Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to eating and praying together”. That’s how our first reading begins. Who is the “they”? They are the crowd of people gathered around the disciple because of a violent wind, flaming tongues, and hearing different languages spoken on Pentecost. Peter stood up to address the crowd and gave his first sermon, which must have been pretty good because, as our reading from Acts last week noted, three thousand people were baptized and added to the community. If that happened today, we’d say that’s pretty miraculous.

However, it’s what happens next that's really impressive; these three thousand people committed themselves to doing life together. They learned, ate, and prayed together. They shared all their possessions. They sold whatever they owned and gave the money to anyone who had a need. Daily they shared meals together and celebrated all that God was doing. And they had compassion and kindness toward one another.

And remember this wasn’t 3000 people from the same place with the same background who thought the same or had the same cultural practices or anything like that. They were strangers from over 14 different countries. Undoubtedly some were old, some young. Some wealthy, some not. The real miracle isn’t that 3,000 people were baptized. It’s that 3,000 people responded to the gift of grace by doing life together despite all their differences, that’s the miracle. With all our divisions, divides, and individualism of today, something like that is unfathomable for 30 people, let alone 3,000.

It’s fair to wonder, are we given this description of the early disciples as a command, as instructions on how we ought to live? If so, this picture painted of life together repels us more than does compel us… for lots of reasons. Maybe when we were young and idealistic we thought living such a way was possible, maybe even desirable. But now we have families or we’re set in our ways. We are comfortable with our routines, our privacy, our preferences. And we recognize all the sacrifices and accommodations and demands it would place on us.

I mean, if we're honest, We can’t even imagine living this way with our own families in our own homes. We're far too busy with work, and practices, lessons, games, recitals, more work, etc.

Who has time for daily meals together, let alone prayers and teachings and fellowship.

Moreover, we don’t trust other people enough to live like this. Just a couple weeks ago, Tom Orr and the Wired Word class discussed a Wall Street Journal poll that found communal values like religion, community involvement, or having children have all significantly trended downward in the last 20 years. Reflecting on why, David Brooks of the NYT wrote

“My fear is that we’ve entered a distrust doom loop: People are so untrusting of their institutions and their neighbors that they are unwilling to reach out, to actively renew their communities, and so the dysfunction will continue, and the distrust will increase, and so on and so on.”

But perhaps most of all this picture of life together repels us because we feel convicted by it, or at least I do. Deep down, I know I should live more like this, that I should share more meals, open my home, give money to meet the needs of my neighbors, share what's mine with an open hand, and have goodwill toward all people. Maybe i’m not the only one…

However, I don’t believe these verses are rules or specific instructions that Christians must follow. It’s not, if we live this way, Jesus will love us. Notice that all these people were baptized first, then they lived this way. They received God’s grace and love and acceptance first and then because of what they experienced, they committed themselves to doing life together in this way so others may experience what they did.

This way of living shows us what life through the power of the Spirit could be like. It represents the best of what God’s people are capable of. But it doesn’t last long. Soon people in the community will defraud one another, they’ll hold back their resources, they will treat each other unfairly, and after Acts 5, the church is never described with such rosy language.

These verses, this idealized picture, is not meant to be a discouragement, but rather an inspiration: look at what life together could be like, a life full of welcome and hospitality, justice and mutuality, of service and community. Some intentional communities take these verses very seriously and try to follow them to the letter, like the bruderhof communities or houses of hospitality from the Catholic Worker movement.And while not the same, but at our best, we experience some of that life together here: We break bread together, we learn and celebrate together. We provide for each other's needs and the needs of our neighbors: whether that's through our monthly mission focus, our food pantry, or our support to Fondwa, Haiti. We pray, we worship, and we tell others about the God whom we confess.

And it’s no accident that you are a part of this community, at this time and place. In fact, you didn’t choose to be a part of this church. But you’ll say, “Cogan I tried a lot of places before coming here and intentionally chose this place.” To which I would respond, it was the Holy Spirit at work in you that led you to say, “this is where I want to be a part of the Body of Christ.

This is where I heard and still hear the good news of the Gospel: that I am forgiven and loved and grace is mine no matter who I am or who I love or what I’ve done. This is where I am called to do life together with others who have experienced the grace of Jesus, too.

Now to be sure this isn't the only place where this sort of stuff happens. And Life together here isn’t always ideal. Like those early followers, we mess up, we make mistakes, we don’t always agree. But like Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book, Life Together,

“even when sin and misunderstanding burden our life together, is not the sinning sibling still a sibling…? Will not their sin (or mine) be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us live in the forgiving love of God? Thus the moment of disappointment with my brother becomes incomparably beneficial, because it teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.”

What's so powerful about these disciples’ life together was their desire to give of themselves so that others might experience grace just as they did. And what else does the love of Jesus feel like than a good meal with even better company? A celebration full of joy and festivity? Or having your needs met or debt paid by someone else’s sacrifice? That’s the call we have as a community, as a church. To give of ourselves and do life live together in such a way that draws others in so that they too experience grace, no strings attached.

As we approach commitment Sunday, more than any dollar amount you commit to, or any role you volunteer for, or any talent you share, commit to doing Life Together. As one writer puts it, “God does not need possessions and has never been impressed by their donation. God wants people and draws us into that wanting.”

Commit to showing up, to doing meals together, to trusting each other, to praying for and with one another, to meeting the needs of your neighbors, to drawing other people in

because you want them to experience the grace of Jesus just as you have.

