St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Sue gave this sermon on Wednesday 3 July. Here it is for you again:

It must have been quite a dilemma for Thomas. His ten closest companions were all telling him the same thing. That Jesus, who he knew had died on the cross, was once more alive and had visited them in that very room. He could have been polite, and accepted what they were saying, whilst secretly wondering if it was a group hallucination – after all emotions were running high, and imaginations can become overactive. But he wasn’t that sort of person. He refused to believe without personal experience. When he saw the risen Jesus for himself, when he could touch his wounds, then he would believe.

Thomas struggled to believe that something so seemingly impossible would be true, and quite possibly he also couldn’t understand what was going on. He was feeling a tremendous sense of confusion and loss. Why did God let this happen? How could the forces of evil be allowed to bring suffering, pain and death to the most loving and truthful person who had ever lived? Many people have their faith challenged when they experience at first hand the suffering of someone close to them. They had always known that innocent people suffer, that bad things happen to good people, but that knowledge was theoretical until the day the suffering touched their lives. For some, they cannot continue to believe in God.

Julia is a professional musician who fills her time between jobs by waitressing. On 11 September 2001 she was working in a café close to the Twin Towers. A co-worker delivering sandwiches inside the building was killed. Two other friends were injured. A neighbour’s son died. All around her were scenes of pain, shock and loss. Like so many others faced with disaster she asked, ‘How can a loving God let this happen?’ Although many in her church were praying together for the rescue workers, the survivors and the dead, she didn’t join them. But through the days that followed, she watched the tireless efforts of the fire department and paramedics working to find the trapped and injured and bring the dead home to their families. ‘I really admired their dedication, determination, refusal to give in to despair,’ she says. ‘Finally, I saw they were God’s hands and feet in the world. When they carried out the dead, I saw them lifting Christ’s body from the cross. When they rushed the injured to hospital, I heard Christ’s anguish in the sirens. God grieved with the families and bled in the ruins.’ Challenged by events, Julia made a leap of faith, believing and trusting in a loving God who does not seek to control or manipulate us. Her faith deepened as she began to see God alongside us in our world, rather than pulling strings above it.

Like Thomas, Julia held out for a personal experience, and like Thomas she saw the wounds in Christ’s hands and feet. She resisted any easy answers until she had wrestled with her faith. When Thomas saw the Risen Christ, he exclaimed “My Lord and My God”. Not only had he gone further than the other disciples by, for the first time, referring to Jesus as God, but he had declared his own, personal faith. My, Lord, My God.

It was a moment when everything changed. Everyone in that room realised the truth of what Thomas was saying. The other disciples had met with the risen Jesus the week before, but they were still hiding in the room, afraid of the authorities. Now, after realising fully who Jesus was they were ready to go out and tell others the Good News.

Tradition has it that Thomas travelled all the way to India to spread the gospel, and founded the first Christian communities there. He died a martyr’s death. He will always be remembered as the disciple who insisted on a personal encounter with the Risen Lord.

Julia’s story: © Roots for Churches Ltd (www.rootsforchurches.com) 2002-2024. Reproduced with permission.