The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
April 28, 2019
Year C: The Second
Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
The Missing Disciples
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Even
someone like me who often sees the glass has half-empty – even I have to admit
that last week was a pretty amazing time for us here at St. Paul and
Incarnation.
In
their own way, each of our Holy Week services was beautiful – and this year our
Good Friday Stations of the Cross Procession through the streets of Jersey City
was particularly moving and powerful.
And
then it was Easter and all three of our Easter services, again each in its own
way, was joyful but for me and I think for many of us the highlight was the
baptism at 10:00 of our newest disciple, little Jack – who calmly took it all
in with those big eyes of his, watching us and watching his new life begin.
Yes,
my friends, it was Easter!
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
But,
by now, out in the world, most, if not all, of the Easter chocolate has been
eaten and most, if not all, of the Easter eggs have been made into egg salad
sandwiches – so much egg salad that maybe our cholesterol is spiking, maybe we
never want to see egg salad again – by now, the fancy hats and outfits have
been carefully stored away – by now, the lilies have started to wilt - by now,
the world has moved onto whatever the next thing is.
But,
not here.
Here,
we’re just getting started.
Our
Easter joy will continue through the great feast of Pentecost on June 9, and,
God willing, longer even that that.
It’s
still Easter for us – and, in today’s gospel lesson, it’s still Easter for the
first disciples of Jesus – or, actually, at the start of today’s reading it’s
not quite Easter for them just yet.
Earlier
on that first Easter day, Mary Magdalene had discovered the empty tomb and had
quickly run to tell the others and Peter and the Beloved Disciple had run to
the tomb and, sure enough, discovered it empty and then, no use at all, they
left, leaving Mary Magdalene alone to discover by herself the Good News – the
best news of all:
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Mary
then follows Jesus’ instruction to go tell the others, but as of yet they
haven’t seen Jesus for themselves and so we pick up in the evening of that
first Easter Day – the running around has stopped and the frightened disciples are
hiding behind locked doors.
The Evangelist John
says that the disciples were afraid of “the Jews.”
We can’t just
slide by that because we are living in a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise,
as we saw most painfully yesterday when another armed-to-the-teeth man opened
fire in a synagogue, this time in California, on the last day of Passover,
killing one congregant and injuring several others, including the rabbi.
So, especially in
this time of hatred and violence, we need to clarify that the disciples were not
scared of “the Jews” – all of the disciples were Jews, remember - but they were
understandably terrified that the religious authorities and the Romans who had
finished off Jesus were coming for them next.
But,
then…the disciples see for themselves.
The
Risen Lord appears – he’s transformed, somehow able to slip through locked
doors – but he’s still himself – he still has the fresh wounds of his suffering
and death.
Love
is stronger than death!
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
But,
of course, not all of the disciples were there in the locked room that first
Easter night, most notably Thomas.
Thomas
will be forever associated with doubt – the doubt we heard him express today –
the doubt which I always point out is more about doubting the word of the
disciples – he’s seen these guys at their worst, remember - than it is about
doubting Jesus.
But,
I’d like to back up to before the doubt, back up to the fact that Thomas was
not with the others that night – that Thomas was a missing disciple.
And,
I always wonder why.
Why wasn’t Thomas
there with the others that night?
Why
was he a missing disciple?
There
might be some kind of boring explanation, like he was off running an errand, or
maybe he was spending the night with his own family, or maybe he was too frightened
to be with the others – though the little we know about him tells us that he
was brave.
But,
as I imagine it, I see Thomas off by himself somewhere – angry at God for
allowing Jesus to suffer so terribly – angry and ashamed at himself for abandoning
Jesus in his greatest moment of need, abandoning Jesus just like nearly
everybody else.
I
see Thomas off by himself somewhere, so angry, so disappointed, so sad, that it
had all – all of the hope and expectation – that it had all come to the horror
of the cross and the tomb.
You
know, thinking of Thomas the missing disciple got me thinking about our own
missing disciples.
There
were a lot of people in church last week – but there were also a lot of people
– a lot of our own disciples - who were not here.
Some
were away on vacation or visiting with family who live out of town, and that’s
great, of course.
But,
there were others who were enduring what I imagine Thomas experienced – there
were those who were still at the cross or at the tomb – those who were just
feeling too crushed by the sadness and disappointment of life – those who
couldn’t quite face the flowers and the music and the beautiful baby and all of
the alleluias – those who had not yet heard, really heard, the Good News – the
best news ever.
Thomas
is not the only missing disciple.
My
favorite part of today’s gospel lesson is that in the midst of their great joy,
the disciples didn’t forget about Thomas.
They
tell him – they probably couldn’t wait to tell him – the Good News.
And,
of course, he doesn’t believe them – yes, he doubts – but there must have been
something in their faces and their voices that convinced him to rejoin the
group – to be there with the other disciples, just in case the best news ever
was really true.
And,
the efforts of the disciples and the willingness of Thomas pays off the
following week when Jesus returns, wounds and all – and Thomas doesn’t need to
touch those wounds after all – but instead he says more than he probably
understood:
“My
Lord and My God!”
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
It’s
still Easter for the disciples and it’s still Easter for us – and it’s going to
keep on being Easter for a long time – but there are still quite a few missing
disciples and so, like the disciples seeking out Thomas, let’s not wait to tell
them the Good News, the best news of all time.
And,
with God’s help, maybe there will be something in our faces and in voices that
will convince the missing disciples of today that…
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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