John 14:1-14

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 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.

I do not have enough training in the science of psychology to even consider myself an armchair psychologist, but I have a hunch that a person sees his or her world through the lens of one, or maybe two, formative relationships that he or she has experienced. Most likely, this formative relationship is with one or both parents. Generally speaking, the way in which your parent has interacted with you has informed your sense of self and your place in the world, what to expect of relationships in general, and how you relate to other people. A good psychologist or counselor will help you revisit these formative relational experiences in order to help you understand whether what those experiences taught you are actually true or not.

I am not familiar with any qualitative data on the subject, but I would offer a second hunch, that parents in general try to do the best they can. You probably didn’t find a Hallmark Mother’s Day card with that sentiment “You do the best you can,” but I still think it’s good news.

We only know what we know; and we know what we know only through the way our parents taught us to know things. And even if most parents generally do the best they can, they are limited by the ways that they were raised to understand the world. The way I understand myself and the world is directly tied to the way my mom and dad understand themselves and the world...and, of course, how they interacted with me.

Our image of God, like everything else, is filtered through the lens of the one or two formative human relationships in our life. It is typical for children to think of God as very similar to their parents...bigger and more powerful versions to be sure, but still very much in line with the thoughts and behaviors of the parent. A child who grows up feeling safe and cared for by a parent will default to an understanding of God as safe and caring. By the same token, a child who grows up being abused by a parent will default to an understanding of God as abusive.

It takes considerable effort for people to adapt their understanding of God, especially if it goes against everything they have been taught by those early formative relationships. A child who grew up feeling safe and cared for by a parent finds it difficult to imagine God could ever be abusive. By the same token, a child who grows up being abused by a parent finds it difficult to imagine God could ever be loving and caring.

We are at a bit of a disadvantage when contemplating matters of the divine because we only know what has been allowed to pass through the lens through which we view and understand the world.

Today’s gospel scripture is a beautiful example of Jesus compassionately correcting some of his disciples misconceived notions about the divine. Jesus invites the disciples to use his life and ministry as the lens through which to view and understand the world. The text is saturated with patience, reassurance, promise, and hope. Jesus is addressing some deep-seated insecurities and mistaken assumptions about God that his disciples have adopted in their lifetime. Here, in the moments before his execution, Jesus urges the disciples to be filled with…

… peace (“Do not let your hearts be troubled”)

… faith (“Believe in God, believe also in me”)

… assurance (“If you know me, you will know my Father also”)

… and divine power (“the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do”)

Take comfort, my friends, in knowing that the heads and hearts of Jesus’ disciples were still filled with fallacies about God even after spending years in Jesus’ presence. Also, take comfort that Jesus’ promises of peace, faith, assurance, and divine power were communicated in a time of uncertainty, turmoil, and disappointment. This speech, after all, comes on the heels of Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal. None of this compromised the truth of Jesus’ great instruction: Do not be troubled, believe in God, you know what to do, and you will be able to do it.

Jesus’ earthly life shows the world what God is like in flesh and blood, so that we can have a more accurate understanding of who God is, as well as who we are.

God, it turns out, is Christlike. Everything that Christ did during his earthly life was what God would have done -- what God DID do. God does not have a shadow side, ulterior motives, or a secret identity. God was fully exposed in the person of Jesus.

God, it turns out, is a skilled craftsman, and storm-calmer.

God, it turns out, is a healer and miracle-worker.

God, it turns out, has no regard for our barriers of race, ethnicity, class, religion, and gender.

God, it turns out, pays all his laborers equally.

God, it turns out, has a taste for a good wine and likes being invited to dinner.

God, as it turns out, is willing to die to expose humanity’s fear and lust for earthly power.

God, as it turns out, has high expectations for those who claim to follow...but also has incredible patience and unlimited forgiveness.

God, as it turns out, needed Jesus to show people just how short they had sold themselves and how short they had sold God.

Each one of us has been raised to see the world through a particular lens; but this lens often keeps us from fully realizing who we are and who God is. There’s no button to push or magic wand to wave to break free from these limiting understandings. One cannot be enlightened in an instant. But there is work you can do to allow God’s identity and relationship to be the primary way through which you view and understand the world.

You can read the stories of scripture to become more aware of who God is and who God isn’t.

You can talk to God, as matter of factly as you picked up the phone to talk to that old friend last week.

You can seek out a psychiatrist or counselor to help you understand how and why you have come to understand the world the way that you do; and to see what you have come to believe about yourself that simply is not true.

And you can meditate on Jesus’ last words to his disciples in what was also a chaotic and uncertain time: Do not be troubled, believe in God, you know what to do, and you will be able to do it.

Amen.