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “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 his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “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!” 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.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

You’ve heard countless sermons about doubting Thomas. Every year without fail, the text for the first Sunday after Easter is Jesus appearing to the disciples and to Thomas. And you’ve likely heard many sermons or had Bible studies about how Thomas shouldn’t be known as doubting Thomas for a variety of reasons: 1. the word doubt isn’t actually in the text because in greek that word is unbelieving; 2. it’s unfair that Thomas gets the moniker of doubting when in fact he has the strongest confession of Jesus in the whole gospel, “My Lord and My God”. And 3. shouldn’t the other disciples also have the title doubting? After all they heard Mary Magdalene’s experience of seeing Jesus, alive and outside the tomb, and they don’t seem to believe her until they see him for themselves. So Thomas isn’t asking for anything more than what the disciples had already experienced.

That's the pattern throughout the Gospel of John. Folks have an encounter with Jesus, they go and tell someone else, and that person then desires to have their own encounter. Andrew stayed with Jesus two days, then told his brother Peter about it all, who then went to see Jesus for himself. Philip followed Jesus, then went and told Nathanael. Nathanael thought nothing good could come from Nazareth until he too encountered Jesus himself. The woman at the well went to tell her people about her encounter and after Jesus stayed with them, the Samaritans said “it’s no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know Jesus is the savior of the World.”

That pattern persists after the resurrection. Mary Magdalene tells the disciples, but apparently men not believing a woman’s own experience seems to go back a long way in history. Her story isn't enough; they need to see it to believe it. And they do and they tell Thomas, but not only does he want his own encounter, he wants a little more. If there is any charge against Thomas it’s that he is perhaps demanding: seeing won’t be enough, I need to touch also! But who doesn’t want this? I mean don’t we all want to see, to touch, to encounter the Risen Lord? Of course we do and for a number of reasons: to quash our doubt, to strengthen our belief, to give us a story to share. Maybe you sat here last week, singing and proclaiming that Jesus Christ has risen, while in the back of your mind, you wondered, “is this really true? How could there be a resurrection, where is the proof?”

The problem we have, or maybe it’s the problem I have, with Thomas is not that he doubted or was unbelieving. The problem I have with Thomas is that I am jealous of him. I don’t care that he demanded more than his fellow disciples. I am jealous of Thomas because he demanded more and it happened. “I won’t believe unless I see and unless I touch”. And miraculously it happened. It’s as if on command, Thomas made the request, Jesus heard it, and made it happen within a week. That’s the problem I have with Thomas, I am jealous.

Aren’t you? Don’t you wish that Jesus met all your requests, that you could give commands when you had doubts or when something was wrong and Jesus would show up within a week? How many times have you pleaded with God, saying like Thomas, do this for me God, then I’ll “fill in the blank” only for God to not hold up God’s end of the bargain? God fix my marriage and we’ll go to church every week. Jesus heal my spouse, my friend, my parent and then I’ll believe you really are a healer. Show up in my life when I am afraid, grieving, stressed, hurting because my faith is weak and I need to know you are there. You did it for Thomas afterall… Aren’t you jealous?

It’s trite to say that God’s ways are not our ways. But it's true. And I don’t believe everything happens for a reason. We face evil, we make our own messes. There are some things we just can’t know this side of heaven: like friends dying young, loved one’s, or ourselves, suffering cancer, or a seemingly unfair world full of violence and greed. Yet, when Jesus shows up to Thomas in that house, he brings good news not only to Thomas, but to as well. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jesus calls us blessed, us… the ones who have not seen, the ones who make the request, the demands, and don’t get them answered like we want. The ones who have faced evil and cancer. The ones who are full of doubts and worries and stresses about life and faith and where Jesus is at in it all. Somehow we are blessed.

We’re blessed because we too encounter the Risen Lord, just perhaps not in ways we expect or are mindful of in the moment. For instance, feel Jesus' breath pass your lips and ears every time you hear or say the words, “I forgive you”, because it’s the resurrected Jesus who gives the disciples, and us, the mission of forgiveness, equipping us with the Holy Spirit to do so.

And every week here at this table, not only do we remember Jesus’ eating and drinking with friends, but we encounter the Risen Lord who says to us this is my body, my very self, given for you. So we come, we take the bread and the cup trusting that Jesus is really giving himself to strengthen and nourish us, for all that we may face.

And perhaps to some surprise, we see Jesus in other people. And I don’t mean your family or your friends, or pastor mark. No, we meet Jesus in those who bear his resemblance: the people who have nothing, those who are beaten down yet still living, crucified by those in power, and can’t help but show their scars. Dorothy Day, my favorite Catholic of all time, put it this way: “The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. How do we know we believe? Because we have seen His hands and His feet in the poor around us. He has shown Himself to us in them. We start by loving them for Him, and we soon love them for themselves, each one a unique person, most special!”

In this life, we may not see Jesus’ as Thomas did. But rather than be envious, we should ask, demand, request (whatever you want to call it) like Thomas. After all, Jesus did say to Thomas and to us, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

So request to experience the love of God and then go and ask for forgiveness because that’s where you will feel it most. Cry out to God for strength and grace and hope, and then come to the table, because that’s where God gives himself to us, each time, every Sunday, offering us all exactly what we need. Demand to see the Risen Lord and then go and serve your neighbor, because that’s where you will find him.