Tag: Thomas

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Sermon: Easter 2 RCL C – “Resurrection”

I know I’ve shared this story at a funeral, but I don’t believe I’ve ever shared it with you. 

A man was once sentenced to solitary confinement in a pitch-black prison cell. To relieve his boredom and keep his sanity, he threw a marble against the walls—day in, day out, bang, bang, bang. The marble would bounce off the wall onto the floor and then roll around the room until the man could locate it and repeat the procedure.

One day, he decided to do something different—he would throw the marble up and try to catch it as it came down. Of course, in the pitch black, he missed the catch quite often, so he would listen as the marble hit the floor and bounced around. Feeling around in the general direction of the sound, he would locate it and try again. The longer this went on, the more proficient he became, and the more proficient he became, the higher he would throw the marble. However, when he made his highest throw ever, he did not catch it, and neither was there any sound. The marble simply did not come back down. He became more and more disturbed. What had happened to his precious marble? How could it disappear into thin air like that?! He spent the rest of his life wondering what had happened to his marble, and it eventually drove him to madness, and he died. 

We all have things we wonder about and questions that we seek answers to. Sometimes, we have questions about life: Why does so-and-so not love me? How come all my luck is bad? What did I do to deserve this?

At other times, we question the world around us: Why is the sky blue or the grass green? How was the universe formed? How does Santa get into houses without chimneys? (Just seeing if you were paying attention.)

We also have questions about our faith. Does God hear my prayers? Do I matter to God? Or even, is there a God?

For life’s questions, through our faith, we learn to understand and take each day as it comes. For the questions about the world around us, we explore and study. And for the questions about our faith, we pray and study scripture. However, when it comes to these questions of faith, we also tend to try to make a few deals with God. Why do the hard work if there’s a shortcut?

I’ve never been a Janis Joplin fan in the tiniest little bit, but I remember a song of hers that we would laugh and sing as kids, if only the first verse.

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends

That’s about all we knew as kids, but it is the third verse that gets to the theological heart of the matter.

Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
I’m counting on you Lord, please don’t let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round

And there it is. “Prove that you love me.” Prove to me that You hear my prayers. Prove to me that I matter to You. Prove to me that You are there.

The first stanza of the poem, Doubt, by Norman Shirk

Let me meet you on the mountain, Lord, just once.
You wouldn’t have to burn a whole bush,
Just a few smoking branches,
And I would surely be your Moses

In the end, it all comes down to the same statement: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

It is easy to criticize poor ol’ Thomas, but there’s a bit of him—maybe a little or maybe a lot—there’s a bit of Thomas in us all.

Like Thomas, in order to increase our faith, we ask the Lord to meet us halfway. However, He already has. The Lord Jesus met us halfway between heaven and hell. He met us on that hill outside of Jerusalem. He met us outside the empty tomb, and He continues to meet us every day exactly where we are. He also meets us at that altar in the Sacrament of His body and blood.

But you say, “Yes, yes, Father John. That’s real nice, but today, I want to be Thomas. I want to see Him, hear Him, and touch Him. I need the burning bush. I need the missing piece of the puzzle. I need to find the stupid marble that fella pitched up into the air and never came back down. Give me these things, and I will.”

A line from a movie I watched inspired the title of my blog—Candle in a Cave. In the movie, an older priest tells a younger one, “We are all blind men in a cave looking for a candle that was lit 2,000 years ago.” 

In some sense, this is true because I can’t show you a burning bush or guide your hands and allow you to touch the wounds of Christ. Sorry, I can’t do it. If I could, we would have folks flocking to this church by the millions to see it. Why? Because they want God to prove Himself to them, to give them a sign. Like Job, they ask God to explain Himself. 

But remember, the Lord was patient with Job for a while, but after much questioning, the Lord answered, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? Who created the sky, the animals? Were you there when I breathed life into the dust and created you?” 

Like Job, and even during Jesus’ time on earth, we desire signs and wonders, miracles. Scripture states that at one point during Jesus’ ministry, some Pharisees and teachers of the law questioned him: “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” Jesus answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

You see, the problem is not with God; it is with us. The Lord has already given us a sign. After three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, He rose! How? Truly, the Lord only knows. As the Psalmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” But Jesus rose from the grave. How much more proof does a person need? Just because there were no witnesses to the resurrection, does it mean it did not occur? No. Remember what Billy Graham said, “Can you see God? You haven’t seen him? I’ve never seen the wind. I see the effects of the wind, but I’ve never seen the wind. There’s a mystery to it.”

