enough; there was no transference of what the creator possessed to that which was created. But finally, in a final act of desperation, the Dr hooks himself and the monster together through a machine and performs transference of a part of the Dr to the creature and vice versa, thereby allowing a part of the Dr to stabilize and normalize the creature into a whole human being.
This is what the Easter story is saying to us through the telling by John of Jesus coming to his disciples behind closed doors that are locked. It is not a story about these men going out looking for Jesus. Rather, it is the story of Jesus again and again, seeking out his flock, those who are filled with guilt, with fear, or doubt, yearning for him that Jesus will come to, over and over to help give strength, direction, and the ability to move beyond the perils of daily living. This story about Jesus’ resurrection cannot be based on empirical evidence, but rather through experiential encounters. It is Jesus who refuses to let heart’s hiding behind the dead bolts of guilt, or fear, or doubt to block the movement of God’s love toward those one who lack faith. It is a story about Jesus coming again and again to those of us who are scared and confused in a world which is full of hate and death. It is a story of a Jesus who offers himself to those who long to see him. It is our story of faith in the one who comes through locked doors touching anyone who is yearning for the peace that comes through pure love. Amen