I Need Proof

Why do we tend to focus more on the crucifixion than we do the resurrection? There is plenty of teaching and writing about atonement. Among some tribes they observe the Stations of the Cross. Many are drawn to movies detailing the violent death of Jesus. Yet in comparison, little attention is given to the resurrection apart from asserting that it happened and a token annual celebration. This, of course, raises the question of "why?"  Why do we seem more fixated on death than life?

It seems to me that some of the answer revolves around the thought that we feel more comfortable to live in a story with a known climax. We understand violence but not mystery. There were plenty of unbiased witnesses to Jesus’ crucifixion but the resurrection claims raises doubt and causes even the most devoted to question. And it seems to me that those that doubt need to be affirmed and given permission to do so.  Our churches need to more be communities where people are freed to doubt and have questions.

I've always thought that Thomas gets a bad rap from those who put him down for his doubts. Personally I've always identified with his struggles to believe. Tennyson was right when he claimed: "There is more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds," and so was Frederick Buechner, who said: "Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving."

Thomas' nickname was "Didymus," "the Twin," and I feel like he is my twin, my representative in the Easter story. I want there to be room for Thomas in the church because that means there will be room for people like me.

I don’t think that those who chastise Thomas are being fair to him. He didn't ask for any more evidence of resurrection than the other friends of Jesus had already been given. John's gospel tells us that Thomas "was not with them" on that Easter Sunday when Jesus appeared to them. We don't know why he wasn't there; we just know that Easter didn't happen to him when it happened to the others. They saw and heard Jesus before Thomas did; and try as they might to convince him that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Thomas wasn't buying it. He wanted to see, hear and touch Jesus for himself.  He wasn't asking for anything the others hadn't already experienced, but that simple request has caused many to give him the demeaning label of "Doubting Thomas."

Of course, a week later, Thomas got what he asked for and in response, Thomas made a most astounding confession: "My Lord and my God." But then Jesus said something to Thomas that he meant for the rest of us.... for those of us who stand where Thomas stood before Jesus appeared to him: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

My question is "How?" The reality is that if you and I are going to believe, we will have to do so without "seeing." If we aren't going to get to see Jesus with our own eyes and hear him with our own ears, is there any evidence at all on which we can base our faith? What are the signs of the resurrection in the 21st century for us that makes its claim believable and worthy of our trust?

It seems to me that to a great extent, the answer is, I am. Each of us are meant to be a witness to the resurrection.... evidence to the world that Jesus is alive in the here and now. I am God's sign to myself and to the world that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

Jesus embraces the world with the arms of his followers..... my arms.... our arms. He speaks words of grace with our voices. He demands justice and offers peace through our deeds of witness and compassion. Over and over again the simple and ordinary words and deeds are the means by which Jesus becomes real to us and to the world. Theses are the signs of the resurrection. This is what it means to me to experience resurrection living.