Thomas Sunday - 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen. We've been

separated for so long now, but I consider this

time of the liturgy when we are not separated,

because the Spirit unites us. I consider this

time a chance for me to speak with you. I call

you during the week and you speak to me. And

now I want to tell you something about the gospel.

The message of salvation, which is that Christ

rose from the dead. He is the first fruits of

the resurrection. And we are waiting for the

harvest. We will be raised from the dead too.

And right now we have to live as if death has

no dominion over us. Sickness has no... dominion

over us other than the pain and the sorrow and

the difficulties, but ultimately it has no control.

We are not slaves of it, neither sin, because

we repent and we're forgiven. You heard the message

in the gospel. The Lord breathed on the apostles

just as he breathed on Adam in the garden and

infused a spirit and life within him. He did

the same, yes, the word of God, both places,

breathed on the apostles and gave them the grace,

the ability, the capacity to forgive sins. So

sin doesn't enslave us either because in Christ

we're free from both death and sin. Let us also

be free from the uncertainty that is around us

to some degree. There's so much of it. What can

we know? What we read? What we hear? Is this

true? Is that true? Who knows? But we have to

be obedient to our bishop, and that is one thing

I know for sure, and I'm not uncertain about.

So, we say this incredible verse at the entrance,

Wisdom stand aright in congregations, bless ye

God the Lord, from the wellsprings of Israel.

And our congregation is there, funneled out across

the city, not just all in one place. May it be

that you become seeds of true faith, orthodoxy,

faith in Christ, the risen one, throughout this

whole town, throughout this whole county. We

have to examine our life outside of the building

of the church, outside of the divine liturgy.

And that's what this gospel to me is about. We

can think about our own uncertainty, so many

things we wish were otherwise now, but today

we're going to contemplate on the uncertainty

of the disciples, particularly one of them. Actually,

he was quite certain about something. He was

certain that Jesus had been killed, because Roman

execution squads do not make mistakes. But we

see the fear of the apostles in that upper room,

and the faith of Thomas. The marvelous change

which came over those men, which we see so clearly

in the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. That's

this week. Next week, so this week we meditate

on the fear, the uncertainty, the coming to faith.

Next week we're going to praise the faith, the

love and the care of the women disciples. Fear

and doubt on the one hand, and on the other,

an outpouring of sacrificial love. by the women

boldness to go to the tomb both of these are

normal human responses to the incredible things

that took place in jerusalem these events are

recounted for us today not so we can think about

what happened but so that we can be inspired

in our own life to ask god to change us to transform

us to cause us to be in our uncertainty to be

transformed into boldness. The angel said to

the disciples there in Jerusalem at Solomon's

Porch, a very public place of the temple, go

tell all the people the words of life. Words

of life aren't us getting on the internet and

having theological discussions or hitting people

over with a Jesus stick. More on that in a minute.

St. John, in chapter 20, describes the first

day, Pascha Day, and Jesus came to the disciples,

but Thomas was not there with them. Having tried,

I suppose, being a practical man, to get back

to what would be the new normal life after that

crushing disappointment. Just get on with it,

he probably thought. Jesus was wonderful, but

it's another crucified Messiah. of which there

were many under the Romans. Being the pragmatic

man that he was, and we can pick that up from

earlier in the gospel, when he heard that the

disciples said about Jesus, we have seen the

Lord, he reacted just as they had reacted, no

different, when the women came with the good

news that Jesus was risen and the tomb was empty.

You're all in grief. You're hysterical. This

can't be true. Dead people don't rise. And there

was fear and uncertainty. Their master was killed.

Now the authorities are coming for them. And

didn't Jesus say, they remember, not so long

ago, only two days ago, if they have persecuted

me, they will also persecute you. So they were

behind locked doors. They'd also forgotten what

Jesus said in almost that same sentence. Ye now

therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again,

and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no

man taketh from you. Your joy may be full. Eight

days later, and that's why we're here now. A

week after Pascha. Eight being the number of

eternity. The day beyond the seven days of the

week. The day without evening. The Lord's day.

Jesus came. The door is being shut. Came through

the shut door. And Thomas was there. Thomas wanted

real verification. Wanted to know. based on what

he could see and understand. And that's the way

we are. So the Lord is there with his wounds

on his hands, feet, and his side. Pay attention

now. One of the hymns last night at Vespers,

which is why it's so important for us to be at

Vespers, we hear things that will open an understanding

for us. Besides, we're praising the resurrection,

so how can that be bad? One of the hymns from

Vespers last night has Thomas speaking quite

theologically. He says this, Unless I see the

wounds in which the great wounds of mankind were

healed, and see that he is not a spirit, but

his flesh and bones, risen from the dead, I will

not believe. Our resurrection also will be bodily.

