We have entered the season of Easter. Last Sunday we shouted, “Christ is Risen!” and “The Lord is Risen Indeed.” There were “Alleluias!” and flowers and grand music. Then we returned to the everyday world where nothing seems to have changed. There is still injustice and war and division. We might sigh and say, “so what does Easter really change?”
The Gospel for today (John 20:19-31) finds the disciples in
the same situation. They have heard rumors that Jesus is raised, but what does
that mean? It’s completely outside of their understanding. Dead men don’t
disappear from sealed tombs and walk around. The Gospel tells us, in fact, the
disciples were terrified. The doors…were locked for fear of the Jews.
They were hunkered down inside the house, uncertain and afraid. Then Jesus is
there, in the middle of the group, talking to them and saying, Receive the
Holy Spirit. But, Thomas isn’t there. For some reason he’s out of the
house. When he returns, he cannot believe the others. 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, he says. I imagine it was a mixture
of disbelief and hurt that he wasn’t a witness to the extraordinary appearance.
Perhaps he felt like an outsider because of that.
Jesus doesn’t leave him outside, though. 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…’ . In the Caravaggio painting, Jesus helps Thomas to touch his wounded side. Thomas in his moment of complete awe and acceptance replies, My Lord and my God. He understands that more than just a risen rabbi, this is, in fact, God incarnate.
Sometimes it is the hard times, the difficulties, the
painful places, or the experiences we’d rather not go through that bring us
closest to God. In my book, Sacred Story: Yours, Mine, Ours I look at
the story of Tamar bat David and Tamar of Timnah. Both women were survivors of sexual
assault by men in their lives. They responded in different ways. Tamar of
Timnah used her father-in-law’s assault against him, to gain acknowledgement of the wrong he had done. Tamar
bat David remained locked inside her trauma, leaving her brother to deal with
it for her, which resulted in his death.
Tamar of Timnah found God’s redemption in action. Thomas
found redemption in seeing Jesus. As we look around at the pain in our life and
the pain of the people of the world due to injustice and poverty and war, how
can we find God?
In my book, I note, “[One] way to reach out is to share our
Sacred Story of our own wounds and scars to be light to others. Our Sacred
Story will not heal another’s pain. It might offer a lifeline, and perhaps
inspiration to overcome their trauma…Sharing Sacred Story with other wounded
souls, and more importantly hearing their Sacred Story, can feel like a
difficult or even impossible task. It makes us very vulnerable and that can be
frightening. The only way to do so is by accepting and living into the love of
God that is implanted in each of us…As we listen to Sacred Story from the
heart, we do so with empathy. Morgan Harper Nichols says, “Let me
hold the door for you. I may have never walked in your shoes, but I can see
your soles are worn, your strength is torn under the weight of a story I have
never lived before. Let me hold the door for you. After all you have walked
through, it is the least I can do.” Even if we have not lived the Sacred Story
of another, we can be open to hearing their truth, their Sacred Story with
love.”
Listening may seem like such a simple thing, and one that couldn’t possibly make a difference. It does. Jesus hears Thomas’ need in his trauma of grief and despair. Jesus responds with what Thomas needs. When we name our traumas, griefs, and pain, Jesus responds to us. When we acknowledge the pain and grief and trauma of others, we are the face of God to them.
How might you offer a hand, a heart, or an ear to someone who needs to tell their Sacred Story of abuse, trauma, fear, pain, or whatever?
