April 11 Sermon: Disbelief
Guest Preacher: Rev. Lisl Heymans Paul
Director of Campus Ministry, Agape House Christian Ministry – UIC
Agape House Christian Ministry is your United Methodist Campus Ministry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We are an ecumenical, reconciling community of students, faculty and staff that seeks to follow the path of Jesus in this world. Our ministry of love and justice is expressed through spiritual growth, service in public life, and community building. We invite you to support us through your prayers, your time as a volunteer, and your financial gifts. For more information contact Lisl or visit agape-uic.org.
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Thomas gets a bad rap in our Gospel lesson today.
He is known as the doubter, whose disbelief in the resurrected Christ is legendary.
His doubt on that one fateful occasion has overshadowed his entire life..his martyr’s death, his faithful witness and his evangelistic zeal.
He is and will always be the doubting Thomas.
How many times have you been compared to the doubting Thomas?
I am sure that sometime in your Sunday school days, or just before that big decision or right in the midst of a crisis someone very helpfully said to you…don’t doubt, just have faith, trust in God.
Am I ringing any bells here?
I think we like calling Thomas a doubter because it is the easy answer to this story. Think about it… when things aren’t going so well, we are told to not be like Thomas…don’t doubt, just have faith. Thomas has become like an anti role model for us…when the going gets rough, don’t be a doubting Thomas.
Perhaps in our effort to find the easy answers we have missed the gift of Thomas’ doubt. This story is about more than just doubt, it is about disbelief. And actually, doubt, disbelief, can be a real gift for us in our faith.
Let’s take a look at two kinds of disbelief at play in this story.
The first is the kind of disbelief that comes from not wanting to accept the reality of something that is too horrible, too scary, too tragic to be true.
It’s the kind of tragic events that you hear about on the news: a thirteen year old Yemeny girl dies from internal bleeding three days after she’s married…an earthquake in Haiti, in Chile, killing thousands, leaving many more homeless, a soldier losing his legs in a IED blast, then losing his mind from PTSD, a little boy on the south side caught in the cross fire, killed on his way to school.
I hear about these tragic things from our students at Agape House: a student being beaten up by her boyfriend, another being rejected by their family and learning to hate themselves because they’re gay, a student slowing losing the ability to walk and talk because of a crippling disease. I could go on and on and on…
I wonder if, as the disciples ran away from the cross and the women who loved Jesus looked up at this dying body, they were overcome by this kind of disbelief: That the event of Jesus’ death was too horrible to be true.
My guess is that when the disciples gathered in the upper room behind locked doors, they were overcome by their disbelief. Their hopes concerning Jesus were shattered and they were now afraid for their lives. They could not believe what had happened.
Disbelief in events too tragic to be true.
But you know, I believe that this kind of disbelief, of doubt, is actually a gift. It is a good thing that we struggle to come to terms with the reality of senseless suffering, violence, poverty and injustice. These tragedies should give us pause, they should not be so easily accepted. They should shake us to our core, and leave us shaking our heads in disbelief that such things could happen. Sad is the day when suffering of any kind is matter of course, something accepted with apathy and disinterest.
Disbelief, doubt, is a gift.
The second kind of disbelief is exactly the opposite. It is the kind of disbelief that occurs when something happens that is too good to be true.
Amidst their fear and disappointment, the disciples were confronted with the reality of the risen Christ. Jesus came and stood among them. He offered them peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The man they loved and followed, the man they watch die on a cross, was now standing among them. He had overcome death. This wondrous, miraculous, impossible event was too good to be true. It took them seeing his scars, the nail holes, for it to sink in.
It is no wonder that Thomas asked Jesus to show him the wounds in his hands, feet and side. Thomas stood in utter disbelief as he gazed upon the risen Jesus, not because he had no faith, but because he could not believe that such a wonderful event had actually taken place.
It was just too good to be true.
Thomas’ disbelief is understandable and familiar because it is the same disbelief that overcomes us when we experience the risen Christ.
It is the disbelief that occurs when we are surprised by a love so deep it overwhelms us. It is a disbelief that occurs when we encounter the risen Christ in this church, in love of this community, in the celebration of our personhood, in the rejoicing of our newfound hope.
All of these things just seem too good to be true.
I see this at Agape: in the student who finds healing, empowerment and ultimately learns to forgive that boyfriend who beat her up, in the gay student who not only feels welcomed by God’s love in us, but learns to love and accept themselves, in the student who is treated equally despite her failing body, and becomes a leader in our ministry…a voice and a body for others.
