Today is what the church calls Thomas Sunday.
If you need a visual reminder, well there's an
icon here, but the magnificent fresco at the
top of this triangle shows the disciples, the
apostles gathered together and Thomas is has
been invited to touch the Savior, to reach him.
The other apostles are anxiously looking on.
The Savior has come through closed doors. Wasn't
last week just amazing? All those commemorations
and services and hymns and readings on Thursday
night brought us... to the reality of what it
means that our Lord and Savior, so humble, our
humble God, gave himself in that way and was
so violently mistreated. But that pain, that
sorrow, that betrayal, everything transformed
to joy. Everything transformed to joy on Holy
Saturday. And in the evening, we come together
when it's dark. like the women going to the tomb,
but not like the women, because we had all these
newly baptized people with us to proclaim that
the light overcomes the darkness. And we went
out into the night with our candles, and we proclaimed
that message that shakes the entire world, that
has changed everything about every culture, about
every life. About the direction of everything
and abolishes, if we can truly enter into it,
abolishes the fear of death. And takes away sin.
And lets us be with Christ. We hear that Christ
is risen message and we're singing it over and
over again. It's the pinnacle of our life to
be at Pascha. It's the service where even those
people who don't hardly ever come to church,
come to church. Because... they have this sort
of inkling awareness, like, they've got to be
there. This is what it's all about. Everything
flows, like from the Garden of Paradise on the
mountain in the beginning, and the river is flowing
down. Everything flows from Pascha. So we're
not done. We have just begun Pascha. And the
church puts before us this... Pretty amazing
scene. Out of all the things that the church
could say, look, the week after Pascha, this
is what we should meditate upon. But we're given
Thomas, which the church doesn't call doubting
Thomas, by the way. That fresco up there is called,
it's kind of high, so it's called The Belief
of Thomas, or The Touching of Thomas. The hymns
from last night, all... Focus on not his doubt,
some kind of, you know, looking for the facts.
I just want the facts. I mean, they didn't think
that way back then, right? Looking for the truth.
You can read the paper, get lots of facts, but
did you get the truth? And that's what this day
is about. The faith that brings the truth to
us. So the Lord comes. My feeble mind, you know,
and the life of the age to come, if I'm blessed
to enter paradise, I'm going to want to ask Thomas,
not those deep philosophical questions, but like,
where were you that whole week? What were you
doing that you weren't there with the others?
Well, Thomas was a practical man. He said, I'm
done with this. This is over, obviously. It failed.
We gave it a good run. We thought he would be
the one to redeem Israel, said the other two
on the road to Emmaus. Well, Thomas wasn't there,
but today, today we commemorate that he was eight
days later, just like today. So brothers and
sisters, you don't want to miss. It's like Thomas
missed. That first appearance of Christ and that
soul -changing, that soul -changing greeting
from he who is the peace, the wisdom, and the
word of God, who came to those scared, those
frightened men and said, peace be to you, shalom.
Peace be to you from he who is peace. We don't
want to miss, and when we miss services, this
is what happens. We miss something so rich that
will change and transform our souls. Be consistent
in your church life. Coming to church, praying
at home, all of that. Be consistent. So you can
mature in the faith. Otherwise, we stay at Sunday
school level. Sunday school is great for little
kids. But we're adults now. We need to be fed
not milk, but the meat of the gospel. So be consistent.
Know what you're missing. Thomas is in that room
and Christ comes right up to him. Doesn't have
to say anything about Thomas' doubts. He knows
what he's thinking. If you want to verify my
resurrection by poking a finger into my wounds,
then do it, but that is not the right way. Blessed
are those blessed. This is a blessing. This is
not a vague hope that it might happen. This is
a blessing. Blessed are those who have not yet
seen, yet believed. Someone once said, is the
willingness, I think it was Alan Watts, someone
once said, faith is the willingness to embrace
whatever the truth turns out to be. Faith is
not blind acceptance. It's not wishful thinking.
Faith is trust in a messenger and the messengers
because they were changed. They spoke the words
of life. This is what the angel told the apostles
when they were in the jail. You heard that in
Acts. Read Acts. It's so wonderful. It's so dramatic.
It's such a great story. The apostles were ministering
to all these people on the street, healing them.
They weren't just preaching at them. They weren't
hitting them with, you know, these days what
we would call the Jesus stick. They were healing
them. And they were arrested because the Sadducees
saw this messing up their whole operation at
the temple. And the angel comes and says, preach
to the people all the words of this life, the
life of the age to come, the life of the resurrection.