No one witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, but from that day forward, we have all been witnesses to, and have experienced for ourselves, the effects of the resurrection—this new life in Christ Jesus—and it didn’t involve getting a Mercedes-Benz. Therefore, “Do not doubt but believe.” 

Remember our prisoner and his marble? When the guards later entered the cell to remove his body, a glint of light caught one of the guards’ eyes. He looked up toward the ceiling to see the most astonishing sight—a marble caught in a spider’s web. “Of all the crazy things,” he thought. “How on earth did the spider manage to get a marble up there?” He spent the rest of his life wondering.

There are many mysteries in our lives with God, things we can wonder about and seek answers to throughout our lives. However, the question of the resurrection is not one of them, for the proof is all around us.

Let us pray: Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who in His great mercy gave us new birth, a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of fading or defilement, which is kept in heaven for you who are guarded with God’s power through faith; a birth to a salvation which stands ready to be revealed in the last days. Amen.

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Sermon: The Apostle Thomas

The Apostle Thomas by Peter Paul Rubens

Within our sanctuary, by the altar, is the tabernacle. Above it, the red sanctuary lamp burns, indicating that the consecrated bread and wine—the body and blood of Our Lord—are present.

For some, the bread and wine (in many cases, grape juice) are only representations or symbols. For others, they hold a slightly higher place and point to something greater but remain bread and wine. For us, we believe that the bread and wine maintain the form of bread and wine but do, in fact, become the body and blood of Jesus, but is there any proof that this transformation has taken place? It is a question of faith, but I came across the following article that may get you thinking about it. (You’ll hear this again on a Sunday.)

“On the evening of the last day of his October 1995 visit to the United States, John Paul II was scheduled to greet the seminarians at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. It had been a very full day that began with a Mass at Oriole Park in Camden Yards, a parade through downtown streets, a visit to the Basilica of the Assumption, the first cathedral in the country, lunch at a local soup kitchen run by Catholic Charities; a prayer service at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore; and finally a quick stop at Saint Mary’s Seminary.

The schedule was tight so the plan was simply to greet the seminarians while they stood outside on the steps. But the Pope made his way through their ranks and into the building. His plan was to first make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

When his wishes were made known, security flew into action. They swept the building paying close attention to the chapel where the Pope would be praying. For this purpose highly trained dogs were used to detect any person who might be present.

The dogs are trained to locate survivors in collapsed buildings after earthquakes and other disasters. These highly intelligent and eager dogs quickly went through the halls, offices and classrooms and were then sent to the chapel. They went up and down the aisle, past the pews and finally into the side chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.

Upon reaching the tabernacle, the dogs sniffed, whined, pointed, and refused to leave, their attention riveted on the tabernacle, until called by their handlers. They were convinced that they discovered someone there.

We Catholics know they were right—they found a real, living Person in the tabernacle!” (Source) 

Today, in our Gospel reading, we hear the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples in the upper room. On that first visit, Thomas was absent. When the other disciples tell him about it… you know the story—Doubting Thomas. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

A week later, the Lord appears again, and Thomas is present. Jesus says to him, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 

“Upon reaching the tabernacle, the dogs sniffed, whined, pointed, and refused to leave, their attention riveted on the tabernacle, until called by their handlers. They were convinced that they discovered someone there.” I am convinced that if those dogs, while sitting in front of the tabernacle, could have spoken, they would have professed the same words as Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

On this Eve of the Feast of St. Thomas, when you receive the Blessed Sacrament, recognize that hidden within is your Lord and your God and receive Him with great humility and thanksgiving.

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Sermon: Easter 2 RCL A – “Frustration”

Doubting Thomas
by Wilhelm Marstrand

Boudreaux had been hearing about chainsaws for years, and how easy they were to use, so he finally decided to get one for himself. When he got to the hardware store, the clerk assured him these new saws could cut down five big oak trees in an hour. That was enough for Bou, so he purchased one and headed to the woods for some stovewood. Twenty-four hours later, he returned to the store. He was mad and frustrated. “It took me all day to cut down one tree,” he said. “I’d a done better with my axe.” 