These wounds of the Lord, they're signs. A sign,

you're driving down the road, you see a sign,

and you're prepared to see that sign and turn

right. It tells you something about where you're

going, what it means. These wounds are signs.

St. John's Gospel is full of signs so that we,

imperfect human beings, may be able to recognize

our risen Lord as Thomas did. St. Gregory Palamas

said this about the scars. He said, the scars

are not erased when the suffering ceases, when

the resurrection happens. Either for Christ or

those who suffer, the martyrs, for example. but

that the light of God shines forth in them. And

when that light shines forth in the martyrs and

those who bear wounds, we'll be recognizable

by the divine beauty and the radiance of their

wounds, not by their ugliness. The light will

shine forth. God's light will shine forth. It

was that sign in that wound of the Lord that

led Thomas to perfect belief, more perfect than

the other apostles, because none of them said,

my Lord and my God. So clearly does the gospel

proclaim the Lord's divinity to us. Let there

be no doubt. The apostle also, Thomas, was named

Didymus. The name means twin. Apparently, Thomas

might mean that too. In an orthodox sense, My

dear friend, Father Maximus, at the monastery

tells me this. He says, in spiritual symbols,

the wounds in the resurrection body of Jesus

are the symbols that will lead us from doubt

to belief, from belief to true faith, and finally,

to the saving acts of knowledge. The saving knowledge

will make us twins with Jesus. Our goal must

be twinned. must be to be twinned with Christ

in faith and love and knowledge, to become like

him. Now, if this were a normal Sunday, I would

end here. But my time with you is so short anyway,

I'm going to say a little bit more. The Lord

knew that Thomas wants the truth. The Lord knew

that knows that we want the truth. In Greek,

by the way, Thomas isn't called... Doubting Thomas,

but faithful Thomas. Nevertheless, Christ rebukes

the need of that kind of verification that he

wanted. Our Savior blesses those who have the

kind of faith that Abraham had. What kind of

faith did Abraham have? He's called the father

of faith. Get thee out of thy country, the pre

-incarnate word of the Lord said to Abraham.

Get thee out of thy country to a land that I

will show thee. And you know the rest of the

story and the promises made to Abraham. Hearing

the word of God, that's the kind of faith. And

faith is hard. Our doubts about the faith, of

which many have many, and that's quite normal.

A thousand doubts don't lead to unbelief. But

our doubts of the faith are not the kind of doubts

that Thomas had, are they? Our questions are

like, will God do this? Why doesn't God do this?

Is God truly loving? Does God truly care? Why

is there so much suffering? How can I believe

if? That's a different kind of doubt. Doubting

is not evil in itself, but only when doubting

becomes a passion of denial. and often it becomes

something founded in our sins because we don't

want to turn to Christ. When doubting denies

the signs that God has given us mercy, so that

we should believe and receive salvation, only

then is doubting an evil. Otherwise, it's just

the way our rational mind works. And I hope our

parish and our parishioners are healthy enough

To provide a loving place for questioning and

wrestling with God. Because those are opportunities

for discovering something, a deeper understanding.

The Lord said to the disciples, as the Father

has sent me, even so send I you. Even after they

had their misunderstandings, their fear, they

all ran away. What kind of disciples would they

be? But the Lord said to them, when you receive

the Holy Spirit, he will bring to mind all things

that you know that you have been told. People

argue about religion all the time out of doubt

on social media and together. But have you ever

seen anything good that comes from that? Not

a chance. This is sharing information. Don't

try to do that. Stay off social media and talking

about religions. Just don't do it. Don't beat

people over the head with Jesus Christ. Faith

comes according to another law. That's the spiritual

law, which is the law of grace, which is the

law of love and of humility and of living according

to the resurrection. It's the law of revelation

of Christ to the human heart. Listen to St. Nikolai.

Some have seen the Lord and have said, My Lord

and my God. Some only heard him and said, My

Lord and my God. Some have only felt him and

said, My Lord and my God. Some have only observed

him in the fabric of the events and the destinies

of peoples and said, My Lord and my God. Some

have felt his presence in their lives and cried

out, My Lord and my God. Some have seen their

sins. and know that Christ will heal them, and

say, My Lord and my God. Some have recognized

him by some sign to themselves or to others and

cried out, My Lord and my God. Some have only

heard about him from others and believed and

cried out, My Lord and my God. Truly, these last

ones are the most blessed. Let us exclaim with

all our hearts, regardless of how we have come

to recognize him or learn about him, My Lord.

The church grew not from passing on information,

but from the healings that took place and from

the witness of the martyrs. We don't have either,

which is why I look at that icon of St. Seraphim.

It says, acquire the spirit of peace and a thousand

souls around you will be saved. No, there's no

time limit on that. But it's not happening because

of me. So we need to beg God on our hands and

knees to be more like the apostles, both in the

type of doubt they had and the faith that they

came to and were transformed. With God's help,

let it be. Christ is risen.