Over the last few moments since the children’s sermon, I have been contemplating whether we have just witnessed a miracle or a sin. Either we have witnessed the miracle of self-discipline or the sin of overindulgence. How is it that almost every child said they still had Easter candy? Either they are incredibly disciplined children or you gave them too much candy. Maybe you have been visiting the half price candy sales. I saw half price Easter lilies yesterday. It doesn’t seem right to have Easter lilies for half price. Clearly, when it comes to the secular world, Easter is over.

 

When it comes to the church calendar, Easter isn’t over. This is the season of Easter. On the weeks between Easter and Pentecost, we study what are called “post-resurrection” stories, the stories of Jesus’appearance after he rises on Easter morning. In fact, today’s lesson begins on Easter evening.

 

Easter being more than one day is a good thing. Everybody didn’t make it to Easter. In fact, there were very few people at Easter. I didn’t even make it. Of course, I’m not talking about last week; I’m talking about the first Easter. There were few eyewitnesses to the open tomb and to the resurrected Savior.

 

Sometimes, I think Jesus doesn’t know how to run a resurrection. If Jesus were to show up, every now and then, call us by name in our own personal gardens or breath the Holy Spirit on us,  physically reveal himself around the breaking of bread, it would help. Then we’d have proof.  Then Easter would truly never be over.

 

You must admit this would make it easier. Some of you may wish for this. Some of you need to see the evidence to believe. Some of you would like to be able to offer evidence, to your friends, your spouse, and your children. “He breathed on me. I touched his hands; I put my finger in his side. I have proof.” Really, Jesus wouldn’t have to stop by very often.

Everybody didn’t make it to Easter but the few who did, had proof. Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb and spoke directly to Jesus. She told the Disciples what she had seen. They believed because “Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. (John 20: 19-20b) Then, “…he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.”  Of course they believed. They believed because they, like Mary felt the breath of Jesus on them. They experienced the Risen Lord.

 

We don’t have physical proof. In this regard, we are more like Thomas than the other disciples.  Thomas didn’t make it out to the cemetery in the morning with Mary, nor was he there in the room behind locked doors with the disciples. When they told him about the Easter appearances, Thomas said. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger on the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25b)  Seeing is believing. It is the proof he needed. But is seeing really believing?

 

It is a problem for us -- for us more than any culture. Our norms have shifted. Once we were an oral culture, where traditions and learning were passed from parent to child, from teacher to student, from master to disciple. Then we became a written society, then a printed society where truth was gleaned from books. Now we have become a graphic, visual society. We learn truth by seeing.

 

We’ve had a number of common experiences lately, as a culture, in discovering truths in new and powerful ways. 9/11 was such an experience when we watched the unbelievable happen. We saw the truth that there are those who hate Americans and will bring terror into our lives.  Katrina was another. We saw, for first the first time, the truth that there is poverty in our country.

 

There is a cartoon of a man going into an optician’s office. His hair is frazzled; his eyes are wild; his legs are trembling. He says to the doctor. Doctor, I would like to see things a little less clearly. And we wish we could.

 

When we see a mother being killed by a drive-by shooting, the first day in her apartment, here in our very city, we think, “I’d like to see things a little less clearly.” When we see the ethnic cleansing in Darfur, we want to see things less clearly. When we see the suicide bombing and the maiming of little children in Iraq, we think, “I’ve seen enough.”  But it is almost impossible for us to escape. We have this visual reminders 24/7 on our computer scenes, on the cell phone, even in the malls and restaurants. But is seeing really believing?

 

We don't want to see so clearly so we create a virtual world of images and then, edit the images to create our own truth. One such phenomenon is YouTube. This week’s headline was a media blitz about Don Imus’s bigoted statement. A media consensus about the truth appeared to be emerging. But you can go to YouTube and find over 2000 personal broadcasts that present a very wide perspective about the Imus story. Depending on which you watch, you might get a very different truth. Seeing isn’t necessarily proof anymore. And it probably never was.

