RonBlog

Sunday 15th April, 2012 Second Sunday of Easter

Sentence
‘Peace be with you,’ says the Lord. ‘As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.’ John 20:21

Collect
Almighty and Eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt; may we who have not seem, have faith, and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing, Who is alive and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen

First Lesson Acts 4: 32 – 37

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Psalm 133

Behold how good and lovely it is: when families live together in unity
It is fragrant as oil upon the head:, that runs down to the beard: fragrant as oil upon the beard of Aaron, that ran down over the collar of his robe
It is like the dew of Hermon: like the dew that falls upon the hill of Zion.
For there the Lord commanded His blessing: which is life for evermore.

Epistle 1 John 1:1 – 2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us--
we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

GOSPEL John 20: 19 – 31
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.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved

NOTES ON THE READINGS
First Lesson
It is an odd and rather sad cameo of the Infant Church that appears early in that story. On the one hand, there is enormous enthusiasm, and on the other, the inability to follow through. Before you are too hard on the errant couple, stop and realize how often people will respond not entirely automatically, then realize the step they have taken, and beat a rapid retreat. While it is understandable, it is also dishonest, and that is very destructive.
In my New Testament lectures in theological College donkey’s years ago, the lecturer drew attention to the strong possibility that this failed attempt at communism in the Church resulted in the constant appeals of Paul for the Jerusalem Church in its poverty. The idea was marvellous; the execution lacked forethought, one would consider that to be the problem.

Psalm
This is a very brief but very telling psalm drawing attention to the top value of community in the People of God. This is no easily-attained state, but enormously supportive when it occurs. Mind you, that is the aim of any community, and the Church is meant to be precisely that. Sadly, the demon of ego managed to infiltrate into the Church, for – as the Epistle today underlines, - we are and remain sinners. All of us, not just a nuisance few!!!

Epistle
Dear old John, who had become very much the elder statesman of the Infant Church, although his message remained remarkably simple and telling. It would not hurt to read through this short passage again.

GOSPEL
Three huge issues are enunciated here, in this brief and telling passage. First has to do with the forgiveness of sins, then resurrection, and the nature of faith.
Have you ever stopped to realize how remarkable is this business of Jesus giving His Apostles the authority to forgive sins. That action of Jesus drew constant antagonism from His enemies, religious leaders of Israel. Remember? And here He is handing out that authority to mere humans. You may notice that our Church tends to limit that authority to the ordained priesthood, which is a mark of the seriousness of that authority. It is not to be acted upon willy nilly. That is the point.
I have to express my solidarity with dear old Thomas: he – alone of the Twelve – was most aware of the enormous difference that Jesus’ resurrection brought, if in fact it had happened. Thomas was not prepared to take someone else’s word for such a gigantic change. He had to see the evidence for himself. And please note that Jesus both recognized and honoured that. Faith is never some sort of ‘cross the fingers’ business. Faith is ever the choice a person makes on the basis of the evidence available. And never forget that.
And what impelled Thomas to ask the serious question is simply this: if that tale of Jesus rising was a furphy, it was not worth the candle. That would simply be following some sort of dream. On the other hand, if this were true, then nothing could ever be the same again. The resurrection made clear that evil had been defeated in Cross and resurrection, a stunning situation in a world where evil and power always had the upper hand, and so it appeared in the death of Jesus. Neither truth, nor love, nor life can be killed, and that ‘moved the goal posts’ in a way never thought possible before.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

Every now and again I offer what I call a ‘hard hat and east belt’ situation and this just may be one of these. And as usual, I remind you that I am asking you to think, rather than dig your toes in? OK?
Being old and retired, the TV offers some light relief periodically, although I often produce great complaint about some of the idiotic comments made from time to time. One of my pet hates occurs quite often on ‘Deal or No Deal’ where the presenter will often comment to contestants about their ‘faith’ in their choice of number for the game. Regular viewers will know what I am on about. At the start of each game, said contestants select a number out of 29 or so, and many give all sorts of reasons why that number is significant for them. Andrew will ask, remarkably often, if they have faith that their number will win the big bucks. The same question about their ‘faith’ recurs, with some people being honest enough to say that they have no idea of the outcome, in spite of their so-called confidence.
My point for referring to this conundrum is the extensive and popular perception that ‘if I have faith, all will fall into my lap,’ and that is baloney of the first order. Reason? This is not about faith! Yet sadly, that is the perception many people have about the almost total reality attached to ‘faith’ in anything or anyone.
Many years ago, I had a rather unpleasant encounter with a man who rang the Rectory where we lived requesting help to purchase some food. He claimed to be broke. As I was in a rush I offered the usual assistance, suggesting attendance at the local Supermarket, where he could obtain $25 worth of food. No fags nor grog. On going to pay the bill, the manager informed me that he had bought the tucker with my freebie, and went on to buy his fags and grog with his bank card. On top of that he had done the local St. Vinnies to bits. He was not a local
The epitome was reached when, a day or so later, he called at the Rectory and I was in. He needed a ticket to get to Albury for a Court case, and would I help. Having let the man know I was aware of his misdemeanours I went on to say that (a) I would arrange his ticket through the local Post Office, but give no cash. Added to that, I informed him that he could choose bus transport (be at the depot at 2.00am or rail travel where he could leave at 4 am. His response was loud and irate, including the challenge that if I was a real Christian then I would trust him.
Trust him! I told him he had to be joking, and went on to say that I would trust him under the same terms that I would trust God. In that case I needed clear evidence of his trustworthiness. (My wife was sure that I would soon be mincemeat. )
Under what terms would you trust such a guy. You would not have been helped either by his huge anger, or his tats from (bald) heat to toes. Even less would you be helped by his quite recent and very real history of doing St. Vinnies down, let alone me. As an added matter, his need to be in Court was for child molestation charges.
Faith? Vague and ill-informed? Without foundation or basis? Faith without evidence is a nonsense, an absolute folly, blind faith which has to be the greatest oxymoron of all time. If that is the faith we are supposed to follow, then leave me out. It is castle in the air stuff, baseless, pointless, stupid.
And dear old Thomas was completely aware of that. And yet somehow Thomas has been duded for far too much of Christian history. He was never a doubter, and certainly not ever a weak or vacillating disciple. He was one tough, wise, committed sensible cookie, and you had better believe it.
Get hold of a Concordance and find all the references you can to this rather great guy. Where was he when Lazarus was raised? And who professed to go all the way with Jesus. When Jesus spoke of ‘many mansions’ and Thomas asked the hard question because on one else did, he was answered. And when, post-Resurrection, Thomas declared that he would take no one else’s word for it, Jesus was quite content to offer the evidence.
Thomas was perfectly clear that, if the Resurrection was real, then all of life’s goal-posts had moved. Nothing could ever remain the same. However, if it was not true, then none of the old enemies had even been dented. He was the one who saw perfectly clearly that faith in something or Someone has to be based on substance and reality, not on someone’s hearsay. How I love that man, after my own heart he was.
Over 50 years ago, in Theological College, we had a young priest from an Indian Church in Goa whose roots went back to the earliest Christian times. The Rev’d MM Thomas came for post-grad study in Sydney, from the Mar Thoma Church – founded, so he kept telling us, by – yes, you guessed it – St. Thomas Didymus, the Twin.
Doubter eh? Not on your nelly!
Faith, as I keep telling people, must be based on real evidence, otherwise it is just the crossing of fingers and hoping. Or hoping that you chose the right Deal or No Deal box. Or pushing wind uphill!