Pentecost: The Great Festival

24/5/26
Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21
John 7:37-39

Creator God, as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation, pour out your Spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence. Amen. 

Titian’s Pentecost

Pentecost can be one of those Sundays where it is hard to come up with new material. We have the same readings every year, the same thing happened. What should be different is our reaction, has it deepened, changed? Have we experienced the work or movement of the Holy Spirit since Pentecost last year? 

The story of the first Pentecost is overwhelming. No one knew what to expect. The disciples had hung together as Jesus had told them to. They were at their weakest point; tired, afraid, unsure and were waiting and expecting something to happen. 

The Acts reading has the very public falling and filling of the Spirit; it would have been delightful, raucous chaos. Fear not if this makes you nervous. Not every filling of the Holy Spirit is a dramatic event. The Spirit falls on people the way they need to be met. All that is required is a willingness, a desire.  

Pentecost is about people experiencing God in new ways. God is drawing new people from every nation at the time towards him. In Acts, the people, mostly Jews, are encountering the Holy Spirit and being changed. Jesus changes people. We are seeing an in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. 

After the ascension of Jesus there was wide speculation that Jesus would return soon, likely in days or weeks. Certainly not 2,000 years and counting. There are fewer things that are worse than waiting for something with no idea when it will actually happen. The early followers of Jesus are waiting like this, staying together might have helped.

They also had something to look forward to; the Jewish Feast of Weeks. There are three pilgrim festivals in the Jewish calendar; Passover, Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Each year faithful Jews were commanded to travel to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate. 

For centuries 50 days after the Passover, the Jews have celebrated with a feast, traditionally called Shavout. The number 50 points to fullness, ripeness, to a time that is ready for something to happen. This Feast lasted for seven weeks and a day.  This was already a time of celebration. Pentecost happens 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.   

In the Feast of Weeks and at Pentecost, God was creating for himself a new people. When the disciples received the Spirit, they became witnesses for Christ. Here Jesus is forming a people for himself; His church and we are that church. 

Shavuot and Pentecost are times to remember and give thanks for all that has been done for us. The Jewish people were to remember and celebrate their release from slavery by being generous to each other, feeding the widows, the orphans, the poor and other unfortunates. Our works, how we give our time and money should be a reflection of all that Jesus has done for us. 

Looking back to the past to help explain a current situation is a common Jewish method of interpretation or understanding called ‘midrash’. This is what Peter is doing in Acts 2 when he refers to the prophecy of Joel to explain to the mostly Jewish crowd what is happening beyond ‘we are not drunk at 9 am.’ Joel announced that God was going to do something very special on Mount Zion (which is in Jerusalem). Peter is reminding and confirming that. 

Pentecost also helps us to look ahead. In the few lines of John’s Gospel chosen for this morning Jesus is again preparing people for the coming of the Spirit. This time he is at the third feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot. 

The Feast of Tabernacles was to commemorate the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert. It is celebrated by dwelling in temporary outdoor booths (sukkahs). It is over seven days in the autumn; similar to a harvest festival to mark the end of the agricultural season with offerings of olives and wine. It was the most popular of the three pilgrim festivals. 

The “forefathers” of the Jewish people are to be welcomed during the seven days of the festival, in this order: Day 1: Abraham; Day 2: Isaac; Day 3: Jacob; Day 4: Moses; Day 5: Aaron; Day 6: Joseph; Day 7: David. 

All of these are remembered for their faith. All of them were imperfect, inconsistent and some did some shocking things; murdered, built idols, almost killed his son, slept with another man’s wife and set him up to die in battle, stole from his brother. And that is only some of the things that are documented. 

The members of this group had moments of greatness when they remembered their dependence on God. This is a hallmark of this feast. 

It is at this feast where Jesus is in John 7. Jesus sent the disciples to Jerusalem and told them he was not going to the festival. At this point in his ministry Jesus is growing in popularity; public teaching and healings are receiving attention from those in authority. 

He then goes to Jerusalem in secret, shows up in the middle of the festival and begins to teach in the temple. The crowd is astounded. It appears that Jesus begins to teach on Moses’ day; Moses who received the ten commandments and led Israel to the promised land. Moses who stood on holy ground in front of the burning bush. The authorities want to arrest Jesus but they do not. 

Then on the last day of the festival, the greatest day, Jesus appears again. The final day was David’s day. Jesus is from the house of David; it has been prophesied that the Messiah would come from the house of David. The final day was meant to be a day of joy and recitations as they waiting for Messiah to arrive. 

