1 John 1: 1-2:2       

John 20: 19-31       

April 7, 2024

Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Prayer: O God who raised Jesus from the grave, may we believe. May we see. May we grow. Amen.

On occasion, over the last almost 40 years of ministry, I unintentionally have missed one or two important events. Gasp! [I know!] One time, Saturday night, mid-December, my former spouse and I were sitting at home watching TV. The next morning, Harvey, the Lead Pastor at Holladay UCC says to me, “So, where were you last night?” Home, watching TV. Why? “Well, you missed the church office staff Christmas party!” [GASP!!] OMG! Totally spaced it! Have you been there? Do you feel me?

On another occasion, I totally missed a three-day Clergy Convocation in Hershey. I registered early. Thought I put it on my calendar. [shake head] Wasn’t on my calendar. Had no clue. My friend Bruce has never let me forget it!

And you know when you miss something like that, you often can’t go back and make it up. I mean, the Christmas party was done. The Convocation, over with. No way to go back. Often there are no second chances for something like that. Often. But, not always.

On that first Easter evening, after their horrible weekend, the disciples gathered, probably in the Upper Room. And that’s not at all surprising. People who go through tragedy often have to be together. At least to support each other. To feel each other’s grief.

When 9/11 happened on a Tuesday, I was at Chapel Hill UCC in Camp Hill. On Thursday, we opened up our sanctuary over the lunch hour for a time of prayer and reflection. And the church was packed! There was not one seat left in the sanctuary. Some were standing out in the hallway. And for several Sunday’s afterward, churches everywhere were packed. Trying to make sense of the horror of that day.

Well, I think the disciples got together to try and make sense of the horror of Good Friday. To be with one another in the midst of unspeakable tragedy. To love and support one another. To maybe figure out where they would go from there. 

Thomas missed all that. We don’t know why. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he didn’t get the memo. Maybe he wasn’t in on the discussion that the group would meet back at the Upper Room the day after the Sabbath. Maybe it was just too dangerous for him to be out in public. You know… guilt by association with Jesus. Maybe, and this is what I personally think was mostly going on, he was overcome with grief and depression since he lost his close friend and leader. Couldn’t get out of the house, maybe even the bed. Or, maybe all of the above.

But whatever. All we know is that he wasn’t there. And he missed the love and support. He missed the comfort of friends. And he missed Jesus. And his peace. And the other disciples were like, “Where were you, man? We missed you last night, because We Saw The Lord!”

Yeah, right. Thomas just can’t buy it. He might’ve been like, “That’s not even funny. Stop joking around.” No, really, we saw the Lord! [shake head no] Thomas was going to need a lot more than just their words. He demanded proof. “Unless I see the wounds in his hands, unless I touch his hands and his side, I will not believe.” Thomas was in the place of “seeing is believing” and touching is believing. Only certain physical, empirical, factual evidence would do.

And I guess, if I’m honest, I would like be in Thomas shoes, if I were him. And I’d wager that’s probably true for the vast majority of us, too. Because we’ve all learned how to be skeptical about wild, outlandish claims. We all know the “if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t” statement. And in that place, I, too, find it difficult to just accept the disciple’s word without any kind of proof.

But, the story goes, a week later, Thomas was present with his fellow disciples, and Jesus shows up again! And Jesus offers Thomas what he wanted, to see and touch, but as it turns out, that’s not needed anymore. Because did you notice that the text never says Thomas touched Jesus at all! That really struck me! Because Thomas sees Jesus, all the physical, empirical, the factual are important, but these are not the end all. These are not the total package. Throw faith in there. Throw creative possibility in there. Mix in God’s mysterious power to bring life from death in there. And all of it together, I think makes Thomas exclaim with newfound faith and belief, “My Lord and my God!” And he received Jesus’ peace.

I think Jesus invited Thomas to put aside the old way of ‘seeing is believing’ and engage in a new way of ‘believing is seeing.’ To move from disbelief and doubt and total reliance on facts, to a new reality of belief and faith which enabled him to see spiritually. 

And Jesus asks him, “You believe because you’ve seen me?” But blessed are those who have not seen me physically and have come to believe in me spiritually.

And that’s what I find so amazing! Such a piece of good news! We are blessed not because we see Jesus physically, but because we believe in him spiritually. So, I feel a lot of hope for all my loved ones who want the facts, who love science, of which I am one—there’s a place for all of us at God’s table. And, while we live with facts, we also can live with the power of the Spirit.

We’re invited to put aside having only the ‘seeing is believing’ attitude and take in the ‘believing is seeing’ attitude. Call it having an IQ and an SIQ (spiritual intelligence). I think there’s a balance between the two simultaneously. Because when you see through the eyes of faith, I think you can to see the power of a creative God who loves us, and is constantly bringing the power of Easter to our awareness.  

So Easter dares to say that there is something more beyond the hard evidence. That Easter is our reality everywhere. Because somehow, someway the mystery of God’s Easter power is at work. Believing is seeing.

Take a look with me of how believing with faith is seeing Easter power at work. Look at this—we can see the power of Easter and God’s new life when we do the hard work of forgiveness and reconciliation in a broken relationship. Believing is seeing means there is something better than living with grudges and distance and separation in relationships. But sometimes that takes a lot of work. Being vulnerable. Saying I’m sorry. Make the effort. Let God do the rest in the person’s heart.

Or, we can see the power of Easter when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. When health concerns rock our world. When the glorious immortality feeling of youth gives way to the shocking reality of mortality and getting older. Many of us know this.

Believing is seeing increases our spiritual IQ and says that while we live with the facts of health concerns, there still is something more. That somehow God’s Easter power is at work, and the Holy Spirit promises to be with you, to help you endure health concerns often showing in the people around us. Offering comfort, love, care, support. Easter’s power can open your eyes to spiritual new life, even in death.

Look at this one—believing is seeing means that somehow, the power of God binds us together in fellowship with one another. We, who are as diverse as the day is long, can find unity as we baptize these two little ones this morning, as we promise our spiritual help on their journeys. That’s Christian fellowship with one another. When we have that, we have fellowship with God and Christ, too. Believing this is seeing this, and raises our spiritual intelligence.

Friends, we are the ones who have not seen physically but can come to believe spiritually. So, I thank God for Jesus’ blessing.

And thank God, because don’t we all live on the same continuum between having factual evidence and faith, between skepticism and belief? So, why not open yourself to the Spirit at work? Because believing is seeing. So that we don’t miss God’s resurrection power of Easter. So we don’t miss Jesus, or his peace.

Start, or restart your journey again, at the font of baptism. In the Easter faith baptized. Amen.

Let us stand and sing as we conclude our time of worship today.