CTS 2:14A, 22-32; PSALM 16, 1 PETER 1:3-9; JOHN 20:19-31
Readings: https://lectionary.anglican.ca/nrsv/?date=2020-04-19
Every year, one week after Easter, we hear the story of ‘Doubting Thomas’. And we often get to feel good about ourselves when, after Thomas actually dares to poke his fingers into Jesus’ crucifixion wounds, Jesus asks him: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Perhaps you too have some friends and family who do not believe in God because … they can’t see God. Hmmm … another good lesson coronavirus is teaching us – turns out it’s important to believe in some things you can’t see, like the existence of this virus, although we cannot see the invasive microbes. Invisibly we might breathe in a few, and the results might be deadly to us and/or others. Many things, both good and bad, are not visible to the naked eye – from love to malicious intent to chronic pain. Although these are often unseen, the mind and heart may suspect that there’s more here than meets the eye. As Hamlet says to his friend: “ There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Human knowledge, seemingly so advanced, remains shockingly limited, as we are now discovering when much of our world comes to a standstill over an invisible virus.
So today for a change of pace, I will not belabour this obvious point that although we were not eyewitnesses to the resurrection, we believe that it’s true. If you have struggles with this belief, feel free to call me sometime, and we can discuss it. Meanwhile today I’m going to indulge a long held desire, and talk about the movie based on the 2007 book called The Shack by William P. Young, since his main character starts out with a lot of doubts about God. I’m guessing that some of you have read the book and/or seen the 2017 movie version? Many pastors and theologians hated the book and accused it of heresy and worse. Nonetheless many readers were enthralled with it and it became a huge bestseller. At first the author wrote the book for his children -- in the basement, next to the washing machine. Several friends and pastors persuaded him to let it be published, but no publisher wanted it, so they maxed out their personal credit cards to publish and promote the book themselves. It took awhile, but soon enough the book became a resounding success. It’s easy to criticize the book as poor theology and poor writing, etc., but one thing is certain: it got millions of people to think about the Trinity again, and in a new way.
What I like best about the story is that the three ‘persons’ of the Trinity, are so surprising … especially God the Creator, whom we Christians have traditionally called Father, even though the very first chapter of the Bible tells us that God is both male and female (Gen 1:27). And today on Doubting Thomas day I hope that we can broaden our horizons for recognizing the Divine among us. Our faith is not enriched by wishing that we too could poke our fingers into Christ’s wounds. As many preachers before me have said -- doubt can be a good thing if it causes us to outgrow and cast aside a worn-out idea, while becoming empty enough to receive new insight and wisdom. Could our ideas about what God is like use some freshening up? Always. Because God is always way more than what our puny human brains can contain, confine or configure. Instead I hope that we can expand our views, and open up to new and more expansive visions of God.
This is what happens when protagonist Mack meets “Papa” in The Shack. He certainly gets a shock – expecting the old man with a white beard; but instead he gets a
warm, loving and vivacious black woman who likes to hug, dance and cook. Of the three ‘persons’ the least surprising was Jesus who appears as a delightful Jewish man in his 30’s. Amazingly enough the 2017 movie of The Shack was the first time that an Israeli actor played Jesus in an English-language film! Go figure. For the purposes of this sermon, I won’t take the time to explain Mack’s life story (which you can see online with Wikipedia and other sources for both the book and the movie). Suffice it to say that after an abusive childhood, Mack is doing his best to be a good father, and then the worst happens -- while he’s rescuing one child from a canoeing accident, his youngest is abducted and then murdered by a horrible serial killer. On top of God “the Father” not having come through for him as a child, now he sees the Almighty Omnipotent God not bothering to use Divine powers to save his sweet little Missy from this horribly evil end. To say that Mack becomes angry with God is an understatement. I won’t explain here how he comes to meet this refreshing version of the Trinity, but if you have Netflix, please consider watching the movie. I’ve seen it twice in recent weeks, and its awesome portrayal of the Trinity goes beyond what mere words could accomplish.
The big question for Mack, as mentioned, is why didn’t God rescue Missy? And it’s a big question for all of us – why doesn’t God stop the terrible evil we see in our world – the violence, corruption and so much suffering of God’s creatures around the world, and the spread of disease? Well, here in my own words is some of what Papa God and Jesus and Sarayu (Holy Spirit/Wisdom) teach Mack about this difficult question: God does not stop people from choosing to do evil, dangerous or unhealthy things. Many humans are not as good at distinguishing between good and evil as they might think. Poisons can be used to heal us, and tragedies can make our souls grow in grace. If it looks like God is not punishing sins, that’s because sin is its own punishment. What happened to Mack’s child is the work of evil and no one is immune from that. At one point Lady Wisdom asks Mack to be the judge and choose one of his remaining children to go to heaven, and the other to go to hell. He can’t do it, of course, and when pushed hard to do it, he asks to be sent in the place of the one who would go to Hell. Aha! Wisdom asks him if he now better understands God’s love for ALL God’s children, despite their evil deeds? Later Papa God in Her Wisdom tells Mack that while God can bring incredible good out of unspeakable evil, God does not orchestrate the tragedies.
And with that we come back to Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. I’m among many modern Christians who do NOT believe that God was such a mean father that he required his Son to go through terrible suffering in order to atone for our sins. God is not an abusive father. And since we know that God is always ready to forgive, how could so many Christians believe that God refused to forgive us, unless his Son paid this awful price? The crucifixion is not about atonement, but rather it’s about at-one-ment -- God coming to earth as Jesus in order to more fully experience our human frailty, so that our Trinitarian God could be more at-one with our human pains and struggles. As Peter says in today’s epistle: “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Our pains and struggles are the fire, which tests the gold of our faith – may we rejoice in the doubts that cause us to go deeper into the Mystery, Amen.