Previous Weeks' Homilies
2002 2003
Some of us are old enough to remember a time
when we pretty much believed whatever people in authority told us.
And some of us are young enough
to find it impossible to imagine that such a time as that ever existed -
let alone that it existed as recently as 40-50 years ago.
But it did.
A time when we relied on the testimony of others:
usually others who were older, more powerful and better educated
than us.
This was true in the church,
as it was true in government,
as it was true in education,
as it was true in our families.
As a matter of course, we simply accepted what those above us said,
and we did this so freely
that we often accepted as true
even things that should have raised our eyebrows at first glance.
We regularly relied on the authority of others
to learn what was true and right.
And we were taught by those same authorities
that it was wrong -even sinful -
to doubt or question what they taught.
How the times have changed!
We have learned -painfully- that those in authority
might not always be telling us “the whole truth and nothing but-”
and we have learned that those in authority
may be manipulating the truth,
twisting it to suit their own advantage, or that of the institution,
or maintain the power of position.
So now we find ourselves questioning, doubtful of persons and truths
we once trusted so completely.
But haven’t we learned that doubt can be, not a sinful thing,
but a good thing?
Haven’t we learned that doubt can lead us closer to, deeper into the
truth?
into our relationship with God?
Thomas’ doubt is healthy;
his skepticism probably wise.
He won’t rely simply on the testimony of others,
but wants to share in the experience himself.
Thomas wants to believe that Jesus lives
but he’s not sure that he should trust what the others tell him.
“Un-trusting,” rather than “doubting,”
might be a better nickname for Thomas,
and what a wonderful patron saint Thomas could be
for us and our times.
So many of us want to believe
but find it increasingly difficult to trust the testimony,
the knowledge, the statements, the authority of others,
particularly those whose position gives them authority over our lives.
We have been mislead, misinformed and mistreated:
intellectually, spiritually, morally and some of us physically.
We have paid a tragic price
for maintaining an institution’s reputation
and the power those who hold authority in it.
What will restore the trust we have lost?
Better: who will restore the trust we have lost?
The answer is the same for us as it was for our patron saint, Thomas.
Only an experience of the risen Jesus,
complete with evidence of his great suffering
could help Thomas to trust in the testimony of others,
in the testimony of those who had told him
that they had seen the Lord.
In our own times,
we need our faith and trust refreshed and restored
not by those who have abused it and betrayed us,
but by a new encounter with the risen Christ,
the one whose self-giving service is the only model for authority
that he gives or allows us.
The Lord came back again for Thomas’ sake that he might believe.
And the Lord will come back again and again for our sakes,
that we might believe and have our trust restored.
A week after Jesus appeared to the disciples,
he appears again, returning for Thomas’ sake - that he might believe.
What as it like for Thomas
in that week between the appearance his friends reported to him
and the appearance he experienced himself?
I’ll bet that for Thomas it must have been a long week
of confusion, questioning, disappointment and doubt...
After all that has come to light in the church in the last two years
many of us find ourselves now in a long week
of anger, discouragement, doubt
and for some, the temptation to leave the faith community.
But even as he did for Thomas,
the Lord stands ready to restore our trust
even when those around us have shaken it to the core.
Whatever our doubts these days about the church,
whatever our struggle in faith,
the Lord will return to restore what has been threatened
by the failure of some.
The questions we must face are these:
- are we looking for the return of the Lord to refresh our faith?
- are we waiting, ready and open
to how the Lord might want to restore our trust?
- do we, like Thomas, want to believe again?
In a few moments we will go to the Lord’s table,
a table that has survived two millennia
of our collective clumsiness - and even our malfeasance.
Pray with me that the Lord who, with divine mercy,
still entrusts his life to our hands,
refreshing us with the food of his body and blood,
pray that he will nourish in us the trust we need
to deepen our faith in him and in his body, the church.
- Rev. Austin Fleming
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