There he is. It is thought Jesus spoke up after the ceremonies were over, the official bits done. Jesus is announcing that He is the fulfilment of all that the Feast of Tabernacles anticipated. Jesus is calling for people who are hungry and thirsty to come to Him. There is something familiar in Jesus’ words which echo Isaiah 55: 

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.

2  Why spend money on what is not bread,

    and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

3  Give ear and come to me;

    listen, that you may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

    my faithful love promised to David.

Jesus came to save us, to heal us and change us from the inside out. We are not meant to be the same once we have met with Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us, it brings joy and peace beyond what we can imagine even in the most difficult of circumstances. The Spirit is often most powerful when we are at our most weak, tired, out of energy and resource.  

Abundant life is what Jesus came to bring. Not just a little but or enough but big and abundant. Jesus is still pouring out his Spirit on people for their own salvation and to change and heal. It is literally the breath of life. We need to drink it in, let it be the breath of our lives.  

At Pentecost we can be refreshed and refilled. It is not always dramatic but comes in the quietness and weakness.  

Spend a few moments asking for the Holy Spirit to come. Fill those places where oxygen levels are low. Where the air is stale. Where they are signs of suffocation; where water needs to flow again.   

Sunday After Ascension: Jobs to Do

15th century manuscript

Acts 1:6-14
John 17:1-11

Like most times throughout history, life and the world can often feel up and down. Prices are up, spirits are down. Interest rates rise to try to keep inflation down. We can be happy one minute and weeping the next. Healthy in one breath and sick in the next. We can be on time in one minute and beyond late in the next five.

In our Gospel readings since Easter there have been many ups and downs. Jesus was lifted up onto the donkey and hailed as a hero. Next he was beaten down and lifted up onto the cross. To be brought down and put into the tomb. We are told he descended to the dead and rose again on the third day. At the end of the Gospels and the opening of the books of Acts, Jesus has been travelling around in human form meeting and eating with people. Seemingly appearing and disappearing at will.

This past Thursday was Ascension Day. The final act of Jesus’ ministry on earth was his return to heaven. Jesus ascending into heaven has been depicted in many pieces of art – often with his dangling feet at the centre while a crowd of baffled onlookers look up. Many poets have tried to capture the meaning and feeling of this rather odd event.

Jesus repeatedly told the disciples that he would be going up to be with God in heaven and would send down the Holy Spirit; the Counsellor to be with us always. One cannot help but to think about his disciples. Poor men! They had been through so much in the previous weeks. The Bible is not clear exactly how long it was between the resurrection and ascension.

However long it was, the disciples are imagining that life might go back to the way it was, only better. They ask Jesus, in verse 6 of Acts: ‘Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ They seem to have gone back to old assumptions that Jesus was going to kick out the Romans and set up a new Jewish kingdom and they would be part of the ruling party.

However in the next moment, they realise that is not what is happening. Jesus is not staying with them as he was ‘lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.’ Maybe to the disciples the dream really was over. Jesus refused to tell them what was going on. Instead he left them with a job to do; to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

I have often wondered what the walk back to Jerusalem would have been like. A sabbath day’s journey is 0.6 mile (1 kilometre). This refers to the distance a person could walk without breaking religious law about working on the sabbath. It was not a long walk physically; but much longer mentally. Have you ever had that experience? A short distance in one respect but life changingly long in another.

Acts does not give away any emotion or conversation. They watched Jesus go up and now they are left feeling down. The disciples were left with two valuable lessons; the need to stick together and the need to pray.

When they returned to Jersulem, to the upper room where they were staying, they prayed together. No one wandered off to do their own thing. We need to remain rooted in Jesus and to each other. We can desire to go our own way when uncertainty comes, when the ups and down of life get too much.

The second lesson was about prayer. Jesus prayed. Jesus prays.

In John 17, after washing the disciples feet and before his arrest, Jesus prayed. He spent the last few precious hours of his life praying. For the disciples and for us.

I am making some assumptions here that I assume are right: first is that you do in fact pray. Secondly that you do think about prayer and praying. I think that this is an important question to ask ourselves this morning.

What do you think you are doing when you pray?

Are we telling God what to do?

How about giving him information about a situation, a person or ourselves that He already knows and then offering suggestions on what the Almighty might like to do about it?

Are we presenting a laundry list of ills and complaints?

Are we praising and thanking?

Are we pleading and begging?

What do you think you are doing?

