Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen.
Christ is risen. Christ is risen. We've been
separated for so long now, but I consider this
time of the liturgy when we are not separated,
because the Spirit unites us. I consider this
time a chance for me to speak with you. I call
you during the week and you speak to me. And
now I want to tell you something about the gospel.
The message of salvation, which is that Christ
rose from the dead. He is the first fruits of
the resurrection. And we are waiting for the
harvest. We will be raised from the dead too.
And right now we have to live as if death has
no dominion over us. Sickness has no... dominion
over us other than the pain and the sorrow and
the difficulties, but ultimately it has no control.
We are not slaves of it, neither sin, because
we repent and we're forgiven. You heard the message
in the gospel. The Lord breathed on the apostles
just as he breathed on Adam in the garden and
infused a spirit and life within him. He did
the same, yes, the word of God, both places,
breathed on the apostles and gave them the grace,
the ability, the capacity to forgive sins. So
sin doesn't enslave us either because in Christ
we're free from both death and sin. Let us also
be free from the uncertainty that is around us
to some degree. There's so much of it. What can
we know? What we read? What we hear? Is this
true? Is that true? Who knows? But we have to
be obedient to our bishop, and that is one thing
I know for sure, and I'm not uncertain about.
So, we say this incredible verse at the entrance,
Wisdom stand aright in congregations, bless ye
God the Lord, from the wellsprings of Israel.
And our congregation is there, funneled out across
the city, not just all in one place. May it be
that you become seeds of true faith, orthodoxy,
faith in Christ, the risen one, throughout this
whole town, throughout this whole county. We
have to examine our life outside of the building
of the church, outside of the divine liturgy.
And that's what this gospel to me is about. We
can think about our own uncertainty, so many
things we wish were otherwise now, but today
we're going to contemplate on the uncertainty
of the disciples, particularly one of them. Actually,
he was quite certain about something. He was
certain that Jesus had been killed, because Roman
execution squads do not make mistakes. But we
see the fear of the apostles in that upper room,
and the faith of Thomas. The marvelous change
which came over those men, which we see so clearly
in the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. That's
this week. Next week, so this week we meditate
on the fear, the uncertainty, the coming to faith.
Next week we're going to praise the faith, the
love and the care of the women disciples. Fear
and doubt on the one hand, and on the other,
an outpouring of sacrificial love. by the women
boldness to go to the tomb both of these are
normal human responses to the incredible things
that took place in jerusalem these events are
recounted for us today not so we can think about
what happened but so that we can be inspired
in our own life to ask god to change us to transform
us to cause us to be in our uncertainty to be
transformed into boldness. The angel said to
the disciples there in Jerusalem at Solomon's
Porch, a very public place of the temple, go
tell all the people the words of life. Words
of life aren't us getting on the internet and
having theological discussions or hitting people
over with a Jesus stick. More on that in a minute.
St. John, in chapter 20, describes the first
day, Pascha Day, and Jesus came to the disciples,
but Thomas was not there with them. Having tried,
I suppose, being a practical man, to get back
to what would be the new normal life after that
crushing disappointment. Just get on with it,
he probably thought. Jesus was wonderful, but
it's another crucified Messiah. of which there
were many under the Romans. Being the pragmatic
man that he was, and we can pick that up from
earlier in the gospel, when he heard that the
disciples said about Jesus, we have seen the
Lord, he reacted just as they had reacted, no
different, when the women came with the good
news that Jesus was risen and the tomb was empty.
You're all in grief. You're hysterical. This
can't be true. Dead people don't rise. And there
was fear and uncertainty. Their master was killed.
Now the authorities are coming for them. And
didn't Jesus say, they remember, not so long
ago, only two days ago, if they have persecuted
me, they will also persecute you. So they were
behind locked doors. They'd also forgotten what
Jesus said in almost that same sentence. Ye now
therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no
man taketh from you. Your joy may be full. Eight
days later, and that's why we're here now. A
week after Pascha. Eight being the number of
eternity. The day beyond the seven days of the
week. The day without evening. The Lord's day.
Jesus came. The door is being shut. Came through
the shut door. And Thomas was there. Thomas wanted
real verification. Wanted to know. based on what
he could see and understand. And that's the way
we are. So the Lord is there with his wounds
on his hands, feet, and his side. Pay attention
now. One of the hymns last night at Vespers,
which is why it's so important for us to be at
Vespers, we hear things that will open an understanding
for us. Besides, we're praising the resurrection,
so how can that be bad? One of the hymns from
Vespers last night has Thomas speaking quite
theologically. He says this, Unless I see the
wounds in which the great wounds of mankind were
healed, and see that he is not a spirit, but
his flesh and bones, risen from the dead, I will
not believe. Our resurrection also will be bodily.