 

Imagine what some clever editor on You Tube might do for Thomas. Here is Jesus standing before Thomas, and Thomas is reaching out and jabbing his finger in the holes in Jesus hands. Thomas doesn't touch Jesus. Thomas doesn't claim the empirical proof he said early was essential. He simply believes.

 

Jesus of course understands this. Jesus said to him. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Of course not. Thomas. You realized there could be many possible reasons for me standing before you. You realize that I could be an imposter. You realize that I could be a hallucination. People under stress, hallucinate. It could be a dream. Or you might suggest that I really didn't die but was taken down from the cross early.     There are many explanations, aren't there? But yet you still believe. Blessed are you Thomas, for you believed. And blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

 

Do you understand now? The women at the tomb, Peter, the Disciples, Thomas, all of them believed not because they saw the resurrected Lord. They believed because of what Jesus had promised them. They believed because he told them he would return. They believed because he breathed on them and thereby filled with them the Holy Spirit. They believed because Jesus calls them by name. They believed not with their eyes but in their hearts.

 

Think about your own life, whether you feel like you believe a lot or just a little. Think about how you have come to believe. We didn’t see, we didn't touch, we heard. We heard a story that invited us to say. Yes. We heard someone call our name. We heard a sermon, a passage, a verse. We heard and we felt something, deep inside. Maybe just a nagging thought that it is real. Slowly but surely, it claims the heart.[i] John Wesley, the founder of Methodism called this the “warming of the heart.” The heart of belief is, the heart.

 

Belief comes not in seeing, but in experiencing. We experience the Risen Lord in the fellowship of this community. We experienced the Lord in the touch of a Christian friend. We experience the Risen Lord at church camp, in early morning prayers, in the sound of children singing and calling us out in worship, or in working together in the Habitat project or with the Katrina disaster victims.

 

Let me say something you might never have considered. All of us are, in a way, called Thomas. We struggle with our belief and our doubt. Sometimes we are strong and sometimes, well, sometimes, the only thing that will assuage our doubt is putting our fingers in the wounds of Jesus hands. For you see, we weren’t there on Easter. But by now, understand that not being there on Easter isn't such a loss. As far as faith is concerned, you didn't miss all that much. They believed the Risen Lord, not because they saw him, but because they experienced his presence, experienced his power, experienced once again who Jesus was.

 

Easter becomes not the proof needed to believe, but the promise of new life. In Easter, we experience the Risen Lord who conquers death and offers new life to all who believe. It changes your heart.

 

About a decade a go, Jodie Foster made a movie titled “Contact.” She plays a woman scientist who losses her father at the age of nine. While Ellie never doubted that extraterrestrial life existed, even when there wasn't proof, she never believed God existed. As an adult, not even the country's most venerated theologian, Palmer Joss, played by Matthew McConaughey, could convince her otherwise.

 

Through the movie, Ellie and Palmer discuss this frequently. Finally, at a White House gathering, Ellie and Palmer, friends by this time, step outside to philosophize about the existence of God. Ellie lightheartedly presents her position: "All right. So what's more likely: that an all-powerful, mysterious God created the universe and then decided not to give any proof of his existence, or that he simply doesn't exist at all and that we created him so that we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone?"

 

Palmer seriously considers the conundrum and stoically replies, "I don't know. I couldn't imagine living in a world where God didn't exist. You know, I wouldn't want to."

Ellie asks, "How do you know you're not deluding yourself?" And with a huff, she declares, "For me, I need proof."

 

Palmer pauses, and then responds, "Proof? Did you love your father?"

 

Surprised by the intimate question, Ellie gasps, "What?"

 

"Your dad, did you love him?"

 

Ellie quickly replies, "Yes, very much."

 

Looking intensely into her eyes, Palmer says, "Prove it." [ii]

The proof is of course, in the heart. So it is with Easter. We learn this from Thomas. Believing comes in the heart. I hope, on this first Sunday after Easter, you experience Jesus and it warmed your heart. Blessed are you Thomas for you believe. And blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe in their hearts.

 

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