I suspect it is a combination of all the above things! God knows everyone’s heart. Every thought, the deepest secrets and hurts, the highest highs and joys, He knows every crack and break. God knows before we even utter a word from our mouths what the condition of our hearts are. There is no fooling him.

Do you expect an answer? I do not think I could pray with no expectation that God is going to do something. Sometimes expectations are low as I have to be willing to wait and trust. Wait to see what the answer is and not rush off in fear that I won’t get what I want or worse, no answer at all.

I also have to trust that even if I don’t see a clear answer (ie: voice from heaven, message written in the clouds) that God has heard my prayer and will do as He sees fit. Even if – even if – I don’t get the answer that I want.

Jesus prayed for some very specific things for the disciples with the underlying message of unity in God and Jesus. We are all bound together in love. Helpfully, if we find ourselves stuck on what to pray for, Jesus also gives us some ideas. In John, verse 12 he talks about protection. Jesus asks God to protect the disciples with the same power that God has already given to Jesus. This is what ‘in your name’ means.

He guarded them while he was with them. Jesus has been utterly faithful to the task assigned to him: to keep and protect those God has given to him.

This is an important thing to do for those given to our care; pray for God’s protection on them. Not only from physical dangers, illness and all the other bad things that can happen. But they will stay under the spiritual protection of God that comes from staying close to Jesus.

The next thing that Jesus prays for is joy; this means rejoicing, celebrating, enjoyment, bliss. So often our joy in a worldly sense is never quite complete. It is only in Jesus that our joy will ever be complete. It is only the love of God that brings us joy, brings us salvation.

Thirdly, Jesus prayed that the disciples would know the truth and be sanctified by it. Sanctify here means to be set apart for God and God’s purposes alone. It does not mean that someone is better than anyone else, but they are different. Jesus is praying that the disciples will be set apart to do only what God wants them to do. Jesus was sanctified, set apart by God to fulfil his purposes.

For us, we can pray that our people will know the truth of God and go into the world to live and share it. Of course there are many more ways and things to pray about for those we are called to pray for. I think that protection, joy and truth are very good places to start. Remember that He knows the condition of our hearts. We also need time and preparation for the answer even if it seems hard. God is faithful!

Jesus sets an example of how and what to pray as He prayed for his disciples right before his death. He prayed for protection, joy and truth. In his Ascension, Jesus leaves us with jobs to do and in the sending of the Holy Spirit, the power to do them.

Leave some space for you to think about the people who know and love who could use protection, joy and truth today.

Easter 6: Know Your God!

10/5/26
Easter 6

Acts 17:22-31
John 14:15-21

This is the last Sunday of the Easter season! It has gone by quickly; Easter Sunday feels like years ago. Over the last few weeks we have heard the stories of the first disciples and the establishment of the early church. Year A, our current lectionary year, has a focus on the conversion of Saul from the persecuting, misguided baddie to Paul the Saint following his encounter on the road to Damascus. The disciples are still in the Upper Room with Jesus on the last night of his life.

We are starting to hear snippets about the work of the Holy Spirit when it is finally sent. Jesus (according to the church calendar) has not yet ascended into heaven but is telling people to expect the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Paul, a few years on from Damascus, has travelled to Athens and is waiting for his followers to arrive and is getting impatient. He has been changed by his encounter with the Holy Spirit and is anxious for others to hear the good news too. Paul decides to explore the city and ends up in the marketplace where he is able to engage and challenge the locals on their belief system of various gods (with a small g).

What is the message for us here this morning in Charlwood ahead of our Annual General Meeting?

As we celebrate Jesus, our patron, in the work of this church I came up with three things to be reminded of and celebrated today.

Firstly, know the God you worship. Sometimes we need to take a wider view of what is at stake. This is what Paul is getting after the Athenians about. The people of Athens worshipped many different gods in their polytheistic society. They were anxious that no good be left out; to cover all bases they acknowledged any god that might exist. Paul sounds suspiciously flippant here; I see how extremely religious you are in every way!

Yet they were ignorant of the one true God. Paul proclaims to them the God who has revealed himself to Israel as creator, judge and saviour. What is the first thing that pops into your head when I ask who God is?

I love how Paul talks about God. God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, he gives himself to all mortals (us) life and breath and all things. God is not far from each one of us. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are God’s offspring.

It is of extreme importance that we know who God is. Why? When the things of this life: the inconveniences, the problems, issues, sorrows and disasters threaten to overwhelm knowing who God is will carry us through.

