Hearing is Believing?
A Sermon by Nada Sellers
March 30, 2008
John 20:19-31
There is so much about being human that calls for careful scrutiny of our surroundings: we learn at a very early age to examine things around us, to pick them up, chew on them, drop them and so forth – Mika has become an expert at using all these sorts of strategies in order to get a read on the new things she encounters in her rapidly expanding world. After we figure things out with our 5 senses, we also grow in our ability to understand; to “read between the lines,” to watch people carefully and to intuit based on very subtle cues as well as on our experiences with others. In the 21st century as a post-modern people in global world economy, we tend to be technically sophisticated and scientifically minded. We’ve all learned that at the root of all good scientific inquiry, is the replication of predicted outcomes. That we form a hypothesis through observation, then test our theory by duplicating these observations to reach outcomes that can be balanced against other tests groups for value. We pursue these “findings” because they lead to discoveries that reveal the secrets of how things work, and their applications lead to new treatments, new technology, new forms of energy, new ways of learning or taking photographs, or observing the universe – you name it, science has and continues to open many, many doors.
Much of science could be summed up by the phrase, “seeing is believing.” If one can’t measure it or see it, taste it or feel it, it’s much harder to believe that it’s real. ‘So why on earth would you believe there is a God?’ some would say. This reality of the human condition is very much in the forefront of our text for the morning: Jesus appears, resurrected and alive, touchable, bearing scars and wounds, speaking and being heard. First to Mary, then to the two disciples who race to the tomb, then to the rest of the fearfully gathered disciples – not just the 12 disciples minus Judas and Thomas, but to a gathering of a bunch of followers – and also to Thomas who missed the first visit to the house where they were staying. Seeing is believing, right? And Thomas is quintessentially the disciple who wants to see the proof before he’ll believe what he hears from his friends: “Unless I see… I will not believe.” Here’s how Barbara Brown Taylor describes him:
He was a brave and literal-minded maverick who could be counted on to do the right thing, but only after he had convinced himself that is was the right thing. Maybe you have known someone like this yourself – someone whose refusal to go along with the crowd has more integrity to it than those who go along easily – even when going along is the right thing to do.
Thomas gets a bum rap by being referred to as “Doubting Thomas” don’t you think? Thomas is actually “a stand-in for all of us who want to see something for ourselves before we decide whether or not is it true.”
Let’s dig into this a little more:
- Can you think of some fairly common stories or reports that you’ve heard, but aren’t quite convinced are real? [UFO’s, weeping Virgin Mary statues, out-of-body experiences, the Loch Ness monster, Yetis]
- What would it take to convince you that these are real?
- What is it that helps you to believe something is true or real? What’s credible evidence like?
Jesus knew exactly what Thomas needed, and patiently offered the physical evidence that allowed Thomas to see for himself, and to believe. But what about us, thousands of years removed from the time when people lived who saw Jesus and touched him and eat with him? We have only the testimony of others to rely on; testimony that was shaped by collecting all the stories they could remember about him, writing them all down so they could read them aloud to each other and to their children and their children’s children. If you are lover of stories, then you know how powerful stories can be; you can keep coming back to good ones over and over again, discovering new angles, finding some fresh perspective or new meaning. When you read C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and you meet Asalyn the lion for the first time, the hair on the back your neck stands up and you catch the breathless fear and excitement of Lucy and her companions in that very moment. Or when you are down deep in the bowels of the wizard school called Hogwarts, when Harry Potter encounters that enormous snake at the command of He who shall not be named, you can practically feel the slithering and you find yourself preparing to throw the book down and run! There is real power in the written word, and Scripture, carrying the stories about Jesus, becomes the power of God, to help all of us encounter the living Jesus. “Scripture is the message our ancestors rolled up and put in a bottle for us,” says Professor Taylor, “because they wanted us to experience the person of Jesus – if not in the flesh, then in the word. Reading what they set down for us all those years ago, we are free to believe it or not. We are free to believe them or not, but [this story in John] tells us that seeing is not superior to hearing.” In fact, because we can’t really put our fingers on Jesus’ hands or place our hands in Jesus’ side, we are asked to open ourselves up to the power of these stories, because believing is what the Holy Spirit needs to bring the story to life. Or maybe we should say that believing is all the Holy Spirit needs to bring us to life, breathing on us the same way that Jesus breathed on his disciples, giving them the power to go out and share these stories.
All throughout the gospel of John, seeing is such an important part of believing, according to the way the stories unfold: Here in these passages, Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb to see the stone rolled away and two angels sitting there with news; she runs to tell the disciples “I have seen the Lord,” after meeting Jesus in the garden. (20:18) The two disciples who run to the tomb and look inside, observe the empty tomb, and the burial linens, lying there; the text reads that they “saw, and believed.” (20:8) Then of course, there are the disciples who see Jesus appearing before them in their locked home, and after checking out the scars and wounds, they believe “he is [their] Lord.” (20:20) Just as Jesus knows what Thomas needs in order to believe, and offers this to him, God in God’s good grace does this for us today as well.
You see, hearing also plays an important role in our gospel account: Mary is unable to see that it’s Jesus who meets her in the garden, mistaking him as the gardener, until she hears him say her name, “Mary!” And in a nod to future generations, the people like us who can’t touch but can listen, Jesus says “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.”(20:29) And how do we come to believe? We hear the stories, and encounter the power of the Spirit convincing us that they are real and true. This is where the truth and authority of Scripture lies, not secured by debates about verbal inerrancy in its oral transmission, or in gathering critically verified “facts.” Rather it lies in Scriptures power to make the presence of God in Jesus available to each successive generation of faith communities. We need to ask ourselves about what we’re hearing, and saying, as well as about the stories that we are sharing with our lives. What sort of words are others hearing from us? Can we share stories of what Jesus means to us, and how we’ve come to believe? Can we talk meaningfully about why any of this matters, and why it might be helpful to somebody else?
Over the next several weeks and into the spring, we will start making an effort to include stories of God’s love, alive and active in our lives, within our worship time together. Maybe you’ve had an experience you’d like to share, or maybe you could take the opportunity to let us know what North Church has meant to you and what you’ve been thinking about your church family… You may have one of us approach you with a request to provide a couple minutes of sharing during the service. Please give this your prayerful thought. Remember that hearing can be believing, and there are so many of us who need to hear more about Jesus and about how God’s love shapes all of us for the ministries of the church. Jesus knows what we need and how we are best able hear the good news about a living, breathing Savior. God can provide the words, if we are willing to listen. Jesus can even call us by name, “Barbara” or “Angie” or “Patti” or “Steve” or ______________________. What do you hear, what do you believe? Amen.
Endnotes
NIB vol IX John (Abingdon, 1995):846
BBT Home By Another Way (Crowley, 1999):114
Ibid.
Ibid. p 117
Ibid.
NIB, p 853.
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