People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: Prove it! ~ 2nd Sunday of Easter Yr C '19

For Sunday, April 28, 2019, 2nd Sunday of Easter, Yr C, Readings: Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8, Psalm 150, John 20:19-31

"I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA," says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

[Revelation 1:8]

THEN [JESUS] SAID TO THOMAS, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said "...Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." [John 20:28-29]

Thomas, the Apostle, is widely known as Doubting Thomas, the one who didn’t accept what he was told: that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted proof.

I can put myself in his place quite easily. It was head-spinning week that began with the glorious Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem with crowds even more jubilant at Jesus’ arrival than ever before. As the week progressed it was time for the Passover dinner in an evening that turned strangely mysterious as Jesus shockingly washed everyone’s feet, and again said things not easily understood, and later he was suddenly arrested. The next day Thomas watched as this man he loved and admired more than any other and had given up his normal life to follow, was brutalized, degraded, and then confusingly vilified by many of the same people singing Hosanna to him just a few days before! Then he was nailed to a cross, suffered an agonizing death and was buried in a tomb with a heavy stone rolled across the entrance. Thomas must have spent the following 24 hours trying to comprehend it all – the glory, the joy, the shock, the horror, and the shiveringly cold reality of the death of one so close. NOW Thomas is told that Jesus has come back from the dead?! Prove it.

Perhaps it wasn’t so much that he didn’t believe but more that he had chosen not to until he had seen for himself. The crucifixion and death of Jesus was so traumatic and final. How could he dare to believe in the hope of such a thing as resurrection without the concurrent fear of soul-crushing disappointment.

Today we’re in an age of instant communication, “viral” social media posts, never-ending “breaking news”, all overwhelming us with data that is real, slightly real, not at all real, and frequently bizarre.

Like Thomas, we just want to be given answers and a little explanation so we don't have to think through all the conflicting information. It's also easier when the people or organizations we like and trust tell us what we want to hear. Yet, how do we distinguish between oft-repeated gossip and rumor that begins to sound true after the eleventeenth forward on Facebook or Twitter and actual truth? In Thomas' case, he had the benefit of seeing and touching the Resurrected Christ wounds and all for himself. For us, we must rely on faith. It’s fine to trust your source of information, at least in the ways of the world, and keep an open mind accepting that sometimes checking other sources might yield better data. In the ways of Christ, our information comes from the legacy of the Apostles in the writings of the New Testament that stand 2,000+ years later: "[These] are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

For the skeptics and atheists and those who just aren’t sure, it is true that we cannot prove the fact of the Resurrection by solid evidentiary standards. Neither can we prove that it didn’t happen. And if you do believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit do not exist, I’m okay with that. If it is critically important to you that I believe it the way you do, prove it.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Holy Jesus, our Christ of Earth and Heaven, in Your grace and peace we see Your living presence through the willing eyes of our souls. Grant us such fullness of faith, that even as seeds of doubt may sprout within us, we seek and strive to follow Your Word and Witness to everlasting life in Your Name.

Risen Christ, Divine Messiah

RESPONSE: You are our Strength and our Hope

~ Holy Jesus, our Christ of Earth and Heaven, fill the rulers of our Earth, our Country, and our Community with the personal courage and humility to triumph over the temptations of impermanent authority to govern with equity and reverence for all of Creation and its inhabitants. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Risen Christ, Divine Messiah