John 20:19-31 (NRSV)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked 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, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

When is the last time that you felt left out? It’s a common feeling in childhood; though many of us probably don’t have to reach that far back into our memories before a recent experience of being excluded from a group comes bubbling to the surface. These memories of exclusion don’t come alone; rather, they are accompanied with real and raw emotions. No one likes to feel left out. Since we all know how much it hurts, you’d think we would all do a better job of making sure we don’t exclude others.

This is what I noticed about Thomas this year. We hear about the story of the disciple Thomas on the first Sunday after Easter every year and this was the first time I paid attention to Thomas’s exclusion.

The resurrected Christ appeared to the other 10 disciples who were locked in their room, terrified.

The resurrected Christ stood among them and said, “peace be with you.”

The resurrected Christ showed them his hands and his side.

The resurrected Christ commissioned them to go out into the world to serve, live, and love in Christ’s name.

The resurrected Christ spoke to them about their power to forgive.

At no point did a disciple interrupt the resurrected Christ to say, “Um, excuse me, but Thomas isn’t here and I feel like he should be a part of this.”

The thought that a disciple would interrupt the resurrected Christ in such a way might sound like an odd idea; but I guarantee if Bartholomew had the guts to say, “Timeout, Lord. Let’s pause and make sure Thomas is a part of this,” we would be celebrating a yearly festival in honor of Bartholomew the patron saint of inclusion. But instead, Thomas is left out; which begs the question, why?

Jesus was dead for three days, which is something I assume can mess with the brain’s wiring, but certainly the resurrected Christ could still count the disciples in the room and realize there was someone missing. Surely the resurrected Christ – being as he was, in perfect union with all of God’s creation – would have known intuitively that Thomas was not there. The most logical explanation is that this was done on purpose.

Christ’s purposeful exclusion of Thomas from his initial welcome back party certainly wasn’t done in order to humiliate him; which is the unfortunate legacy he has born through two thousand years of church history with the whole “Doubting Thomas” moniker. A better reason for Thomas’ exclusion is that sometimes it takes an outsider to correctly observe and critique a group dynamic.

Since we’re in baseball season, think of it as a baseball team full of talented players who are not playing at their potential. As painful as the process can be, often a mid-season manager switch can make all the difference. The new manager is an outsider who is free to observe the team and offer constructive critique with the expectation that the unidentified or unresolved problems will be exposed and corrected so that the team can thrive.

Of course, it’s up to the team whether or not to acknowledge this new information and respond accordingly; unlike what happens in this example of a similar circumstance:

A constructive critique was something the disciples desperately needed because as the text tells us, even after the visit from the resurrected Jesus in which they saw the wounds and received his commission, they remained locked inside their room presumably still very much afraid.

Picture Thomas returning to the locked room. He whispers the secret password and the door is unlocked for him. His friends are gathered around with strange looks on their faces. They proceed to excitedly tell Thomas of the events that had just transpired. They look at Thomas waiting for him to share their enthusiasm (perhaps secretly wishing to hear Thomas say, “I missed what?!?! You guys are so lucky!”). But instead Thomas says, “I don’t believe you. If Jesus really was just here and said all those things, you wouldn’t still be locked in here and afraid. I don’t believe you because if what you said is true, an experience like that would have radically changed you. All I see are a bunch of frightened and insecure people.”

Thomas was the resurrected Christ’s appointed outsider whose mission was to confront the disciples about their inadequate response to the good news of Christ’s power over death.

I can’t think of a more appropriate or timely image for today’s Christ followers to contemplate. There is so much hand-wringing going on in the Christian Church in the West today about dwindling attendance, budgets, and cultural influence. Or, just as sinful are those congregations who gather primarily to pat themselves on the back about how great they are, while ignoring the lack of justice in their communities. What a gift it is to have an outsider look at the church and say, in the vein of Thomas, “I don’t believe you. If Jesus really was just here and said all those things, you wouldn’t still be locked in here and afraid. I don’t believe you because if what you said is true, an experience like that would have radically changed you. All I see are a bunch of frightened and insecure people.”

Christians in the West have largely abandoned discipleship and cross-bearing in favor of entitlement. Today, like no other time in history, people outside the church feel empowered to point out the hypocrisy of the church that too often fails to live a life of radical discipleship and dependence on the resurrected Christ. The good news of today’s text is that God uses those who have been excluded to point out when the faith and actions of Christ followers are not aligned.

The resurrected Christ will show up to people within the walls of the church, as he did with the 10 disciples. His message is the same today as it was back then. It is a message of forgiveness, peace, and commissioning. I would also take it a step further and declare that the resurrected Christ also shows up in those outsiders who stand outside the church walls and challenge Christ-followers when their lives fail to reflect the good news. It’s up to us whether we respond like the chimps in the commercial and go on pretending we don’t know the truth; or whether we respond like the disciples who ultimately did heed Jesus’ commission and went out to all the world bearing the good news of forgiveness, grace, and love in Christ to all people.

Amen.

The Christlike God – John 14:1-14

Thomas, the Essential Outsider