Walk the Walk

Walk the Walk (sermon: John 20:19-31)

 St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Low Sunday, May 1^st, 2011

It’s amazing to me how people differ in their willingness to believe certain things, all the way from the super gullible to the “ I won’t believe it until I see it and even then I’m not sure” kind of attitude.  So, there are those on the gullible end of the spectrum who seem to only get their facts from reading the headlines of the pulp magazines that you pass on the check-out line at the super market.  Those publications can be good entertainment but tend to fall into the category of fiction rather than fact.  The same could be said of those who form their political opinions by watching only those cable channels that are far right wing or far left, neither of which are known for their dedication to the truth.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the super doubters.  They were the people who believed the earth was flat even when Magellan sailed around it.  In our modern times, they are the people who don’t believe Neil Armstrong ever landed on the moon.

In the middle are the scientific minded, who listen to the theories and hypotheses, but want to see them tested before committing to them. "Show me the evidence.  Where is the data?" they say.

Where do the Apostles and disciples fall on this spectrum in relation to Jesus’ resurrection?  I don’t think any of them could be accused of being super gullible.  None of them seem to have been expecting Him to rise from the dead, in spite of how many times He told them it would happen.  They were amazed and maybe terrified when the women brought the word of the empty tomb and the appearance of Jesus to them.  That amazement (call it shock) didn’t disappear when He appeared directly to them.  That’s why He tried to calm them down each time by saying “Peace be with you.”  He did things like eat with them, cook for them, even having them touch Him, so that they gradually came to realize He had risen from the dead and entered into a new kind of life.  So, they certainly weren’t gullible; cautious is a better word.

Now Thomas is a special case.   He is your scientific type.  Show me the evidence before I believe.  I have to see the marks of the nails and touch them with my fingers and put my hand into His side.  He got his chance to see and touch the wounds.  Then and only then did he believe, but that faith then came quickly and it went deeply. “My Lord and my God,” he said.

Actually, I don’t blame them or him.  This was an astounding thing.  We grew up with the belief in the resurrection.  Most of us have been reciting the Nicene Creed since we were children.  “on the third day He rose from the dead,” we have repeated by rote.  We have not experienced Jesus as a human being the way the Apostles did.  I dare say many of us just take for granted that He rose from the dead.  It is possible to give an intellectual assent to things like that and never probe their meaning.  Sure, I’m a Christian.  I believe in the divinity of Christ and that He rose from the dead.  That’s being a nominal Christian.  It’s easy. 

Let me ask you this.  Is that all that faith means?  Just saying the Nicene Creed.  It meant a lot more to the Apostles.  Jesus expected a lot more from them as He does from us.   What did He say after he calmed them down?  As the father has sent me, so I send you.  He didn’t just send the apostles, He sends us.  What does that mean?  At the very least it means keeping the commandments, all 12.  Trying to show love to everyone, especially those we don’t like. 

It isn’t enough to talk the talk.  We have to walk the walk.  Doubting Thomas is a good example.  Yes, he doubted until he was convinced and then he went all the way.  I learned something about Thomas this week.  I had a conversation with a store manager who is a Chaldean Christian.  He told me that the Patriarch Abraham came from Chaldea, which is in modern day Iraq.  This I knew.  He also told me his church worshipped in a version of Aramaic which Jesus spoke.  This I also knew.   I didn’t know who brought Christianity to Chaldea.  It was doubting Thomas.  This means he carried the Gospel all the way across the middle east to India.  Because when the Portugese explorers in the 16^th century sailed to India and settled in Goa, thinking they were bringing Christianity to these heathen people, they discovered Christians already there.  They called themselves Thomas Christians.  Doubting Thomas had brought the Word to them as well, 1500 years before.  Now that’s what I call walking the walk. 

So what are we waiting for?  Does he have to appear to each and every one of us and let us touch his wounds before we catch fire and start believing, which means walking the walk.  We don’t have to go to Iraq or to Goa.  There is plenty of Christianizing to do in Livingston County.  It doesn’t only mean inviting people to church, although that’s not a bad idea.  It certainly means setting the example of a moral and caring life.

My Name Is Mary

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

My Name is Mary, Good Friday, Apr. 22, 2011

My name is Mary.  I am his mother.  You call this Good Friday.  I call it Bad Friday.  This is the day they killed him.  I was there.  So many others had left. 

I never refused God anything He asked.  When the angel came with his announcement I said yes without hesitating.  And my life was never the same again.  Child-bearing and child-rearing will do that to a woman.  There was tremendous joy and tremendous mystery and tremendous fear.  People in power were out to kill Him from the beginning.

Oh, I had plenty of warnings.  Gabriel told me.  Elizabeth and young John in her womb lifted my soul.   The shepherds and those astrologers from Persia all brought messages.  Old Simeon in the temple told me a sword would pierce my soul.

Mostly, though, we had a normal family life.  He didn’t call attention to himself in our hometown.  There was only that time when he really frightened us by staying in Jerusalem in the temple.

And He let us know He didn’t totally belong to us.

Like I said, I never refused God anything.  But have I had regrets?  I certainly did that first Bad Friday when I saw what it came to.  One could ask “Is this what it means to be favored by God?”

It all made sense when He rose from the dead.  I then realized more fully how God uses apparent defeat to bring about victory, how He uses us small, insignificant ones to build his kingdom and to confound the powerful.

My Son rose to glory, but He did not leave me alone.  He left me in the care of the other John, the beloved one.   His death resulted in the birth of a huge new family.  Brotherhood with Him means you are all my daughters and sons.        

This is a test.

This initial posting reminds me of the first and only time I pitched in a high school baseball game.  Luckily, it was a practice game with the other local highschool.  Our coach was trying a bunch of us out to see who could pitch.  I failed because I couldn't hit the strike zone and walked a couple of runs in.  The opposing batters, most of whom were my friends,  finally took pity and started swinging at balls outside the strike zone just so we could get out of the inning.  I hope my aim for this blog is a little better and that I do occasionally hit the strike zone.

My baseball career went on from there.  Coach put me at third base, where I did okay fielding ground balls and came within range of the first baseman on throws.  The throws were weak, however, so I ended up in left field, the traditional home of weak arms.  On a happier note, later that year I hit a massive home run and ended up batting clean-up for the rest of my short career.  I never hit another extra base hit.  So, with this blog I'll settle for base hits and not go for the fences.  John Jawing