Again, I believe that this kind of disbelief, of doubt, is actually a gift. It is a good thing that we can’t believe a love like God’s is meant for us. This disbelief reminds us of the scandal of the resurrection, of the beyond the ordinary story of God’s grace. It reminds that this love, this grace and the peace Christ offers are not things to be taken lightly, that in fact they are powerful beyond our imagining, they are evidence that there is more to world than meets the eye.
Disbelief in things too tragic to be true, in things too good to be true is a gift of our faith…it shakes us out of our complacency and invites us to stand in awe of the power of God’s love, and in awe of the brokenness of the world.
Our disbelief in things too tragic to be true can be the impetus to call us to work for love, for peace, for justice every moment, every moment of our lives. Being confronted, even on the most micro level, by the suffering and brokenness of the world, should stir in us the deep desire to be heal that suffering in God’s name.
Our disbelief in things too good to be true can be the reminder that there is more to this world than meets the eye. The power of love is brewing, churning, troubling the powers of hate and violence. This love is stronger than death, than violence, than any weapon that any empire or nation could think up.
The disciples confronted their disbelief that terrible, wonderful week. They saw their savior die and then overcome death. The disciples’ and Thomas’ disbelief turned to wonder and then joy! But the story doesn’t end at Thomas’ disbelief, and it doesn’t end with ours either.
When Jesus came to the disciples, he astounded even more by saying to them not once, but three times: “Peace be with you.”
This sounds nice enough right? But imagine with me what the disciples were facing at that time. When Jesus came to them, they were in a locked room because they were afraid of being killed. Their lives were in danger from the temple priests and the Romans.
And yet Jesus says three times, Peace be with you.
Rev. Kristen Bargeron Grant writes: “For Jesus, these words are neither a salutation nor an attempt at ironic humor. They are a fulfillment of a promise. The last time they were together, Jesus told his disciples that, regardless of what they were threatened with in this world, they would share in his peace. But simply saying it had not made it so.
Now Jesus Christ the risen Lord has come back to make good on that promise. When he tells them ‘peace be with you’ not once, but three times, he is giving them what they need to claim that shalom as a reality. He is empowering them to practice resurrection, to be resurrection people.”
Jesus was calling them to live out their faith, live the abundant life he promised to them. He was calling them to receive, embrace and BE the Peace he was offering.
The peace of Jesus is the kind of peace that comes with knowing that sorrow, pain and death will never ultimately overcome us…that life always has the final answer. It is a peace from the fear of the power of death. A peace that frees us from guilt and self hatred. A peace that dares to believe that peace with justice is possible, even in our time. This is the peace that Jesus offers…
It would have been so easy for them to stay in that locked room, storing up all that peace for themselves, rejoicing over the too good to be true good news but not daring to share it with anyone else.
Jesus understood their fear and so gave them an advocate, the Holy Spirit. When we blew on them, he was literally passing on the very essence of God within him. The Holy Spirit would give them the courage and authority they needed to share the too good to be true good news, and to face the too tragic to be true brokenness of the world.
Jesus called his disciples out of that locked room because he knew that life he offered to them could not be contained by those four walls, that it must be shared with others, it must be shown to others.
We too have our locked rooms, places where we would rather keep our faith instead of risking sharing it with others, risking showing it to others. The rooms may be this church, the tight circle of friends we have found here, our family, perhaps. We need our disbelief, the peace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to get us out of those locked rooms and into the world.
I invite you, my friends, to remember your disbelief. Go ahead, be like Thomas: Embrace your doubt…it’s the doubt, the disbelief that helps you to remember what it felt like to first experience how much God loves you. It is the doubt that inspires hope, and courage to embrace the peace that passes all understanding.
Because of Jesus, we are now the living embodiment of the story that is too good to be true. We are what others need…the flesh and blood of Jesus, alive, present, made real in every act of peace, of justice, of reconciliation, of bold and reckless love that we undertake.
We are a disbelieving resurrection people…and this broken, violent world is our doubting Thomas-waiting to experience something too good to be true.
Remember also that with disbelief, comes the peace of Christ that passes understanding, and the power of Holy Spirit that gives us courage. These too, are gifts of our faith.
So, my friends, let’s pass on our disbelief to others. Let’s shake this world out of its complacency so that things too tragic too be true will actually become not true…and so that things too good to be true will actually become a resurrection, love unending, peace beyond understanding, every moment of everyday reality.
And may the peace of Christ that passes understanding, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you now, and ever more.
Amen.