Puzzled, the store owner stepped outside with the saw, gave the cord a swift pull, and fired up the steel-toothed beast. Its deafening roar sent Boudreaux stumbling backward. 

With his fingers in his ears, Boudreaux shouted, “What’s that noise?”

I told you a while back that when it comes to movies, I’m a bit like a kid—not only in the kind of movies I like but in the number of times I can watch the same one repeatedly. I find that I’ll do this when I want to relax. I know the movie, the story, and probably even most of the lines, so I can enjoy it without having to really think about it. One of those I watched last week, with all that was going on during Holy Week, was the Hunger Games series. 

There is a simple scene, but it reminded me of something. Katniss is using a flashlight as a cat toy. Move the light around, and the cat will chase it but never be able to catch it. You’ve probably all seen the same idea with those laser beam cat toys. A cat will climb the wall trying to get at the fast-moving red dot. The Queen—the eight-pound feline monarch that rules my house—has had her time with that red dot, but at some point, like Katniss in the movie, I began to wonder if it was actually any fun for the animal. Sure, it is entertaining for us, but how frustrating is it to chase after something and never be able or allowed to catch it? After a session with The Queen, I noticed she would wander the house for a good hour, meowing and unable to settle down. I realized that watching her scramble around chasing it was fun for me, but I didn’t think it was fun for her, so I put it on the shelf.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines frustration as “the feeling of being annoyed or less confident because you cannot achieve what you want, or something that makes you feel like this.” And we’ve all known this feeling. In one way or another, we’ve all chased the red dot and exhausted ourselves in our attempt to catch it, yet every time, it eludes us. From jobs to relationships to any number of goals, no matter the attempts or effort applied, they seem unattainable. This frustration then leads to anger, anxiety, shame, and even guilt. Not only is this true with life in general, but it is also true in our life with God.

Prayers that seem to be unanswered. Circumstances that can’t be resolved. Unrelenting illness. We seem unable to follow the commands in our lives, failing, and sinning time and time again, chasing the red dot of our faith, yet unable to ever catch it. Unable to get it right or know that God even hears us. If you’ve ever felt that way, you are not alone. Consider these words of King David in Psalm 13:

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Why have you not heard me? Have you forgotten me? I am sick. I am tired. There are those things and people that have come against me. Am I just supposed to give up and die? So much has gone wrong. Frustration. Anger. Anxiety. Shame. Guilt. And all those feelings of frustration lead us to say, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

When we become frustrated with our lives, our lives with God, and even frustrated with God, we can doubt. Does God have a plan for my life? Does God care about me? Does God see that I’m hurting? Well, I’ve got some news for God, unless I see hard proof, then… I just don’t know. 

David was frustrated. He cried out, “How long, O Lord?” But at the end of Psalm 13, it is as though David took a deep breath and set aside his frustrations and doubt, for he concluded,

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

No longer is he speaking doubt and hurt. His words have become those of assurance, confidence, and determination. His words have become those of faith.

From what I read, Bear Bryant was one of the best college football coaches and had the track record to back it up. John McKay, another great coach, tells the following: “We were out shooting ducks, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. The Bear fires. And that duck is still flying today. But Bear watched the duck flap away, looked at me, and said, ‘John, you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!’” 

Bear Bryant’s faith in his shooting skills may have been a bit overinflated, but our faith in God can never be. 

I do not have a cure for frustrations; they will come, but see and know that the Lord our God is very near to those He loves, working out His good purposes.

Speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord says, 

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

First, ask God if what you are attempting to do is His will or if you’re just chasing some random red dot. If you discern that it is God’s will, then trust that He will see it through. “Do not doubt but believe,” and say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

Let us pray: Lord, if what we seek is according to Your will, then let it come to pass and let success attend the outcome. But if not, Dear Lord, let it not come to pass. Do not leave us to our own devices, for You know how unwise we can be. Keep us safe under Your protection with faith in Your word, and in Your own gentle way, guide and rule us as You know best. Amen.

