Year A Easter 2 2023 Resurrection is Life

 Year A Easter 2, 16 April 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Resurrection is Life”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith-- being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire-- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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.

Before we begin the homily today I want to stop and thank the Altar Guild, the Choir, the Handbells, the Children’s Choir, the Egg Hunters and Layers, the staff, and all who pitched in to make our Triduum and Easter Morning so glorious! Getting to be in the Pavilion (Thanks be to Dale) for Easter Sunrise was a stated goal that came to be. It was not easy, but it was worth it. God is good, all the time, and we have so much to be thankful for. So much. So thank you, and thanks be to God.

As we look into the continuing unveiling of the Easter story, this week we have Thomas and his questions, next week the Road to Emmaus. So much to review every year in those events surrounding the Resurrection. As I said last week, the Resurrection changes everything. There was Before, and there is After. It is the crux point of history, and it changes everything.

Because it is so important, it gives us hope and faith as much as it raises doubts. Because it was so traumatic, it begs review. 

• Why was it that Jesus had to die? 

• Why especially in such a horrific way?

• What is the point of suffering, for Jesus and for us?

While we point to Resurrection two millennia ago, the questions have been bandied around for as long.

Are these doubts, or are they legitimate questions? I would tend to say that squaring them in our minds is why God gave us brains. There is nothing wrong in using what God has given you. Absolutely nothing. That is why we are called to love God with our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. (And our neighbor as much as ourselves, by the way.)

My answer to those hard questions may seem simplistic. But I have turned the possible choices over and over in my mind for decades. Why did Jesus have to die? For me, because he did. In his prayers in Gethsemane, he asks for another way. Did one come? Do you think that God listened to Jesus’ prayers? I do. And this one most of all. If he did not get another cup from which to drink, Jesus had to die because it was his to do.

[Pause]

And like is so often mentioned in John’s Gospel when hard things happen, it is so God can and will be glorified.

It had to be because it was. You might come to a different place, but in this answer I have found my peace.

I think through the sermons and experiences of last week, and I am exhausted, but even more I am full. It was a powerful and enriching week. And I thank God for this Church and its powerful witness to Christ and his resurrection. This is a good, and joyful, and loving place. 

If you saw the Church’s Facebook feed, you may have noticed that Miriam and Kasey hosted a “Biscuits with the Boss” event for the day the first episode of a certain TV started about a month ago. “Biscuits with the Boss” was a regular part of the first two seasons. I have mentioned Ted Lasso before. It is funny and heartwarming, heartbreaking and touching, too. One of the characters is a Mexican football player that repeatedly reminds his Premier League counterparts that “Football is Life.”

We all could say the same thing, probably not about Football, but for all of us, “SOMETHING is LIFE.” There is something that gets us out of bed in the morning. There is something that primes our pumps. There is something that makes us feel alive like nothing else. It is so intertwined in your psyche and identity that you may not even think about it consciously, and neither do you question its worth. We love what we love.

But once you see what it is for you, you cannot unsee it. Like a trick for the eye, once you know what to look for you cannot miss it.

As we prayed for in our Collect this morning: 

“Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith…”

As I have said from this pulpit, my verse that I go back to when times are good and times are bad is Jesus’ statement of purpose: “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” [Jn. 10:10]

For Jesus, “LIFE is LIFE.” That should not be a surprise when God says God’s name is “I am.” Or “I exist.” Or the verb “To Be.” As the Gospel of John begins, in its hymn to the Pre-incarnate Word: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”

 

Our Life is His Life. That is Jesus’ hope, desire, and modus operandi. His Life was to Give Us a Life. The opposite of the insult, “Get A Life,” Jesus came to “Give A Life.” To you, and to you, and to you, and to me. I feel like Oprah: “You getta a Life, and you getta a Life,  and you getta Life!” Pretty cool!

At the end of the story of Jesus lovingly meeting Thomas’ stated doubts, there is this wonderful editorial addition from the author of the Gospel of John:

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.

“So that we might have Life in his name.” That’s it. That’s the point.

The Apostle Peter put it this way in his epistle from this morning:

By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Life we get is New Birth into a Living Hope. We are given the gift of being able to see a light when it is pitch black, to hear a song when the winds are raging, to love when the whole world hates. It is said we can live about 4 months without food, 4 days without water, 4 minutes without air, but not 4 seconds without hope. 

In Jesus, I have hope, because “Jesus is Life.”

If you ever doubted that, the Resurrection should give you pause. He was so filled with Life that Death itself could not keep him down.

Thomas, the questioning one in today’s Gospel lesson, just did not see what Jesus’ driving force was. Rabbi, teacher, miracle worker, maybe the Messiah but his death took that away. He does not question Jesus and his Lordship. He readily admits that when the time comes. 

When Jesus said, “Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

But dead is dead, and he questions the learned experience that when things are dead they do not come back. We learn that from goldfish, and puppies, bugs we step on, and the like. Death is one of the first permanents that we learn.

But there is another. Fortitude is the fancy way of saying stick-to-it-tiveness. In the face of fears, in the face of doubts, one must learn to never give up. Even in their quaking fear, the disciples were still together. Thomas, even though it seems he thought they were pulling his leg, he did not leave or abandon them. Staying tough when things get hard is one of those lessons that seem to have fallen by the wayside, but says so much about who we are. Edgar Guest wrote this poem in 1921, and it still fits.

“Keep Going”

by Edgar Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

And the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns.

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than it seems

To a faint and faltering man.

Often the struggler has given up when he

Might have captured the victor's cup,

And he learned too late when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are.

It may be near when it seems afar.

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit.

It's when things seem worst that

You musn’t quit.

Source, public domain

Today was a patchwork quilt of thoughts, friends. But I hope in stepping back you see the pattern that emerges from Thomas’ story. Doubts happen, and they are a part of having faith. It is especially appropriate to wrestle with doubt when things are beyond belief in hard and cruel times. And in our doubts, do not give up. Your doubts may just lead you to a higher plane of your belief. Keep on keeping on. Jesus will be there for you. Today and always, because as I said, “Jesus is Life!” Amen