When I look around this church and get frustrated at various things; I need to rely on God for strength and wisdom. It might not change the situation but it will change how I see it; give my patience when it runs short. This comes from trusting and knowing who is really in control.

Secondly, in John’s Gospel Jesus is preparing the disciples for his imminent departure. He tells them ‘I have not left you as orphans. I will come to you.’ Without wanting to give you a veiled telling off, I would like to remind you that you have not been left alone. In verse 27 as Paul speaks to those who are looking for God, “though indeed he is not far from each one of us.”

It is God who is the head of this church. We come here to worship him. In 1st Corinthians 1 Paul has strong words for the people in the church at Corinth. They were making personality cults and dividing themselves up along the lines of the leaders of the church. They were saying ‘I follow Paul, I follow Peter’. Paul is clear that they were not crucified for them or baptised in their names. Only Jesus was.

As a church, we need to know who God is, believe that He is with us and for us. It is Him alone we worship as a church. Paul instructs the early church to be in agreement and there should be no divisions among us; rather be united in the same mind and purpose. That is the mind and purpose of Christ.

There is so much opportunity in this church beyond what we can ask or imagine. There is opportunity to be united in mind and purpose; there is opportunity to serve the community we live in. There is so much need.

Take a moment to think of the people, maybe some are in church this morning who have been a blessing to you. The people that took an opportunity to reach out to you. Think of the people that you have been a blessing to. It is really okay to acknowledge that you have been a blessing to others.

We are not alone; we are in this together.

Thirdly, we have the evidence, the promise of the Advocate. Jesus is promising the disciples the Spirit of Truth to be with them forever. Paul has encountered and been filled with the Holy Spirit and we see the fruit of that in his missionary journeys.

Many Christians are okay with Father and Son but when it comes to the Holy Spirit they get a bit nervous. If this is you it is worth some time and thought in these weeks leading up to Pentecost.

The original meaning of the Holy Spirit, a grammar lesson for you, was ‘one who gives strength’ but it is more than that. The Greek word is ‘parakletos – one who is called alongside to assist or one who stands by another to plead their cause’.

In English we are familiar with words like paramedic, paralegal, someone who works alongside or near a doctor or lawyer. Para means with or alongside and kletos means called or invited.

This word has tremendous meaning and importance to Christians. Jesus has promised us a parakletos sent by the Father and the Son to be ‘alongside’ us. This is what the Spirit does – comes alongside us. The Holy Spirit was sent to help us in our times of need; in those desperate prayers or situations we find ourselves in sometimes.

This church will only grow with the power of the Holy Spirit. Not on who is leading it, not on our activities and services. The Holy Spirit is alongside us, with and within us. It was sent as a gift to fill us with faith, grace and power to help us forgive those who hurt and offend us and to ultimately and eternally connect us to the Father and the Son.

St Nicholas, we have some work to do! As we come to Communion this morning we remember and celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus for us. As we meet together to look at the past year we are reminded of the commandments of Jesus to love God and neighbour, be wise stewards and to grow his church. And most of all – to know Him.

Easter 3: Eyes Open to Hope

Easter 3
Acts 2:14a,36-41
Luke 24:13-35

As I continue to grow in my faith and ministry, I find myself coming to love the season of Easter more each year. Every new season brings greater appreciation of the early church and the struggles it faced, the decisions that had to be made, and the stories of Peter, Paul and the disciples (now apostles) as they grew and spread the Good News of the Risen Jesus.

This new church faced great conflict. It had to wrestle with issues of doctrine that we take for granted and the church had to contend with deadly persecution. Christianity could well have died in infancy if not for the bold and brave convictions of the early apostles.

Fortunately there is not too much conflict in Charlwood and Sidlow Bridge. We do have our challenges: lack of finances, lack of people and ageing congregations. We will need to make decisions about how we spend our limited resources and how we can attract more people to come to church. It will take the prayers and efforts of every single one of us.

Over the next few weeks the Wednesday Study Group will be looking in depth at the Sunday readings from Acts and the Gospels. I would strongly ask you to consider joining us in person (if you can) or set aside some extra time to read them in the MailChimp or your own bibles.

These readings speak to new beginnings, fresh starts for Peter and Paul and the gatherings of the first church; all underpinned with a sense of hope and purpose. My hope is that we can see links between then and now.

Where is our Hope?

The Road to Emmaus should be a familiar story; Luke includes it in his account of that first Easter Day. Cleopas and the other unnamed disciple are walking away from Jerusalem. Walking away from the disciples, away from their faith, their beliefs, potentially their families and jobs. They are without hope and they are sad.

