Kevin Matthews preached another excellent sermon at St. Mary's House, Greensboro, but he doesn't write them down, and though I was tempted to take notes, I didn't.
So, two little bits from it, from memory and probably paraphrased:
1. Thomas gets a bad rap with this doubting thing. As if the others didn't doubt. Peter, the most clueless of them all, and all the others. Yes, there is doubt here, but this is really the story of Thomas coming to believe.
2. We're all doubters, if we search ourselves and admit it. Because, if we really, really believed in the Resurrection, the world would look different. Because we would act differently. Believing in the Resurrection is not believing in a one-time event. It is part of the whole story of Jesus, which began long before the Resurrection occurred. Believing in the Resurrection means being willing to follow Jesus' path and to hear his word(s). If we really believed in the Resurrection, would there still be hunger? war? hate speech and hateful actions?
Except that Kevin said it much better.
4 comments:
Jane, in his sermon, my rector made the point that after Thomas made his statement of unbelief, he went on to make a most profound statement of faith, "My Lord and my God."
Faith and doubt, side by side, in Thomas and in all of us who call ourselves people of faith.
I made the same statement. Thomas wasn't a doubter, he believed when he saw Jesus, just like the others.
Thomas is my hero. I was ordained to the priesthood on his feast day.
I'll second that- Thomas is my hero as well. My first homily as an aspirant was on Low Sunday on this Gospel reading. I had no idea then how important Thomas the Believng Doubter would be on my journey.
Thanks, friends. Nice to see how the stories of our spiritual ancestors weave in and out of our own lives. :-)
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