2C 2019

A Sermon for the Baptisms on the Sunday of Doubting Thomas

April 28^th, 2019

There are four, official, baptismal feast days observed by the church, Baptism of Our Lord; the Great Vigil of Easter; Pentecost and All Saints.   

Baptism of our Lord because it marks the occasion of Jesus’ own baptism and connects our own to his. Jesus’ baptism is the occasion upon which God declares Jesus’ God’s beloved, BEFORE Jesus has done anything particularly noteworthy. So, with that in mind, baptisms on this day can help us remember that God’s love for us is unconditional and there is nothing we need to do or be in order to be loved by God.

Baptisms at the Easter Vigil are meant to connect us to the stories of our ancestors in faith. At the vigil, we hear how God’s people have been delivered. Delivered—from chaos, from evil, from slavery, and from exploitation. Delivered from death and into life. Delivered, through the water of baptism, into new life lived in the certainty of God’s love and evil’s inevitable defeat.

At Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. Pentecost baptism remind us of God’s gift of the Spirit to each of us as members of the church in the here and the now.

And, then, there is the feast day of All Saints! All Saints reminds us of our connection to the saints of the past, the present and the future. Baptisms at All Saints help us to see our potential and our calling as the children of God amongst the constellation of saints in the church.  

Now, today. Today is none of those baptismal feast days.

Today is the second Sunday of Easter and it is not one of the traditional baptismal feast days of the Church…

But, I think it should be.

I think it should be—because, baptisms today remind us of the importance of giving witness in our words and in our actions to the good news we have heard of God’s love. Baptisms today help us to understand that doubt, our own and that of our children, is part of our life of faith.

Think about the story you heard in the Gospel today.

Thomas missed the moment in which his fellows saw the risen Christ. And, now, he insists that he must see in order to believe. See and touch, so that he can see for himself the truth of what they have told him.

His insistence reminds me of a child who want to know, to understand, to see, and to touch. A child who questions everything, not because they are suspect, but because they need to here and see, again and again, the truth of God’s love made manifest. Why and how and where and what and show me!

Why did they kill him?

How did God make him live again?

What happened next?

Were they the same angels as the ones from before?

Can you show me? Can I see?  

Why and how and where and what and show me! Show me, because I want to see!

It is said that we ought to have the faith of a child. I would argue that having the faith of a child does not mean to accept without question, but to question everything!

Why and how and where and what and show me! Show me, because I want to see!

A child’s open-hearted questions and earnest desire for understanding, questions that are asked with joy and wonder—these are questions to be celebrated!

To be celebrated—because, all too soon and all too often the questions are marred by cynicism.  

Have any of you ever been to a lecture or presentation where someone asks a question that is meant to disprove the speaker? Or asked a question that is meant to show off what you know, rather than explore what you don’t know?

Those are questions we ask in order to reinforce our own, personal, cognitive bias. These are questions that we ask because we know the answer and not because we want to be given more than what we already believe. These are the kinds of trick questions that we encounter in scripture when Jesus is questioned by the religious authorities and when Pilate interrogates him before the crucifixion. They don’t want his answer, they want to justify their own actions. They want God to hate in the same fashion that they, themselves, have learned to hate.

But, God does not hate. And, Christ lives to forgive.

Peace, he says, peace.

They understood war. They understood cruelty. They understood revenge. But, here they are asked to accept a peace which passes all understanding. He did not hate as they hated. He loved more than they loved. He forgave more than they could forgive. And, the questions, oh the questions!

Why were they afraid?

Why didn’t they believe him?

Why do we call the bread Jesus’ body?

Is it really his blood?

Can you show me? Can I see?

Can I see, so that I can believe?

Show me, tell me teach me. Thomas’ questions, the questions of our children, the questions of our faith…they are questions that are grounded in a yearning for a greater understanding.

These questions are part of how we embrace the mystery and discern our own place in the story.

          

A story because we wondered. A story because we asked. A story because we longed to know.

And, this is the story of how our faith came to be.

Imagine if the apostle Paul hadn’t had to respond to doubt. Imagine if Luke or John had not had to address the questions of those who had not been there.

The theologian Paul Tillich describes doubt as an important part of our life of faith.  Doubt is our confession that we do not know everything.  Doubt is our confirmation that mystery exists, and that there are moments beyond our comprehension.  Doubt embraces the truth that we do not know everything...

And so, in a culture where only the “right” answer is rewarded and certainty is prized--uncertainty and doubt are all too easily seen as character flaws and impediments.  But, it is Thomas’ doubt that allows him to participate in an encounter of intimacy that demonstrated unquestionably God’s power in the world.  It is Thomas’ doubt that furthers the blessing of knowing without seeing.  

For Thomas, doubt meant that he was willing to have the conversation--to grow in faith.  Just as we pray that all of our children will grow in faith. Grow in faith--by touching, by seeing, by feeling, by hearing, by asking and yes, by doubting.

Now…in just a moment we will offer a prayer for the babies being baptized today.

And, in that prayer, we will petition God to give Dylan and Calvin “inquiring and discerning hearts”. Inquiring and discerning hearts so that they can doubt enough to question, question enough to believe, and believe enough to give their own witness to the power of God’s love in the world.

Amen.