These wounds of the Lord, they're signs. A sign,
you're driving down the road, you see a sign,
and you're prepared to see that sign and turn
right. It tells you something about where you're
going, what it means. These wounds are signs.
St. John's Gospel is full of signs so that we,
imperfect human beings, may be able to recognize
our risen Lord as Thomas did. St. Gregory Palamas
said this about the scars. He said, the scars
are not erased when the suffering ceases, when
the resurrection happens. Either for Christ or
those who suffer, the martyrs, for example. but
that the light of God shines forth in them. And
when that light shines forth in the martyrs and
those who bear wounds, we'll be recognizable
by the divine beauty and the radiance of their
wounds, not by their ugliness. The light will
shine forth. God's light will shine forth. It
was that sign in that wound of the Lord that
led Thomas to perfect belief, more perfect than
the other apostles, because none of them said,
my Lord and my God. So clearly does the gospel
proclaim the Lord's divinity to us. Let there
be no doubt. The apostle also, Thomas, was named
Didymus. The name means twin. Apparently, Thomas
might mean that too. In an orthodox sense, My
dear friend, Father Maximus, at the monastery
tells me this. He says, in spiritual symbols,
the wounds in the resurrection body of Jesus
are the symbols that will lead us from doubt
to belief, from belief to true faith, and finally,
to the saving acts of knowledge. The saving knowledge
will make us twins with Jesus. Our goal must
be twinned. must be to be twinned with Christ
in faith and love and knowledge, to become like
him. Now, if this were a normal Sunday, I would
end here. But my time with you is so short anyway,
I'm going to say a little bit more. The Lord
knew that Thomas wants the truth. The Lord knew
that knows that we want the truth. In Greek,
by the way, Thomas isn't called... Doubting Thomas,
but faithful Thomas. Nevertheless, Christ rebukes
the need of that kind of verification that he
wanted. Our Savior blesses those who have the
kind of faith that Abraham had. What kind of
faith did Abraham have? He's called the father
of faith. Get thee out of thy country, the pre
-incarnate word of the Lord said to Abraham.
Get thee out of thy country to a land that I
will show thee. And you know the rest of the
story and the promises made to Abraham. Hearing
the word of God, that's the kind of faith. And
faith is hard. Our doubts about the faith, of
which many have many, and that's quite normal.
A thousand doubts don't lead to unbelief. But
our doubts of the faith are not the kind of doubts
that Thomas had, are they? Our questions are
like, will God do this? Why doesn't God do this?
Is God truly loving? Does God truly care? Why
is there so much suffering? How can I believe
if? That's a different kind of doubt. Doubting
is not evil in itself, but only when doubting
becomes a passion of denial. and often it becomes
something founded in our sins because we don't
want to turn to Christ. When doubting denies
the signs that God has given us mercy, so that
we should believe and receive salvation, only
then is doubting an evil. Otherwise, it's just
the way our rational mind works. And I hope our
parish and our parishioners are healthy enough
To provide a loving place for questioning and
wrestling with God. Because those are opportunities
for discovering something, a deeper understanding.
The Lord said to the disciples, as the Father
has sent me, even so send I you. Even after they
had their misunderstandings, their fear, they
all ran away. What kind of disciples would they
be? But the Lord said to them, when you receive
the Holy Spirit, he will bring to mind all things
that you know that you have been told. People
argue about religion all the time out of doubt
on social media and together. But have you ever
seen anything good that comes from that? Not
a chance. This is sharing information. Don't
try to do that. Stay off social media and talking
about religions. Just don't do it. Don't beat
people over the head with Jesus Christ. Faith
comes according to another law. That's the spiritual
law, which is the law of grace, which is the
law of love and of humility and of living according
to the resurrection. It's the law of revelation
of Christ to the human heart. Listen to St. Nikolai.
Some have seen the Lord and have said, My Lord
and my God. Some only heard him and said, My
Lord and my God. Some have only felt him and
said, My Lord and my God. Some have only observed
him in the fabric of the events and the destinies
of peoples and said, My Lord and my God. Some
have felt his presence in their lives and cried
out, My Lord and my God. Some have seen their
sins. and know that Christ will heal them, and
say, My Lord and my God. Some have recognized
him by some sign to themselves or to others and
cried out, My Lord and my God. Some have only
heard about him from others and believed and
cried out, My Lord and my God. Truly, these last
ones are the most blessed. Let us exclaim with
all our hearts, regardless of how we have come
to recognize him or learn about him, My Lord.
The church grew not from passing on information,
but from the healings that took place and from
the witness of the martyrs. We don't have either,
which is why I look at that icon of St. Seraphim.
It says, acquire the spirit of peace and a thousand
souls around you will be saved. No, there's no
time limit on that. But it's not happening because
of me. So we need to beg God on our hands and
knees to be more like the apostles, both in the
type of doubt they had and the faith that they
came to and were transformed. With God's help,
let it be. Christ is risen.