Do Not Disbelieve, But Believe — Sermon by Rev. Joe Gasbarre

Please pray with me.

May the words of my mouth and the

meditation of all our hearts be

acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our

rock and our redeemer. Amen. Please be

seated.

Well, it's official. We're out of Lent.

Um, spread the good news here. It is

Easter tide, my friends. Uh, where we

can loose all of our allelujah finally.

We can keep ringing those bells as we

just did this morning and we continually

refresh ourselves in the resurrected

reality that death has lost its power

and sting. Allelujah. Christ is risen.

>> Hallelujah.

>> I caught you. Do it one more time. Here

we go. Allelujah. Christ is risen.

>> Hallelujah.

>> Get used to saying that for a while. In

fact, get used to saying it for 50 days.

I love reminding people that while we

fasted for 40, we're invited to feast

now for 50. Um, Easter tide is the great

50 days. Um, and as many as you know,

it's 50 days because our Lord when he

was resurrected didn't immediately

ascend up into heaven, but he spent 40

days with his disciples. And also 500

people actually witnessed him walking

around. Um, and it's after his ascension

after 40 days, the apostles, they wait

and pray for 10, all leading to the

grand 50 Pentecost. And so this is our

map, so to speak, of where we'll be in

the next 50 days.

But every second Sunday of Easter is the

same gospel lesson. Um, it really breaks

down into three parts, which is great

for a preacher and and works well. Um,

and it's these three parts. Um, first

that Jesus well, he meets up with the

apostles to send them out into their

ordained ministry. Secondly, the

spotlight gets shined on Thomas who's

not with the other disciples. But

finally, the entire purpose of John's

gospel is laid bare for us. So with

that, if you have your Bibles, let's

open them to John 20. We're at verse 19.

So Jesus appears to the disciples in a

locked room and his first words to them

is peace be with you. And of course as

you know these uh disciples were very

good Anglicans and they all said and

with your spirit right um that's not in

the Greek. You didn't check that. Scott

has his Greek New Testament. He might be

able to confirm that. Um no they didn't

say that. Uh but uh we all of course

thought that maybe but uh of course

Jesus shows them um that he is not some

apparition or ghost. It's really him. He

is physically there. Uh he shows them

his hands and side which will be really

important later on for Thomas. Um but in

every postresurrection

experience with the disciples, the

authors emphasize that this is not some

spiritual resurrection but a flesh and

blood resurrection, a physical

resurrection

as we heard in the book of Acts

prophesied by King David where God does

not let the flesh of the holy one namely

Jesus to see corruption.

He has in fact overcome death itself in

his own flesh in his own blood and he

shall never die again.

So twice in fact three times twice here

once for uh Thomas uh Jesus speaks this

peace to them right and um in fact which

means of course shalom and and that word

means wholeness. He's speaking wholeness

to them. And this is the same wholeness

or goodness to bring us back to creation

where God speaks and brings about the

goodness of all things. And and we see

that in fact he's speaking that same

wholeness to his disciples because he's

going to do something new in them. A new

creation has dawned. Um and in fact,

he's doing that newness here. And he he

breathes on them, the text says. And and

what does he breathe on them? Well, it's

of course the Holy Spirit, the Holy

Spirit to be received. And again, calls

us back to creation, right? Where we

remember that the Holy Spirit breathed

upon the dusty body of Adam to make him

a living creature. And these disciples

are now being breathed on in such a way

that gives them a living mission.

As the father Jesus says has sent me,

even so I am sending you.

Well, what is the nature of that

commissioning that sending? What are

they sent to do in this world? Well, for

John's perspective for him, they are

given this profound mission and

authority to pronounce the forgiveness

of sins.

That's the heart of the mission. He

says, "If you forgive the sins of any,

they are forgiven them. If you withhold

forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

It's important to note that the

authority is given by Jesus through the

Holy Spirit for the church to proclaim

this forgiveness of sins.

As a minister of the gospel, I am given

this unique responsibility.

But in fact, just so you know, I don't

possess special powers, right? I don't

have these special powers to absolve

sin.

In fact, in our prayer book, if you look

in morning or evening prayer, it says,

"God has empowered and commanded his

ministers to pronounce to his people,

being penitent, the absolution and

remission of their sins. He pardons and

absolves all who truly repent and

genuine believe his holy gospel.

