Genesis 8:6-16, 9:8-16
Psalm 18:19-24
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
John 20:19-31

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.  Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.

In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying.   In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Then God said to Noah, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’

God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’

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When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So 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.’

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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This morning we get a glimpse into something very interesting. I’d like to talk about God’s progression, God’s journey, toward us, and our progression, our journey, toward God.

First. God’s progression. Remember that God created human beings in God's image, but something went awry, something went wrong, and it wasn't long before Adam and Eve were disobeying God, lying to God, and hiding from God. Not long after that their son Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and killed him, and so humanity knew its first murder. And not just murder, but fratricide, murder between brothers.

So very early on this human experiment was going very badly. In our reading from Genesis, we hear God's first significant response. Wipe them all out. Flood. Get back to a clean slate. Start over. Better luck next time.

Except, of course, God finds this one righteous man, Noah, and God, that lover of souls, saves Noah and his family. And after things dry off and the Ark comes to rest on Mount Ararat, God seems to have a change of heart about this tactic for dealing with these humans.

God is certainly fully aware of humanity's deep character flaw, but it is as if going through the flood has caused God to realize something about God; it is as if God is surprised to discover the depth of God's own commitment to the well-being of these bizarre creatures that seem to be a mystery even to God. And God seems to progress. After the flood, God says, "I establish my covenant with you, that never again will I wipe you all out. And the sign of my covenant will be the rainbow."

The rainbow is a sign that God will not obliterate us, even though we still commit a host of sins and maybe deserve obliteration.

Now, that's good news. God has promised not to annihilate us. That is, it’s good news. It certainly beats the alternative. But God seems to have progressed beyond a promise not to destroy us, as important as that might be. In the Gospel today, we see the Risen Christ appearing to the disciples in the locked room. He appears to them and immediately shows them his wounds. When they see the wounds, they recognize him. Then he gives them peace, a mission, and the power of the Holy Spirit. And, of course, Thomas isn't there, so he says he’s not believing it was really Jesus until he can put his fingers in the wounds.

And then Jesus appears to them again and says, "Go ahead. Put your fingers in my wounds"

Think about how God has progressed in God’s dealings with humanity. Not being obliterated, especially when you deserve it, is a good thing. A very good thing. But, O my God, think about how God is dealing with us in this passage from John. We have tortured and killed the Christ. And God has come back and is known by the wounds Jesus has suffered in this endeavor to love humanity. Those wounds are Christ’s authentication. "Go ahead, Thomas," Jesus says, "put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side." The Risen Christ is known by his wounds.

God seems to have come quite a long way. From, "I’ll wipe them out, " to, "Okay, I won’t," to suffering deeply, horribly, for our well being. A pretty amazing progression which I believe is the best news in the history of the universe. Do you think so?

So do I. So I wonder why we resist it, why we so often end up where Thomas starts? Thomas believed in Jesus. He had been his disciple, and earlier quite bravely had volunteered to die with Jesus. And yet, here he is, like we so often are, doubting, holding back.

Most of us in this room believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (the wonderful, astounding Good News). And yet, most of us in this room, somehow, some way, also resist that astounding Good News. We hold something back, like Thomas. We don't mirror God's commitment to us by committing wholly, completely to God.

I'm not pointing my finger at you; I'm pointing my finger at us. I know that despite the fact that I believe in the astounding Good News of Christ, and I want to devote my life to God, still, I hold back some times, some ways. I don't think I've ever known anyone who is as committed to God as God is committed to us.

How come? Why are we so like Thomas? So doubting, even of what we know to be true? So cautious when we know that we have been called to a bold mission and given the power of God's Spirit to accomplish it. What is it that makes us so like Thomas?

Well, certainly for some of us, it’s just what Thomas said: "I haven’t seen this with my own eyes, so I’m not believing it." That’s understandable, and, frankly, I believe that’s all there is to it when a child tells me that, but for adults, I think there’s often more to it. I wonder whether it might be a little scary (well, a lot scary) to contemplate really, with our whole heart, believing that God loves us enough to suffer for us. I think it’s scary because if it is really true, not just something you say in church, but is really true, then the only response is to give our whole lives to God out of gratitude, and then lots of things that are important to us don’t really matter — wealth, security, possessions, what people think of us, control, protection from being wounded. The only thing that really matters is serving God with all of our beings, every bit of our beings.

But that’s hard. It’s hard for me, and I know it’s hard for you. Even after Easter, I find myself being a lot more like Adam and Eve, hiding from God, than I would like to admit. Even after Easter, I find myself being a lot more like Doubting Thomas than I would like to admit.

But we have seen this amazing progression of how God deals with humanity, and now it is surely time for us to progress, for us to journey toward God. I think it’s unrealistic for me to tell you that I will be a perfectly faithful person tomorrow. I wish, but I’m not going to lie to you. I think it’s unrealistic for me to ask you to be a perfectly faithful person tomorrow. But I do think we can commit to a progression, a journey, a process of growth in our commitment to God.

Thomas progressed. He went from Doubting Thomas, saying he wouldn’t believe unless he could see and touch, to Faithful Thomas, as he drops to his knees (the text doesn’t say he does that, but that’s how I always imagine it), drops to his knees proclaiming, "My Lord and my God."

God has progressed and brought us this astounding Good News. If the best you can do is to drop to your knees full of doubt, if the best you can do is to drop to your knees knowing that you hold something back from God, still, start your progression, your journey, there. Contemplate our Savior’s wounds, know that he is authentic, and drop to your knees and join Thomas in saying, "My lord and my God."

And then — get up. We have been given peace and a mission and the power of the Holy Spirit, and if we’re going to progress, to continue our journey, well, Christ is risen, and we’ve got work to do.

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