To be a fly on the shoulder of Cleopas for that conversation! There was such overwhelming grief that when Jesus came near to them their eyes were kept from recognising him.

As I read this passage, the same five words from verse 21 kept leaping off the page at me: ‘But we had hoped that…´ Notice the past tense of hope – they had hoped. Their hope, whatever it was in, was gone. When Jesus died, so did their hope.

Many people right now are without hope, ‘but we had hoped that…’ What about you? Have you hoped for something, someone that will not now come through? Where is your hope today? As Easter people, we are to be beacons of hope even in the most trying of times. As impossible as that might seem. If you find that you have lost or are losing hope; we can take comfort and take heart. Jesus understands. He wants nothing more than to restore our hope.

Before he died, Jesus had expressly told the disciples that He would send the counsellor, the Holy Spirit to be with them forever. All they had to do was wait. It could be assumed that the disciples were meant to wait together. These two have seemingly forgotten about this promise; so instead of waiting are walking away.

Jesus could have washed his hands of them, let them go. But he doesn’t. He meets them where they are at; going the wrong way, down the wrong road. As the disciples talk to Jesus, listen to him, they begin to see beyond themselves, they re-centre from their own issues and problems. In that meeting with Jesus, Cleopas and the other disciple turn around and head back the right way, back on the right road, back to life.

Hope is restored, hearts are burning in the breaking of the bread. Many people need to have their hope restored. Some of us might need to be turned around in our thinking, some might need to ask for strength in the waiting, and many likely need to find their hope again.

How can we find our Hope again?

One of the things I love about Eastertide is the renewal of baptismal vows. There is something in the renewal of promises and the sprinkling of water that makes all things new again and restores hope. For those of us baptised as babies, we didn’t have the opportunity to make those promises for ourselves, although maybe in confirmation we did. Either way it is a restorative thing to do.

Peter, in Acts 2, is calling for people to repent and be baptised. Our sins have been forgiven and the gift of the Holy Spirit has been given. This is the great Christian hope. Wonderful news and a wonderful starting point for reclaiming any lost hope. The first step, according to Peter, is to repent and be baptised.


Remember the promises made:

Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God? I reject them.
Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil? I renounce them.
Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour? I repent of them.

Do you turn to Christ as Saviour? I turn to Christ.
Do you submit to Christ as Lord? I submit to Christ.
Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life? I come to Christ.

Peter is imploring these Christians to love each other deeply from the heart. They have been born anew and nothing can take away the hope of the final redemption and resurrection.

Peter knew this first-hand. Peter the one who denied Jesus three times and was restored three times. If anyone thought they were beyond hope, Peter is a prime example. Yet Jesus meets Peter on that first Easter, on the shores of Galilee as Peter too is attempting to go back to his previous life as a fisher of fish. In a conversation with Jesus, Peter is restored.

Remembering our baptismal vows, the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the great love and long reach of God for each of us seems to me a place where we can recover our hope.

It was in the breaking of the bread that Cleopas and the other disciple had their eyes opened and recognised Jesus. As we shortly break bread together this morning, my prayer is that hope will be restored and the promises of God will be renewed for each one of us.

Easter 2: Figuring it out and doubt

Caravaggio’s Doubting Thomas

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
John 20:19-31

The tomb is empty, Christ is risen, death has been defeated, love wins, we are a resurrection people, nothing on earth will ever be the same again. Right?

That was last week! Right?

But this week…the Easter lilies are wilting, the chocolate has been eaten, the eggs have been found, it feels wrong to eat hot cross buns and the rest of the world has moved on. Welcome to the Week After.

Now what? Where do we go from here?

Fortunately, in the church we have a few weeks to contemplate the events of Easter, meet the people who were there and see the effects that Jesus’ resurrection had on them and the rest of the world for the last 2000 years.

The Gospel for the first Sunday after Easter traditionally features the story of Thomas. He is a rather interesting character. There is very little mention of him in the gospels; he first appears as a name on the list of the chosen disciples. There is no information about what he did for a job, where he came from or his family, only that he was a twin.

Thomas is usually portrayed as the dogged disciple, often accused of being slow on the uptake, the doubter. Poor Thomas. Many a sermon has been preached as a warning to not be like Thomas. Thomas the 50% believer; the one who needed everything proved and crystal clear before he could believe.

Don’t doubt just believe! So easy! Sure if you don’t want to think too hard about anything. We live in an age where doubt has become the predominant form of belief. Fake news, fake images, filters to make photos look better, everything needing to be verified due to a lack of trust. There is so much more government legislation now than at any other time in history due to a breakdown in trust.

