THOMAS OUR TWIN

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON APRIL 15, 2007

John 20:28 "Thomas answered him: 'My Lord and my God.'

Recently I received one of those internet jokes. "It was with sadness that we record the death of Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote the Hokey Pokey. He died peacefully aged 83. It was only traumatic for his family when they tried to get him into the coffin. They put his left leg in then put the left leg out. Then they put his right leg in…..". And things went down hill from there!

I couldn't resist passing this on to my internet friends, with a note: "Some of you maybe too young to understand this." Back came the reply: "I wish I was too young to understand!"

I wonder if that was Thomas' problem? That he was too young to understand that Jesus had risen from the dead? The ten apostles tried to convince him – but he said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my finger in his side." It is the sort of response a skeptical young man would make.

On another occasion Thomas also said to Jesus: "Lord, we don't know where you going, how can we know the way". Maybe Thomas was just too young to want to understand? Of course we don't know how old he was. All we know is that he was a twin. "Thomas called the twin", the scripture says. A twin to whom? In a way Thomas is a twin to each one of us. Just like Thomas, we have moments of doubt. Not necessarily about God - but sometimes about his purposes. And why he lets his creatures muck up this world he created. About why he doesn't intervene. Our doubts go from why? to what for?

Many of us have had a crisis in which we wonder if God really cares for us. We have doubts about the world we live in, about our place in it, about where our society is heading, about our leaders - and also about ourselves. There is nothing wrong with having doubts - for doubt leads to a stronger faith. Certainly we should have doubts about our priorities, our life-styles, and about how we live as followers of Jesus.

But doubt must not be a permanent condition. Thomas started as "Doubting Thomas." But he did move on. "My Lord and my God", he said. In that regard as Thomas moved on, so he must be our twin. And after Thomas made his wonderful response of faith Jesus responded: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Which comes back to you and me. Two thousand years after Easter we are those who have not seen, yet believe.

In the first reading we see St Peter and the apostles - those who saw and believed - bravely proclaiming their faith in the risen Lord. We who have not seen, yet believe, are their descendants.

St. Peter preached fervently about the Risen Lord from his own experience. Not just seeing and touching the Lord, but his transformation. From he who betrayed Jesus he became the leader of the church. But it was an apostle who did not see or touch the risen Lord who wrote so convincingly about the Resurrection - St. Paul.

In 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul says that the Resurrection of Christ is the basis and foundation of our faith. There is no room for doubt there. St. Paul is not "doubting Paul".

And even if we do not doubt the resurrection there are plenty of people who do. Doubts about the physical resurrection of Jesus are even raised by some Christians. To some the idea of God becoming human, suffering, dying and then rising from the dead is difficult. Some people see it as neither practical nor logical. They compare the resurrection to myths of dying and rising associated with ancient religions, like Egyptian. Mythology is full of gods who die and rise again. Usually in spring (for obvious reasons). The cult of fertility gods is as ancient as the world itself. Indeed our own personal life experiences contain images of death and resurrection.

In the late 20^th Century it was common to hear Easter declared as pure myth invented to explain the transformation of the apostles. It is not about the resurrection of Jesus, but about the effect of the risen Christ on those who followed him. Could this be all Easter is about? Just about how we feel? Is Easter only an affirmation of the myth of dying and rising again like spring time? Is talk of resurrection experience just a new age idea to sweeten the bitter pill of life - or more to the point - of death? That is hardly a satisfying basis of faith for me.

As I said last Sunday, the Resurrection really happened because it is for this life now, as well the next.

I want to be among those who have not seen and yet believe. And how does this happen?

It happens when we who have not seen gather as a community, as those who are the descendants of the apostles:

+ Through our life as a community of faith.

+ Through our wonderful liturgies that we celebrate in this building.

+ And especially when we come together to celebrate the Eucharist.

Indeed, here today at God's altar we once again encounter the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

And with our twin St. Thomas, we say "My Lord and My God."