Thomas

      In high school, Thomas was probably the guy every one knew and liked and could count on to help out.  He was probably on the second-string defensive line, not the star quarterback, on the football team.  He was probably the guy you’d find on a ladder putting the decorations up for the prom, known for nice projects in wood shop, a solid B student, always a part of the group but not a leader, in the chorus but not a soloist, the guy who when a raccoon got into the trash would go pick up the spilled contents without complaining, just a good all-round soul, the kind you need to have around. Thomas probably would stop at the church after picking up the Sunday paper— likely the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, not the New York Times— to check that the heat came on and to throw salt on the walkway.  I like to think that Thomas missed Jesus’ first appearance because he was down at the laundromat making sure the other disciples’ dryers had enough quarters in them.

      Thomas did, however, have some moments in the Gospels.  The first is when he— in that sweet, practical, not terribly imaginative way of his— wants clarification from Jesus after Jesus has told Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, that he will prepare a place for them in the heavenly household.  Thomas asks in his practical, pre-GPS, way, how they will know the way?  Jesus responds with his great, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”  Thomas is thinking literally, yet that sets up one of Jesus’ most spiritual self-revelations.  Thomas’ biggest moment, of course, shows up pretty much every Sunday-after-Easter in this week’s scripture lessons.

      Again, Thomas’ pragmatic, practical, somewhat literal-minded nature turns out to be the key to Jesus’ great spiritual self-revelation.  At a moment when not just the disciples (kind of freaked out by the resurrected Jesus), but we the readers later on, might so easily get all gaga and spacy and think Jesus is some ethereal ghosty something, Thomas keeps his wits and gathers his courage and checks it out for proof.  Poke.  Yep, Jesus is real.  As real as he was before.  Nothing twilight zone about it: Jesus was actually, tangibly, touchably there.  Just like he said.

      And all the rest of orthodox Christianity is built on Thomas physically checking.  Yes, we have Jesus telling Mary on Easter to stop holding on, and the various disciples meeting up with Jesus, and Jesus eating fish with the disciples on the beach or on the road to Emmaus, but it was Thomas who pokes Jesus to make sure he was there in person.  We can’t dismiss him as “doubting” or even “skeptical.”  No, Thomas acted on his faith that Jesus was risen, and acted “in the real world,” to solidify it.

      Lots of people see “wet paint” signs and shrug; a few intrepid souls check to see if it really is or if it’s dried and ready for use.  Yep, Jesus is real and ready and resurrected.  So I have huge appreciation for Thomas, who keeps us rooted in reality and has the immense faith to check, to actually check out his faith.  We all need a corner of our spirits that believes so much that we expect it to be real, real like tangible and touchable.  A faith that only gazes up at heaven’s clouds misses a lot here and now, like how Jesus really is here and alive and making a practical difference.  A really risen, really present Jesus invites us as well to get out there and make a difference, to touch the world just like he does.

      Let’s take after Thomas and poke and prod the world for Christ’s sake, and poke and prod for Christ’s justice, kindness, grace, love, and life.


                                                                                                          In Christ,
                                                                                                
                                                                                                          David
                                                 
Texts For Sunday Worship:
       From the Acts of Apostles       Acts 4:32-35
      From the Epistles                  1 John 1:1-2:2
      From the Gospels                  John 20:19-31