The Second Sunday after Easter Day
The Doubting Thomas of Climate Change
“Unless I see a mountainside burn from west to east and smolder for a month, unless I put my finger to the ashen ground where wildflowers once bloomed and put my hand into the dry hole where a spring once gushed forth, well, even then, I will not believe!”
I wonder. Do you think Thomas was a bit of an Eeyore? Bush pilot Dave Olesen, reminiscing on a 1977 conversation with climate activist Edward Abbey, wrote, "Big soft-spoken man--he seems almost depressed...." Then a quote from him to underscore this: "I'm an optimist. Things are a lot better now than they will be."
Ed, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
If Thomas was at all like this, no wonder he was disbelieving of what the other disciples told him.
And if we were the kind of “optimists” Edward Abbey claimed to be, we might decide the story ends right there.
The doubting Thomas is a familiar figure from popular culture and it comes of course from this Sunday’s gospel reading of the appearance of Jesus to his disciples —except Thomas — and his disbelieving reaction to news of the resurrection until he can see and touch for himself the man he once knew as his teacher.
However. We are people of the resurrection. We know that the story continues.
Because what happened was a lot more than what we might associate with the events of the past eight days, if we just shopped at a grocery or pharmacy, and saw lots of yellow and lavender and white decorations - and merchandise!
Colored eggs. Bunnies. Fragrant flowers. We are not celebrating the resuscitation of a corpse. Scholars say it is unlikely Jesus’ body did not decay - and yet, somehow…
Jesus lives.
There are more things in heaven and earth, old friend, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
What the disciples experienced, from the women at dawn on that first Sunday morning, through the disciples’ disbelief and amazement, to the ongoing miracle of divine presence among us, is ever a mystery - and yet.
He lives.
Nobody was there when he awoke into the resurrected life - as Stewart McDonald points out. Nobody was there at that moment. But soon, in the lightening of the dawn, Mary Magdalene and others who had gone down to the tomb found it empty. And they were not alone. There was someone standing nearby.
Kind of gives you chills doesn’t it? If you had see Jesus die on Friday, and that was not enough to frighten you, seeing him risen from the dead might scare you out of your wits.
Intrepid Mary did not panic. Although it took a while to convince the guys, who were still hunkered down against possible further police action, Peter and another disciple did go and see the tomb empty. And then things started to happen. New things.
None of us has seen the Father. Jesus returned from the grave for only a short while. Granted he packed a lot into those few days, if the Gospels are historical documents, but soon enough he ascended like Elijah and was lost to sight. And that means the way we experience God is through the Holy Spirit, the comforter and guide that Jesus sent us disciples after his final disappearance.
So the new order of the ages begins. The story of Jesus continues, in his disciples and through the holy Spirit. Until it envelops us, and gives us a continuing mission.
We are the disciples now. We are called to follow Jesus.
The challenge, the call, are unmistakable and unshakable. Jesus said and did things no one had ever done before. As well as performing the proper rituals on festivals and fasts of his family calendar, and saying and praying things in accordance with ancient practice, he, well he raised the dead. So they tell us. He healed people. And most outrageously of all, he proclaimed that the reign of God, the kingdom that has no end, the kingdom that makes all other kingdoms and rules and rulers and governments seem small and contingent, has come into being even as he speaks.
Of course we know now that that challenge includes care of creation, this planet we share and inhabit. Its other animals, its plant life and bacteria, its viruses, and its own integrity, all of these are in our area of responsibility. The doubting Thomases of climate change reject the evidence of science.
Today’s Doubting Thomases close their minds to the actionable knowledge that forms the impetus for our response. And if we were the kind of “optimists” Edward Abbey claimed to be, we might decide the story ends right there.
But the story of the Apostle Thomas does not end in desperation. It is a story of restoration. It is a story of renewal and, ultimately, it is a story of resurrection
Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see the blackened soil. Reach out your hand and touch the ground. Feel the smoldering heat. Smell the ash. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
We are not Ed’s optimists, we are Christ’s people - and we know, even after he ceased appearing to those first followers of the gospel, his story continues. His challenge, and his promise.
And becomes our own.
And so we can sing, doubters and over-impetuous among us, about something more miraculous, more incredible and more life-giving, than the resuscitation of a corpse could ever be.
Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death
and on those in the tombs
bestowing life, bestowing life!
AMEN.
Wonder, Love, and Praise #817 (Rick Fabian)
https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Easter/CEaster2_RCL.html
https://sermonoats.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-doubting-thomas-of-climate-change.html
Dave Olesen, "Trespassing with Edward Abbey", Northland College Magazine, Spring 2022, 20. https://bushedpilotblog.ca/
Katherine Willis Pershey. Living the Word. April 24, Easter 2C (Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31. The Christian Century. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/living-word/april-24-easter-2c-revelation-14-8-john-2019-31
The Second Sunday after Easter Day. The Episcopal Church of Saint Matthew, Tucson. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWI48qhKGZc5dZVf5elsRPw
JRL+
An edited, abridged version of this essay appears in the Arizona Daily Star, Sunday May 15, 2o22, page E3, as "Defeating doubt with hope".
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