Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
April 15, 2007 – 2nd Sunday after Easter
Acts 5:27-32        
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31

What if …?

If I called out the names of disciples – what would be the one word you would associate with them?  I bet there would be several associations for many of them.  Judas – some of us would think “betrayer” but others might think “treasurer”.  If I were to say Peter … How about James and John?   Now, if I say “Thomas” I bet that almost all of us think “doubter.” 

It is too bad that he is remembered for being the doubter when in fact he was the first one to acknowledge Jesus as God … “My Lord and my God!”

Maybe it is out of honest doubts … honest questions that comes the strongest faith.  So today’s sermon is a tribute to those of us who have doubts … who honestly question.

Questions are important! 

Think about it: 

Why is it that we press harder on the buttons of the remote when we know the batteries are going dead?

Why do banks charge a fee for insufficient funds when they already know we don’t have enough money? 

Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the jar?

Is there ever a day when mattresses are not on sale?

Why do we constantly go back to the refrigerator with hopes that something new will have materialized since our last trip?

Why is it that – no matter what color bubble bath we use, the bubbles are always white?

Why is it that when we try to catch something that is falling off the table, we invariably knock something else over?

And – my personal favorite – why is it that when we’re vacuuming, we keep running over the same string a dozen times … then we pick it up … look at it .. .and throw it back on the carpet and try again?

“What if the Moon Didn’t Exist?”  That’s not a question – it is the title of an astronomy book.  Neil Comins, a University of Maine science professor took his son’s questioning – and turned it into a teaching method.  If we ask intriguing questions, we get insightful answers.

It turns out that if we didn’t have the moon, we’d have smaller tides, since the moon is responsible – which means no more tide pools, no more star fish and sea anemones for curious children.  The earth would also become a planet of 8-hour days, instead of 24 … because the gravitational pull of the moon actually slows down the earth’s rotation significantly. … so we’d be three times as old, and only sleep a third as many hours each night.  In fact, without the moon, the earth could not sustain any complex life forms at all.

So … what if Jesus actually fathered a child?  What if Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married?  What are some of your “what if’s”?  What if those really were the bones of Jesus and his mother and his brothers and sisters in that tomb?

When Thomas doubted the truth of the disciples’ story – what is interesting is Jesus’ reaction … he never criticizes Thomas, he simply offered Thomas the evidence he was looking for … physical sensations – touch, sight.

When the disciples were on the boat with Jesus and the storm blew in and Jesus was asleep and the disciples were afraid … All Jesus said, was “you of little faith, why are you afraid?”  Jesus had his own question for the disciples … but then he rebuked the wind.  He didn’t tell them to come back to him when their faith was stronger …to come back when they really believed. 

My hope for us, on this – the first Sunday after Easter – is that we will be willing to ask the honest questions … that we will let go of those words that often echo “Who are we to question God?”  We are God’s children … and who asks more questions than our children!

I would invite each of us to take a minute – during the offering – and write down a question we have for God … write down one or more of the tenants of faith that we question?  (By the way – these questions will be the focus of our Bible Study discussion this Wednesday evening.)

Blessed are you whose faith doesn’t include doubt … you who have not seen, yet believe.  And may those of us who doubt what others tell us be equally blessed, as was Thomas!

NOTE:  Much of the idea for this sermon came from www.homileticsonline.com  - retrieved 4/12/07 – from a sermon entitled “What if…?”

To prepare for next Sunday, read Acts 9, Psalm 30, Revelation 5 and John 21.

SERMON IN A SACK:  a small alligator and a small pig.  Ask the children if they believe I have a pig and an alligator in the bag? 

Then pull them out and show them.  Ask if it was easier to understand and believe when I told them or when they saw them.  That is sort of like Thomas … he needed to see to believe!