Daily we put ourselves in a high number of situations that we should doubt more than do. We doubt both what we see and what we don’t see.

Thomas needs another look in. Maybe Thomas was the disciple who was asking the questions that everybody had but did not or would not ask out loud. Before his comments that made him the poster-boy of doubt for all eternity, Thomas is quoted on two other occasions.

The first is found in John 11 as the news of Lazarus’ illness reached Jesus and the disciples. The authorities are looking for Jesus and it was dangerous for him to be travelling around. The disciples are trying to dissuade Jesus from going to be with Lazarus, Mary & Martha; Jesus is not concerned with the threats to his life.

In the middle of this Thomas declares, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’. The other disciples were ready to run the other way – but not Thomas. He was prepared to go to the wire with Jesus. This does not sound like a man who doubts.

Maybe Thomas was the disciple who didn’t say much but when he did everyone else listened? Do you know anyone like that?

The second account is in John 14. Jesus is explaining to the disciples that he is going to leave them. The chapter starts with the reassuring words ‘do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house…’ Jesus is explaining where is going and what he is going to do there; he also tells the disciples that they know the way.

It is Thomas who says, ‘we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?!’

Jesus responds to Thomas with some of the most beautiful words ever to fall from his mouth. Jesus tells Thomas ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ Thomas has been told; he has seen the Father in the Son.

So where was he on the evening of that first day of that week when Jesus appeared? The news of the resurrection was fresh and raw, the disciples were living in fear of the Jews and had locked themselves away. As we know the end of the story, their confusion and grief can often escape us. Maybe it was all a bit too much for Thomas? Some people stay away and hide when life gets tough. The disciples were together but Thomas was not with them.

That following week must have been torture for Thomas. The disciples had received the Holy Spirit (a whole sermon on its own for another day!) and were in much better moods! I am sure we have all had to miss events due to circumstances. Then those who did attend the event talk incessantly about it, down to every last detail, the play by play of every moment. And no matter the minutia of detail – you still weren’t there!

It would be reasonable to believe that Thomas became more entrenched in his declaration to see the nail marks and the side wound. Jesus returns again. This time just for Thomas. Thomas, the one who doesn’t get much mention, says a couple of brilliant things that we know about, was there through it all and then disappeared in grief and confusion. In a moment in the presence of Jesus, Thomas’ excuses and defences are dropped. Jesus invites Thomas to put his fingers in his hands and on his side.

The text doesn’t say if he did or not. All it gives us is Thomas’ verbal reply of ‘My Lord and my God.’ In this moment, Jesus firmly but gently reminds Thomas that he believes because he has seen (at least twice). Thomas is responsible for the blessing that the whole rest of the world gets for not seeing and yet believing.

I want to finish off with a final observation:

Thomas was part of a community where he openly voices his doubt. Like I said, Thomas has been portrayed negatively as the doubter, one of weak faith, the cynic, the holdout. These are often seen as spiritual flaws. I don’t see Thomas as weak, I see him as a man who wanted a living encounter with Jesus.

Thomas wasn’t going to settle for someone else’s experience of the resurrection but wanted his own. Thomas was willing to admit his uncertainty in the midst of those who were certain. This is bravery.

How does this community respond to doubt? Is this a place where they can be shared openly without fear of judgement or silencing?

When Jesus’ wounds met Thomas’ doubts, new life erupted. In Acts 5 the apostles are performing miraculous signs and wonders among the people of Jerusalem, people were believing in Jesus and being healed. I wonder how many times Thomas told people ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed?’

What happened to Thomas? Tradition holds that when the apostles were dispersed after Pentecost, Thomas was sent to evangelise the Parthians, Medes and Persians before he ultimately reached the Malabar coast of southwest India. There is a large native population there calling themselves ‘Christians of St Thomas.’ Unlike most of the other disciples/apostles who were killed for their faith in quite gory ways, it is thought that Thomas was killed in a tragic peacock hunting accident when the hunter missed the bird and hit Thomas instead.

This is not a man of weakness but rather one we can learn from, even if uncomfortably. The things that make Thomas seem weak or doubtful are what makes him strong, his willingness to press on and ask the questions that others won’t. Thomas shares his doubts willingly and Jesus responds and meets him where he is at.

The good news for us the week after Easter is that Jesus still meets us where we are at too. He is not afraid of our doubts, our wavering or our slowness. We, like Thomas, can hope for more.