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Sermon: Easter 2 RCL C – “God Ain’t Dead”

Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, c.1500

There is a painting that shows the charred debris of what had been a family’s sole possession. In front of this destroyed home, standing in deep snow, stood an old grandfather dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy who is clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Given the way they were dressed and the fact that nobody else was around you could tell they didn’t have anyone else or anything else except the clothes that were on their back and each other. No Red Cross person was going to drive up and offer them food, clothing, and shelter. Now, if you were the grandfather, what would you say to the weeping child to comfort him? All is lost. We’re done for. We’ll never make it. Or would you just start crying yourself?

The artist of this particular picture wasn’t much on despair, because beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life that exhibited true hope. The grandfather said, “Hush child, God ain’t dead!”

From our Gospel, Jesus had appeared to the disciples, but Thomas wasn’t there. When the others tell him that they have seen the Lord, Thomas becomes upset and agitated, “I won’t believe the Lord is risen unless I see him myself and place my hand in his side.” Did he doubt the power of God? Did he not believe Jesus when he had said, “I will rise again?”

No. I don’t believe that was the way Thomas was looking at these events. Instead, I think Thomas had looked upon the blood-stained cross, he had seen or at least heard of the gaping wounds that had pierced Jesus’ body, he had placed all his hope in Jesus, and now without question, he knew Jesus was dead. All was lost. We’re done for. I can’t possibly believe that he is raised from the dead unless I see him myself, because I can’t get my hopes up again. I can’t be hurt like that again. Someone needed to lovingly turn to Thomas and say, “Hush child. God ain’t dead.”

In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time, the satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter’s magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. cScientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target.

But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter’s immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun.

And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. “Perhaps most remarkable,” writes Jaroff, “those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth.”

The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible. After more than 30 years, the venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft sent its last signal to Earth on Jan. 23, 2003, having traveled 7.6 billion miles.

So it is when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God can work even through someone with 8-watt abilities. However, God cannot work through someone who quits.

That is not saying that there are no times when the wise decision is to quit. There are our bad habits. There are times when we realize that we are in the wrong. Sometimes it just makes sense not to continue in a direction and at other times it is a matter of coming to peace with a situation. There are all sorts of legitimate reasons for quitting a particular activity; however, fear, despair, disappointment, level of difficulty, and so on are not. Why? Because “God ain’t dead” and if God ain’t dead, then there is always hope.

Imagine, after trying something once, we say, “I’ll never do that again!” What about falling in love? What would happen after the first time you fall in love and had your heart broken you said, “I’ll never do that again.” What would you miss out on? How lonely would you be?

What if the first time you said a prayer and God answered by saying, “No.” How would things work out if you were to say, “I’ll never do that again?”

What if the Lord had not appeared before the disciples again and Thomas had remained in his denial? “I’ll never do that again. I’ll never believe unless I see him.”

In truth, we can find ourselves in similar situations all the time. It happens to us personally. It happens to us in our jobs. It can even happen in the church. Along with Thomas, we say, “All is lost. We are finished. I’ll never do this again. I quit.” But God responds, “Hush child. I’m not dead!” In other words, there is hope.
What do we mean when we say, we have hope?

Václav Havel, the first president of Czechoslovakia following the fall of communism, wrote

“Either we have hope within us or we don’t. It is a dimension of the soul, and it is not particularly dependent upon some observation of the world. It is an orientation of the spirit, and of the heart. It transcends the world that is immediately experienced and is anchored somewhere beyond horizons. Hope is a deep and powerful sense and it is not the same as joy that things are going well or the willingness to invest in opportunities which are obviously headed for success. But rather, it is an ability to work for something because you believe in it. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that it makes sense regardless of results. It is hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and to continually try new things.”

That is what we mean by hope. It is the kind of hope that declares, no matter the situation, “God’s not dead.” When I find myself in a position of losing hope, I recall a certain incident with Jesus. There was a father whose child was very sick. The father brought the child to Jesus’ disciples, but they could not heal the boy. Finally, Jesus arrives on the scene and the father says, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus responds, “‘If you can?’ Everything is possible for him who believes.” In other words, “Hush child. God ain’t dead.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

When you find yourself in times of losing hope then let that be your prayer, “‘I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.’ Help me to regain or to hold onto my hope that is in Christ Jesus the Risen Lord.” In the midst of that prayer remember—God ain’t dead!

Let us pray: O God, in whose image we all are made, give us hope that through the work of our hands, and with Jesus as our model, we may glorify you now and always. Amen.

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