Date: March 30, 2008
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Sermon: Easter Again -- Three Monologues
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Part I
Thomas really didn’t
touch him.
I would have.
What can you prove
just by looking?
Since when is
seeing believing?
They killed my
brother’s friend
That’s a fact.
And Thomas just
went crazy.
I was there.
It hurt to hear
him cry like that.
I don’t want to go
crazy like Thomas has.
And then this
story starts:
that Jesus isn’t
dead,
that he’s been
seen
walking through
walls,
showing up at
supper time.
But nobody, nobody
had touched him.
Thomas didn’t buy
it.
I wouldn’t have
either.
Never listen to an
eyewitness.
Get the facts
firsthand.
Don’t settle for
someone
you can’t get a
hold of.
But then this
ghost or hoax appeared
and called his
name.
Thomas took one
look
and thought that
he’d seen God.
He really didn’t
touch him, see.
But doubting
Thomas believes.
It would take more
than that
to convince me.
Doubting runs in
the family.
–Heather Murray Elkins “The Younger
Brother of Thomas” in Imaging the Word, Vo. 2, Susan Blain, Ed.,
(Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press, 1995), p. 188.
Part II
It was morning.
I was rolling the
dough and setting it to rise when,
out of breath, the Marys told
us they had seen Him!
Right there I
raised my arms in praise!
Others raised
their eyebrows.
Under his
breath one mumbled: Nonsense.
I wanted to give that
one a sharp jab in the ribs.
I looked at
Thomas:
head down, elbows
on knees, palms rubbing together.
He was mourning.
Right then, I
began praying – for everyone of course –
but especially for
Thomas, that he might believe.
But, hey, Thomas
was no slouch when Jesus decided to go back because Lazarus had died.
Remember?
It was Thomas who
knew the risk,
who spoke up and
declared with committed wisdom that
he was prepared to go back and die with
Jesus.
There are no
doubts in those words.
When Jesus died,
the rest of us
lived and wondered ‘what for?’
Then Jesus lived,
and we wondered ‘how?!’
The tomb was
closed and Jesus came out;
Our doors were
shut and Jesus came in.
Easter again!
That night when He
found us all together
Thomas hadn’t
arrived yet.
He seemed almost
touched when we told him Jesus had come here to us, alive!
Yet, our
words weren’t enough. It was as if we
were wasting our breath on him.
Thomas was no more
doubtful than some of the rest of us were
before Jesus
showed up, gave us his peace and showed us his wounds.
I kept praying for
him....
That’s what twins
do for each other.
Part III
I found him in the
marketplace.
Being a skilled
merchant, I shop with my eyes first.
Ship-builders
here, house slaves over there...
What about
carpenters?
Then, as if he
could read my mind, he said:
“I have a slave
that is a carpenter and I desire to sell him,”
and he pointed at
Thomas.
I wanted to be
sure that I wasn’t buying stolen property, so I asked:
“Whose are
you?”
“His,” they said
at once, looking at one another.
Trying to be clear
this time, I looked at Thomas and asked directly, “Do you belong to him?”
“With all my heart
and mind and soul and strength.”
We agreed on the
price and Thomas’ owner wrote up the agreement:
‘I, Jesus, the son
of Joseph the carpenter, acknowledge that I have sold my slave,
Thomas to Abbanes,
a merchant.’
When the ink had
dried, Thomas turned to him and said ‘thy will be done.’
Upon arrival back
home, my master the king (for whom I bought this carpenter) commanded Thomas to
build a palace,
gave him money
aplenty to buy materials and hire workmen,
but Thomas gave it
all away to the poor.
Always he told the
king that the palace was rising steadily.
But the king was
suspicious.
In the end he sent
for Thomas.
‘Have you built me
the palace?’
‘Yes’
‘Then show me.’
‘You can’t see it
now, but when you leave this life, then you will see it.’
At first the king
was angry and Thomas was in danger of losing his life;
In the end, the
king too was won for Christ,
and so, as some
would tell,
Thomas brought
Christianity to India.
–Part III based on William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: John, Vo. 2, revised ed., (Toronto: G.R. Welch Co., 1975), pp. 277-278.