You can trust those messengers. Faith, trust
in Jesus Christ as the risen Lord to whom all
power is given. he says, both in heaven and on
earth. It doesn't come in a limited way, limited
to the physical dimensions of space and time
or what we see or what we can touch. No, faith
comes by the illumination of the Father to us.
And Christ is to us and claimed it for himself,
the truth, the way leading to the door, and he
comes through that door. Nothing can stop him
from coming through any door except ourselves
if we keep it locked from the inside. You remember,
on Thursday night, we heard those Gospels, and
one of them, well, more than one, had Christ
before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who
really didn't want to get involved. And he has
this conversation. with Jesus, he cynically asked
Jesus, what is truth? It's not what, obviously,
it's who. You know, the word truth in Greek,
aletheia, aletheia, it means that which reveals
itself, unconceals itself, it's not hidden. St.
John tells us the same this way, all things were
made by him, And without him was not anything
made that was made. In him was life, and that
life was the light of men. And that light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome
it. So the Lord presented himself to the apostles.
And when we come to church, this is the miracle.
He presents himself to us. Blessed are those
who have not seen. yet believed. Again, that's
not hopeful merely, but a blessing that we will
be given grace to have spiritual eyes to see.
It's as if Christ is saying, today I present
myself to you as living. But from now on, he
says to the apostles, from now on, It will be
the kingdom itself that you will preach. The
church itself that will make me present. From
now on... Whenever you gather together, Christ
is saying to his apostles, as it were, you will
be my living person and my image. This is why,
brothers and sisters, we need to mature in our
faith so that we have the words of life in us,
so that we are not alive when we stand before
someone and say, I'm an Orthodox Christian. You
don't have to say more than that, because the
love in your face. The conviction that Christ
is risen and that you are sharing in that risen
life here now in the church by receiving communion,
by worshiping together, by praying together.
That will be obvious without any words to those
who are thirsty. To those like the Sadducees
who find it, that truth to be something they
don't want. You know, alternate facts and so
on. They will reject you. From now on, it's as
if Jesus is saying, whenever you come together,
you will be my living witness and person. How
did Thomas know it was Christ? By the wounds.
By the wounds. The real Christ presents himself
to Thomas by his wounds, his side, his hands,
his feet. The church. You won't find the perfect
church on this earth. You will find us all with
wounds. And that's how you know it's true. Not
wounds of the sort that our theology is deficient.
That our worship is not proper. But the wounds
that we each bear. And we're looking for healing
from the Lord. Of course. When we say church,
that people will know Christ by the church. This
means much more than what the word church means
to most people, right? When we say church, as
in the creed, I believe in one holy Catholic,
not Roman Catholic, but Catholic, full, complete,
perfect, one holy Catholic and apostolic church.
We mean the living, glorified body of Christ
where sins are forgiven, where divine food is
offered, where worship is true, where we have
fellowship with the saints and the apostles and
the mother of God, where we are in the kingdom
and the kingdom is in God. And that's the body
of Christ. even with its wounds. It's as if Christ
is saying, I found a way to keep you from falling
away from me. Unless, of course, that is what
you deliberately choose. Or absent yourself.
In my wisdom, it's as if Christ is saying, these
are words of Elder Emilio Nos of Mount Athos,
in my wisdom, in my infinite love, I have found
the perfect way. which is also the most human
way and the easiest way for you to love and possess
me, says Christ. When you gather in my name,
when you join together for worship in the life
-giving assembly, I live in you. I become you.
In other words, because you cling so closely
to the earth and are not willing to be raised
up from there. You are not capable of becoming
living revelations of God, and that is why I
stoop down and humble myself and become as you
are. There I am in the midst of you. Tell me
then, what more can I do for you? How low shall
I bend? How close shall I come to you? How deeply
shall I enter into your life, into your being?
Tell me. Tell me. In order to touch me, you don't
even have to stretch out your hand. Isn't it
amazing that we read at the very beginning of
the Gospel of John, as we did on Pascha, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. And all things that
were made were made by him. Nothing that was
made was made without him. and he was the light
of men, and the darkness could not overcome it.
And then we spend the whole Gospel of John reading
about the confusion of everybody, the apostles.
We see the Samaritan woman, of course. She's
an exception. And it takes to chapter 20 for
anyone to say, my Lord and my God. That's the
way we are. That's why it's that way. So let
us, brothers and sisters, look into our souls
today and give glory to God and thanksgiving
for he is our Lord and our God. And to him we
offer glory now and ever to ages of ages. Christ
is risen. He is risen.