We, your clergy, are given this

remarkable gift of pronouncement,

but it's ultimately to direct the flock

to the one who truly pardons and

absolves our sins.

When I consider my calling to the

priesthood, u this pronouncement of the

forgiveness of sins speaks incredibly

deeply to me personally. Many of you

know that about me. Um but it resonates

with me because it places me in a

position to truly see you as the flock

of Christ whom Christ died for, whose

blood has sought after, who seeks to

absolve you once again. It places me to

see you as one bought with blood and

those who need to come back again and

again to that same old song of the

gospel that yes today friends your sins

are forgiven once again they are

in our men's breakfast last uh yesterday

morning I was telling a story of when I

felt I couldn't apologize enough for

something I did a wrong that I committed

to someone and I said, "If I could say

I'm sorry a thousand times, I I would

say it to you." And this person with

such grace and wisdom and childlike

faith said, "That's okay. I guess I'll

just have to forgive you a thousand

times more." Right? I mean that is the

beauty and wonder of forgiveness that

can be laid bare among us as a community

of faith.

You know as we walk through so many

experiences where our sin is ever before

us. We need that consistent word of

forgiveness again and again where such

grace meets us and moves us to even find

and bring others in. right? Even people

like Thomas.

Um, and so this is the second section of

the text. Interesting enough, I mean,

when Jesus sends them out, where do they

go? They go to Thomas. And so they have

this desire to know that someone's

missing here and they got to see him.

And Thomas being obviously missing um

you know, he is in this place of um

lostness. I hope you could see that in

the text. And I've heard many and given

many a sermon on St. Thomas and they all

seem to be either very critical of him

or very sympathetic to him. Um, and

while I'm not one to really speculate

here about his absence and such, his

strong and bizarre terms for belief,

okay, perhaps reflect a man of deep

grief.

Imagine

being called to follow someone for three

years only for it to all end in

crucifixion,

right? All your dreams maybe have been

dashed away perhaps.

And when told the best news possible

that he's alive, um his grief and

perhaps even his anger swell up in him,

declaring boldly, "Unless I see in his

hands the marks of the nails and I could

place my finger in them and and I can

place my hand into his side, I'll never

believe."

I mean, these are very specific and

graphic terms, right? Um, it is as if he

asked for the impossible.

And this is more than just doubts about

the resurrection, I think, but perhaps a

deeper emotions weighing inside of him.

Thomas witnessed so many signs of our

Lord. And in fact, we know he was there

when Lazarus was raised from the dead.

So, he's seen firsthand the raising of

the dead, too.

So again, I I'm not sure it's just about

his own wrestling of doubts, but his own

pain that speaks here. And I mean, how

often does our own pain drive our sense

of belief or disbelief?

Too often I find my subjective

experiences driving the objective

reality of Christ's resurrection.

Yes, I know he's alive. I say it I'm

going to say it for 50 days, and I'm

grateful for that. um but to believe in

his resurrecting work within me and

around me presently.

Well, this is what Jesus wants to do

with Thomas and what he seeks to do with

you and me.

Eight days later, which signifies a bit

of a clue here that God's going to do

something new, Thomas is with the

disciples now and Jesus shows up, of

course, and he says that word again,

peace be with you. um for now it is the

wholeness of Thomas that Jesus seeks for

him. And so Jesus does two things for

Thomas here in the text.

And so as I was preparing and I was

praying through the text, I noticed how

the ending of John's gospel connects us

back to the beginning of John's gospel.

In the beginning of John's gospel, it

reveals that the word became flesh and

dwelt among us. And we have seen his

glory. Glory as of the only son from the

father, full of grace and truth.

And these are the two things that Jesus

brings for Thomas, embodies for Thomas.

In fact, it is grace and truth.

The grace of Jesus for Thomas is in fact

meeting him where he is in his unbelief.

Jesus invites him, "Go ahead, put your

fingers here, see my side. Do not

disbelieve, but believe."

Grace, in fact, is always about

receiving what you don't deserve. It

fundamentally means gift.

that Christ's body and the scars he

maintains in his resurrection is all

gift to Thomas.

