Jesus' reply to Thomas is not a rebuke, but an acknowledgment
of his roller coaster emotions. Jesus doesn't say, "Now, now, it doesn't
hurt anymore; just put a brave smile on your face and everything will be all right."
Rather Jesus says, "Reach out. Grab tightly my scarred hands, hold on, and
follow me."
I would have preferred not to read any of the assigned lessons
today the week right after Easter. The first lesson reflects opposition to the
new gospel; the second reflects a time of persecution and sense of abandonment,
and the Gospel reflects Thomas' anguish. I'm reminded of the Burger King commercial
with the obnoxious oven mitt that wines, "When will it ever end?" Yet
there is a lesson there, in that the harried employees keep on serving and tell
the mitt to get back to work. In reading this particular Gospel passage so soon
after the glow of Easter morning, we are reminded that the road from Palm Sunday
to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to Jesus' appearances among the disciples is all
part of an inseparable story.
The liturgy over the past two weeks has indeed taken us on
a roller coaster ride. In the same way, the church has taken a roller coaster
ride over the last few decades. The surrounding culture has gone from a supporter
of Christianity to a serious competitor of our hearts and minds as well as a suspicious
critic. The Episcopal Church like most other branches of the church has experienced
controversy that does not promise to end in our lifetimes.
When we are candid about it, all our personal lives have changed
dramatically during these years ending the twentieth century and beginning the
21st. We may have gone from childhood to adulthood, from one type of relationship
to another, from being a parent to being an empty nester, or from full time employment
to part time or retirement, or assuming good health to struggling with infirmities,
all the while our culture has been in dramatic transformation, too. These are
all points of stress, anxiety, and death of one sort or another.
However, at the same time there are also points where the living
Christ says "Take hold of me, and I will lead you through unrelenting dangers
and paralyzing anxiety, into new births". That is why Thomas may very well
be the most appropriate patron saint of the Easter season. For Thomas reminds
us that a large part of discipleship is showing up where people need us, not running
away or denying the real the challenges ahead. Thomas shows us to hold on to the
risen Christ for dear life.
Easter is for people who have to continue to work hard to figure
things out; who struggle to do the tasks which threaten to overwhelm them; who
have more difficult questions than pat answers. Easter is for people who face
death; who are apprehensive, and who live in real life. There is no genuine Easter
without the signs of the scars of Good Friday. Long-term discipleship is never
an easy sweet existence without significant sacrifice.
