Homily for March 30, 2008 Second Sunday of Easter

Doubting Thomas????
I want to challenge the frame through which we have read this Gospel for many years, and maybe suggest a new frame.
How many of you are immediately drawn to the image of the doubting Thomas? [Show of hands. Almost everyone.] Down through the years we've seen this as the story of Thomas doubting. How many of you were raised to think of doubting as bad? [Another show of hands. Almost everyone.]
I remember the old Baltimore Catechism that we -- people my age -- were taught catechism from. How many of you learned religion from the Baltimore Catechism? [About 30%] Okay, a lot of you. How many of you don't even know what the Baltimore Catechism is? [About 60%] Well, people my age -- and I don't know where the cutoff is, but many younger than me -- when we learned our religion, there was a green book called the Baltimore Catechism that was put out by the council of Baltimore back in the 19th century. The way we were taught religion was memorization of the questions and answers from that catechism.
Who made me? God made me. Why did God make me? God made me to know, love and serve him in this life and to be happy with him forever.
What is sin? Sin is . . . [I forgot the definition but in the list of sins was doubting one’s faith.]
Now, in the list of sins in the Baltimore Catechism, doubting your faith was a sin. Can you relate to that? Now, let me ask you, if doubting your faith is a sin, how would you handle doubts? You will them away, right? You exercise your will power and, "Go away, doubt," right? It's bad.
I was talking last week to somebody who mentioned that she went to confession sometime in her younger years and confessed to doubting her faith, and the priest told her she was excommunicated. I heard your gasp. Well, many of us come from there. The woman responded by walking out. “If I’m excommunicated, then I’m getting out of this little box.
I want to suggest, I think doubt can be good and even healthy and is maybe something we can embrace. Most important, I want to suggest that the Gospel today is not about the doubting Thomas. First, look at the other disciples. When the women came and told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, did they believe it? No.
One woman once told me that the message of the resurrection was first entrusted to women, who took it to the first Pope, and he didn't believe them. Her comment: He had to see it for himself. Nothing has changed.
The other disciples didn't believe, either. When did they believe? When they saw his hands and his side! So Thomas wasn't asking for anything more than the others got. "I want to see it." A very reasonable position.
And does Jesus shame Thomas in the Gospel? Thomas's response, by the way, is the clearest and the highest and the strongest statement of faith that we see in the Gospel: My Lord and my God. Now, are you going to entrust that line to somebody that you just shamed, and to somebody that you want to portray as a bad example? I wouldn't, if I were writing the story.
So I want to suggest that what this Gospel really calls our attention to is the overwhelming generosity of Jesus in giving Thomas what he needed. Thomas's faith is not a response to putting his finger in the nail mark or his hand in the side. It isn’t something he is shamed into. Thomas's faith is a response to the generous offer of Jesus, "Here, take your finger, put it in the nail marks. Take your hand, put it in my side."
With that background, as I prayed this morning over this Gospel, the overwhelming thing I was led to, as I look back over my life --and I've had many moments of doubt in my life. Do you know, the biggest period of intellectual doubt about my faith I ever experienced was in the retreat I made the week before I was ordained a priest. Here I was, preparing for ordination, and suddenly, during that retreat, this huge doubt hit me: How do I know it's all true? Well, there have been many other moments of doubt in my life, but I don't want to dwell on those.
What I was led to dwell on in prayer this morning is how generous God has been, and how many moments in my life God has given me exactly what I need. Sometimes it's been in the presence of people who came into my life at just the right moment. Sometimes it's been because of things that happened just at the right moment. Sometimes it's been because God had to wait till I was ready.
There's an old Zen saying: When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear. Well, that's been my experience in life. Can you relate to that, as you look back over your life? AS you look back over your life -- well, how many of you have ever had moments of doubt? [Show of hands. Everyone.] Welcome to the club.
In the 60s there was a song by Simon and Garfunkel. I'll try to sing it; you know, I can't sing very well, but it anyway, it went, "Hello darkness my old friend..." How many of you remember that song? I sing that to myself a lot. When I get angry I sing, "Hello, anger, my old friend. You've come to be with me again." Or when I experience doubt, "Hello, doubt, my old friend."
So welcome to the club if you've experienced doubt. But also welcome if you've experienced God's generosity in responding to you with exactly what you need.
That was my goal today. I would like to encourage you to reframe this Gospel, not in terms of Thomas's doubt, but in terms of Jesus's generous offer and God's generous offer to you down through the ages.
There's another song that we sometimes sing, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" How many of you know that song? Well, I think John, in the Gospel today, suggests that the answer is yes. Through our reading of the Gospel, through our retelling of the story, through our celebration of Holy Week, through our life together and the witness of people who have come into our lives, we are there. And we are there today, as Jesus lives in the midst of his disciples and as he says to them, "Peace be with you." He is saying to us also: PEACE BE WITH YOU. RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. IF YOU FORGIVE SINS, THEY ARE FORGIVEN.