And while I know it's Easter, I couldn't

help but think about that great Advent

hymn, Lo He Comes with Clouds

Descending. It's one of our favorite

hymns here. And the line reads this.

Those dear tokens of his passion still

his dazzling body bears cause of endless

exaltation to his ransomed worshippers

with what rapture. Gaze we on those

glorious scars.

The grace of Christ's body given for you

here at his table seeks you out once

again, friends. It seeks you out once

again to say, "Whatever your terms may

be, whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, do

not disbelieve, but believe."

And hear again and receive once again

the grace that I have for you. for

despite yourself, but also the truth

that I seek to give you." And the truth

that Jesus spoke to Thomas and to us, of

course, is this. Blessed are those who

have not seen and yet have believed.

I find there is such a misunderstanding

and diluting of what we mean by belief

or faith. Um, particularly amongst

Christians, but especially within our

grander culture, we use these words in

ways that simply acknowledge something

to be true or exist or um, but really at

the end of the day, it bears often no

real substance to our lives. It's, yeah,

I believe that because it exists. And

you see this all over social media where

people ask things like now to a famous

person, do you believe in God? And I

remember uh Jordan Peterson being asked

that question and he'd always quit back

and say, 'What do you mean by belief?

Like tell me more about what you think

or what you say about belief, which is

absolutely brilliant. And he was hitting

on something really true there. What do

we mean by belief?

Well, belief or faith in the Bible is

this word pistus, which means trust or

reliability.

It is not about checking off a box of

true statements but staking your life

upon something.

And it's something that Thomas in fact

literally stood um stood his life upon.

In fact he did a mission in India

traditionally where he was killed after

a successful mission there. He staked

his life upon this belief.

And the kind of belief that the gospel

leads us to hold on to, the kind Thomas

held on to leads us to this final

portion of the text. It's the grander

purpose of the gospel itself. This is

verse 30.

Now Jesus did many signs, other signs in

the presence of the disciples which are

not written in this book. But these are

written so that you may believe that

Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and

that by believing you may have life in

his name.

One of my favorite quotes that I think

rightly interprets what John is saying

here is from St. Anselum of Canterbury.

He famously said,"For I do not seek to

understand in order that I may believe,

but I believe in order to understand."

I believe in order to understand.

When we begin, continue and end in faith

or pistus, we actually understand and

embrace the kind of life Jesus promises

in his name.

Earlier in this same gospel, Jesus would

say this. He said, 'The thief has come

to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have

come that they may have life and have it

abundantly.

And the kind of life that Jesus offers

us is one of sheer resurrection.

It's a life of resurrection. It's the

kind of life that takes the all the

varied experiences of death both literal

and the things that we experience on the

ground in life in general in all of its

forms and raises it up to something new

that God would in fact work through your

deadness to bring about something new in

you and not only something to look

forward to in the future though yes

that's true but what he's in fact doing

presently and doing something knew

doing things that you never thought

possible.

You see, the way that Peter in our

epistle lesson portrays resurrected

faith is probably not what you might

expect it to be because he says that

it's a faith tested by fire.

tested by fire with various trials

because he says your faith is more

precious than gold and it's not to be

destroyed but to be refined to be

something new that you never thought

possible that is resurrected life and

all of it he says to result in the

praise and glory and honor at the

revelation of Jesus Christ we endure

with joy because Life in Christ doesn't

mean business as usual, but a life where

the forgiveness of sins reigns, where

grace meets you again and again,

wherever you are, and where truth set

you free, where there was disbelief, now

belief.

Again, Peter gratefully observes about

the church and what I would like to see

for me and maybe I would hope to see for

you that though you have not seen him,

you have love for him.

That though you not see him, you love

him. Though you do not see him now, you

believe in him and rejoice with joy that

is inexpressable and filled with glory,

obtaining the outcome of your faith, the

salvation of your souls.

Oh, to have that kind of faith and love

of our Lord and God Jesus Christ.

flock of Christ, as we come to the

Lord's table to receive once again the

gifts of God for the people of God,

receive these physical signs that

communicate the grace and truth of our

life in Christ that though you have not

seen him, you love him.

And thanks be to God, his love for you

is of everlasting, world without end.

Amen.