There is a story about a group of sherpa guides who began guiding some Western mountain climbers through a pass leading to one of the formidable summits of the Himalayas. They pressed on for much of the day in steep ascent. Suddenly they abruptly halted, put down all the equipment and rested, not lying down and going to sleep, but sitting up alert, as if waiting for someone to appear. When the Westerners asked what was going on, the sherpas explained simply: "We have traveled a long way and have climbed to great heights; we are waiting for our souls to catch up with our bodies."
In some sense, that is what is going on with the disciples in this morning's Gospel. Holy Week and Easter took them from a chasm to a mountaintop. Moreover, the resurrection threw all their assumptions and ideas about the way things had to be, completely out of kilter. They had to rest and let their hearts catch up with their experience. To be sure, some of the disciples had experienced in some way that Jesus was alive, but they still huddled in fear and hid behind closed doors. I suggest it was not merely physical doors and barriers they hid behind. From the very beginning, the disciples had doubts. Some basic things have not changed for disciples of today Those who question the truth or wrestle with the meaning of the resurrection are not nearly as original or modern as their press agents make them out to be. The remarkable thing about Christian discipleship is that it not only allows and accepts doubt; it comes close to welcoming, if not proclaiming it.
Hence the magnificent surprise and triumph of the Easter story is not complete without the account of Jesus coming to the disciples through closed doors, of raising their spirits, of departing from them, giving them space to reflect, and then coming again, while Thomas is there. The risen Lord did not reproach Thomas. Jesus simply said in effect, "Thomas, I know you have all sorts of questions. That's o.k., come closer." The Gospel never records whether or not Thomas actually put his finger into Jesus' side or felt the print of the nails, but Thomas recognized that Jesus understood where he was coming from. Thomas then knew that a new resurrected life had indeed touched him. What we are given is an important notice that God respects the ambiguities and uncertainties of our humanity. The message immediately after Easter is that God does not put down honest doubt and struggle. God gives us time and space to let our hearts catch up with the rest of our life. Instead of condemning us, God invites us to come closer.
Jesus sends us out of this place, to bind up, to reconcile, to heal. We are given God's peace to pass. We are given God's love as a gift, but we are never given a divine truth to brandish as a weapon, or a divine certainty to use as a straightjacket on others. People who use such shackles are never sent as Jesus sends us.
The Gospel reminds us we don't have all the answers, and never will on this earth. We don't need them and neither did Thomas. Struggling with God's call does not disqualify us from receiving God's peace beyond all understanding. The miracle of resurrection comes even through our tears of pain, dust of disillusionment, horror of terrorism and war. In some sense the gift of Easter doesn't even stop with the Risen Lord sending us out with a peace the world cannot give. Thomas provides us blessing of a special kind providing an example of what being an Easter person of integrity and sensitivity in today's world and among other people is often all about.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.