Redeeming Thomas
April 30, 2000
Psalm 133,  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, John 1:6-8, 19-28

 Today is  annual beat up Thomas Sunday.
In our Gospel lesson we hear the hear the familiar story of Thomas.   Dear old Thomas, so like us all, demanding proof. 
This morning I go about the task of redeeming Thomas.   Doubting Thomas.
Do you doubt?
Doubt the weather report?
Doubt your own abilities?
Doubt that Jesus is the Christ? 

     Faith is not possible or necessary without doubt.  Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas’s doubt nor should we.
     Thomas, throughout history, through constant condemnation, has become a bad person.  Growing up I learned about Thomas.  You didn’t want to be like Thomas.  He was someone we look down on.   Someone at whom we shake our finger and cluck our tongues.  Thomas, Doubting Thomas.  The church has long condemned  Thomas  and those like him.

Yet the church is so much like Thomas…demand proof, demanding to see evidence.   Robert Fulgum points out that the church has often been like Thomas.

The spire of the Great cathedral in Ulm, Germany, is the tallest steeple in the world- 529 feet.  Seven hundred thirty-eight stone steps take you to the very top.  And if you can still breathe and focus your eyes when you get there, you can make out two prominent landmarks: the foot hills of the Bavarian Alps south of town, and the high bluffs overlooking the Danube River to the east. 

     In the late sixteenth century Hans Ludwig Babblinger lived here.  A maker of artificial limbs, a craftsman with special skills and some local fame for those skills.  Since amputation was a common cure for ills and wounds, he was a busy man.  As his hands worked, his mind was often elsewhere.  For Babblinger was one of those who imagined he could fly.  

     In due course, he used his skills and dreams and the materials in his shop to craft wings.  And a fortune would have it, he chose to try his wings in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, where upcurrents abounded. One day, one wonderful day in the presence of reliable witnesses, Hans jumped off a high hill and soared safely down.  Sensational Babblinger could FLY!

     Shift of time and scene. It is the spring of 1594.  King Ludwig and his court are coming to Ulm for a visit, and the city leaders want to impress him.  Get Hans Babblinger to fly for the king!

      Unfortunately, because it suited the convenience of the king and the townspeople, Babblinger chose the nearby bluffs of the Danube for his demonstration.  The winds there were down currents.

     The great day arrived – musicians, the king and his court, the town fathers, thousands of ordinary folk, all gathered at the river.  Babblinger stood on a high platform on the buffs, waved, crouched and threw himself into the air.

 And went down into the river like a cannonball.  Not good!/span>

      The next Sunday, form the pulpit of the great cathedral, the Bishop of Ulm called Babblinger by name during the sermon and shamed him for the sin of pride.  “Man was not meant to fly,” thundered the bishop.  Cringing under the accusing wrath Babblinger walked out of the church to his house, never to appear in public again.  Not long after, he died.  With his wings and dreams and heart broken.

 Most of the people who go the church at Ulm now are tourists.   The few solemn folk who sit beneath the ancient pulpit during Sunday services are outnumbered by the hang-gliders flying in flocks off the foothills in the bright morning air in the great cathedral of the world.

 Like Thomas,   the Bishop needed proof of flying…he needed to see someone fly.  the bishop did not get proof.

 Are we like Thomas?  Are we like the bishop of Ulm.  Do we demand visual evidence.

 I need to see scars to believe suffering and survival.    I can hear about suffering, I can even see images on TV of suffering, but until I am made a part of that suffering, by witnessing the scars, I have difficulty believing. 

Thomas  in his doubt knew what he need to believe, he wanted to see Jesus scars!  Sight! 

What do we need in order to believe.  I think our sight today is somewhat faulty…we see so many things, so many vivid  horrid images.  I think our sight is faulty

Movie:  Jurassic Park – my certainty that there was a T-Rex

Dr Haddix- part of the brain that is hasn’t evolved – primitive, can’t distinguish between false image and reality

Sight! 

When a kid falls down we say, Oh let me see…we brush off the gravel, and the dirt and if there’s no blood we say, You’re ok.

 We even go farther and say,  Don’t cry, big boys don’t cry….

If we deny our own pain it’s only the next step to deny the pain and scars of  others

 Sight…does sight bring understanding…If sight lacks personal experience it may not. 

 Have I redeemed Thomas?  Maybe not.  But my point this morning is that Thomas is our brother.  Thomas knew that for him seeing would bring belief and understanding.

 Thomas had eyes to see.  Do we?  Do we see Jesus in the faces and pain of others?  Do we have eyes to see?