Sunday April 12th, 2015 The Second Sunday after Easter
Acts 4:32-35
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.
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.
The Message
The situation in the early church that formed right after
Jesus resurrection is really remarkable. We heard a description of this
community in Acts 4. We learn that the whole group of Jesus followers were of
one heart and one mind, they sold and shared their possessions, everyone was
provided for according to their needs and there was not a needy person among
them. This is a profound example of what living out Jesus teachings looks like.
Part of the reason behind this commitment and faithful way of life with God at
the center of all things was that many of the people there believed the world
would be ending and Jesus would return within a few years. As time goes on and people realized Jesus return
was not imminent, things change. This community rooted in extreme faith, does
not last too long. Things fall apart
quickly and so far in church history, have never been the same.
The collapse of the community happens fast. In fact, immediately
after today’s reading in Acts 5, we get to the uncomfortable story of Ananias
and his wife Sapphira, This couple is part of the church community. They sell
their property, turn over some of the money they gained and secretly put some
aside for themselves. Ananias comes in, donates the portion set aside for the
church and lies about it to the group, saying that is all he made from the
sale. After being questioned and repeating the lie a few times, he falls down
dead. A few hours later, his wife Sapphira,
comes in, without knowing what happened to her husband. She tells the same lie
about the amount of the sale. Again after repeating it a few times, she falls
down dead. Here was the end of giving
everything and holding all things in common.
Being of one heart and one mind disappears quickly as well. This early group of followers starts to be
divided by different understandings of God’s work in the world. This initial
harmony is followed by almost 2000 years (and counting) of arguments,
disagreements, conflicting interpretations of Jesus teachings and different
understandings of the resurrection. Along with the 1000’s of little things that
separate God’s church, there were large disputes over things like if you needed
to become Jewish before being baptized, if Jesus was truly human, if Jesus is
truly God, the role of saints, the role of icons, homosexuality, the literal or
allergorical reading of the bible, how are sins forgiven, what actually happens during communion, do we baptize
infants or adults, the role of women,
and conflict or agreement with science and what we know about the world. I wish I could say that, at least, the great
proclamation of Easter, that Christ is risen from the dead for the forgiveness
of our sins, is something we could be of one mind and one heart about but we
cannot even seem to agree about that and what it means for the world. A church that started out as and celebrated
one heart and one mind has become millions of angry, divided hearts and
disagreeing minds.
In the early church, people in need also start to show up and
go away empty. In his letter to the church in Corinith, Paul spends chapters
condemning the mockery they are making of the Lord’s supper when the rich eat
huge feasts while the poor celebrating among them have very little. Today, this division remains. We have the
recent scandal of a German bishop’s forty million dollar private palace. It’s only a few people in that category but
those are the stories people remember and make the millions of leaders in the
church who are doing the right thing look very bad.. So much for everyone sharing
everything in common.
We have gone very far from being a community of one mind and
one heart, who care for each other and share what we have. I really think it is
amazing, a miracle that we have a faith which has survived so many centuries of
very bad behavior, attack, laziness, abuse, criticism, wrong ideas and
competition. To understand how that is
possible, I look at the story of doubting Thomas in today’s Gospel reading. One
of the few things that we are of one mind and one heart about is doubt. We have
all been there. I have barely ever
spoken to someone who has spent their whole lives sure of anything, including
their faith. The few times I have, I often wonder if they are telling me the
truth. Thomas, shows us the church is supposed to be a safe place to wrestle
and struggle with faith, to be critical, to ask hard questions, to be honest
about what we believe and open to new perspectives, to change our minds, to
change our traditions to help others experience God’s love, to realize we are
an imperfect, human church, held together by the Holy Spirit and hopefully
trying our best.
The real reason Thomas helps explain how the church has
survived, is that after he sees the Risen Christ, after his doubts are
answered, he acts. The rest of the
disciples have spent all of the their time locked away and hiding in a house.
They are scared and do not know what to believe or do. They have seen the Lord
but it has not changed them, it has not sent them out to share the good news. Thomas openly doubts but he is the first to really
get it, he declares that Jesus is My Lord and my God, He is the first to recognize
what God has done through Christ. He is the first to realize that at Christmas,
God was born as one of us, becoming incarnate, in the flesh. He is the first to
realize that on Good Friday, God hands God’s self over to death. He is the
first to realize on Easter, God is Risen from the dead, that sin and death have
been defeated. Thomas is the first to
really experience the joy of Easter, his doubts, worries and fears are wiped
out by the news, Christ is Risen from the dead.
Thomas is also the first to accept the responsibility of Easter. Immediately after the encounter with the
risen Christ, Thomas does not stay in the room, he leaves and goes out to tell
the world. According to traditions and reports, Thomas travels further then
anyone else, bringing the news that Christ is Risen from the dead all the way to
India.
We are far from being that ideal community in Acts 4, being
of one mind and holding all things in common but we remain a community of faith
changed by the joy of Jesus resurrection and maintained by the responsibility to
go and tell the others.
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