Sermons 2008
Comforting words and St Thomas, Easter 5A, 20 April 2008, John 14:1-14













Home | Light and Love, Christmas 1B , 28 December 2008, John 1:1-18 | The light and the darkness, Christmas Day, 25 December 2008, John 1:1-14 | What would you see? Christmas Eve, 24 December 2008, Luke 2:1-20 | What did you say? Advent 3B, 14 December 2008, John 1:6-8. 19-28 | A refining fire, Advent 2B, 7 Dec 2008, Mark 1:1-8 | Alert, alert! Advent 1B, 30 November 2008, Mark 13:24-37 | Where will we stand: sheep or goats? Proper 29A 2008, 23 November 2008, Matthew 25: 31-46 | The talents to...? Proper 28A, 16 November 2008, Matthew 25:14-30 | Choose this day, Proper 27A, 9 November 2008, Joshua 24:14-25; Matthew 25:1-13 | All Saints A, 2 November 2008, Matthew 5:1-12; 23:1-12 | Holy or not? Proper 25A, 26 October 2008, Matthew 22:34-46 | Things: God's or Caesar's? Proper 24A, 19 October 2008, Matthew 22:15-22 | The wedding and the allegory, Proper 23A, 12 October 2008, Matthew 22:1-14 | The vineyard and the rock, Proper 22A. 5 October 2008, Matthew 21:33-46 | Deference and disobedience, Proper 21A, 28 September 2008, Exodus 17:1-7; Matthew 21:23-32 | Be content, Proper 20A , 21 September 2008, Matthew 20:1-16 | Only one true church? Proper 18A, 7 September 1008, Matthew 18:15-20 | Be content! Proper 20A, 21 September 2008, Matthew 22:1-16 | Be content! Proper 20A, 21 September 2008, Matthew 20:1-16 | Holy Name and Holy Ground, Proper 17A, Exodus 3:1-15; Matthew 16:21-28 | What's in a name? Proper 16A, 24 August 2008, Matthew 16:13-20 | Dogs? Proper 15A, 17 August 2008, Matthew 15:10-28 | Time to get out of the boat, Proper 14A, 10 August 2008, Matthew 14:22-33 | Who, me? Proper 13A, 3 August 2008, Matthew 14:13-21 | LIKE what? Proper 12A, 27 July 2008, Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 | Good seed, bad seed, Proper 11A , 20 July 2008, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 | Watch the Farmer, Proper 10A, 13 July 2009, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 | Easy Yoke? Proper 9A 2008, 6 July 2008, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 | Baptism of David William and Anne Tyler, Proper 8A, 29 June 2008 | The Twelve or the Dirty Dozen? Proper 6A, 15 June 2008, Matthew 9:35-10:15 | Jesus likes sinners?, Proper 5A, 8 June 2008, Matthew 9:9-13 | Lawlessness or not? Pentecost 3A, Proper 4A, 1 June 2008, Matthew 7:21-29 | What do you mean, if? Easter 6A, 27 April 2008, John 14:15-21 | Comforting words and St Thomas, Easter 5A, 20 April 2008, John 14:1-14 | Ordinary good shepherds, Easter 4A 2008, 13 April 2008, John 10:1-10 | Light for clarity, Easter 3A, 6 April 2008, Luke 24:13-35 | "Blessed are those who....", Easter 2A, 30 March 2008, John 20:19-31 | Hallelujah! He's alive! Easter Sunday A, 23 March 2008, John 20:1-18 | He had it all, Palm Sunday A, 16 March 2008, Matthew 26:14-27:54 | Lazarus: Waiting for Jesus, Lent 5A, 9 March 2008, John 11:1-45 | Miracles Physical and Spiritual, Lent 4A, 2 March 2008, John 9:1-41 | Living Water, Lent 3A, 24 February 2008, John 4:5-42 | God's unselfish love, Lent 2A, 17 February 2008, John 3:1-17 | Temptation, Lent 1A, 10 February 2008 | Ash Wednesday, 6 February 2008, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 | They heard the Lord call, Epiphany 3A, 20 Jan 2008, Matthew 4:12-23 | Come and See! Epiphany 2A, 20 January 2008, John 1: 29-42 | Remember Your Baptism? Epiphany 1A, 13 January 2008, Matthew 3:13-17 | We Three Kings, The Epiphany, 6 January 2008, Matthew 2:1-12




















Easter 5A John 14:1-14

This Fifth Sunday of Easter always catches us by surprise, doesn’t it? We are settled in for some more of the Easter joy of the Resurrection and here Jesus is talking about dying again. It’s in that part of Saint John’s Gospel where Jesus is beginning his last discourse and teaching his disciples about his death and its meaning. And with a jolt we realize that we may have heard this gospel passage most recently at a funeral. In fact it would be easy to argue that this scripture must be prescribed for funerals because it seems to be used for most of them. It is also true that bereaved families take great comfort from this many mansions passage, as the King James Bible puts it.

But this is the Easter season and even though the shadow of the cross might fall across it today, we are here to celebrate. In terms of comforting words for any time of year there are also these that rank high on the scriptural top ten:

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ….For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Mt 11:28-30)

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (Ps 23:1) And many others, as Bible readers know.

And the other thing I want to talk about today is a little bit more about one of my favorite saints, Saint Thomas the Doubter. Down through the centuries, two views of Thomas have held sway: one that that his doubt – and therefore the doubt of any Christian about Jesus is the antithesis of faith; the other that such doubt is the mother and nourisher of faith. For many of us, Thomas’ honesty and straightforward questioning is comforting and encouraging in our own faith journeys.

Let’s take another look at Thomas. Thomas is mentioned 12 times in the New Testament, all in the four gospels plus Acts of the Apostles. He is named in the lists of the disciples chosen by Jesus. But it is in Saint John’s Gospel that Thomas is revealed more l=clearly.

The first instance takes place around the death and raising of Lazarus. As soon as Jesus and his disciples learned that Lazarus had died, Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’ (Jn 11:14-16) This suggests that Thomas was an earnest seeker after the faith with a string desire to be a good disciple.

The second instance is the one in today’s Gospel reading. When Jesus told the disciples that they know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Thomas is satisfied with Jesus answer. It is Philip who demands more proof and a fuller explanation from Jesus.
The last instance concerns Thomas and two of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. It is this passage which gives Thomas the reputation of being a doubter. We read it on the Sunday after Easter. When the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

Doubting Thomas is a bum rap. None of the others believed either until they personally saw Jesus. And the two on the road to Emmaus took a long time to realize that it was Jesus with them.

To question matters of faith is healthy as long as our basic faith remains strong. When little children begin to learn about Jesus and God and other things of faith they have questions. That is how they learn.

And so do we.

AMEN