Second Sunday of Easter - Quasimodo Geniti (8 April, 2018)

What Do You See

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.  And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.  And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD."  So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.  Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.'  Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.  And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."  Ezekiel 37:1-14

Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.  Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!  Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.  For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.  He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.  He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!  The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.  The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.  The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.  Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.  For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.  Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.  Psalm 33

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  This is He who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning his Son.  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.  1 John 5:4-10

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."  And 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."  Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, 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 in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe."  Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, 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; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, 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 believed."  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.  John 20:19-31

There use to be a popular phrase: "seeing is believing."  Seems pretty straight forward.  If you can see "it," whatever that may be, or direct evidence of "it," then you know "it" is real.

But in today's world of "I have my truth and you have your's" even that modicum of belief is slipping away.  Which makes holding onto the faith of our fathers even more difficult.

Who, in their right mind, would look at a field full of sun-bleached bones and think "yep, they'll be walking around in a few minutes."  Or say to a friend "hey, I know that our friend was wrongfully executed, but its okay, because he walked through the wall last night and said hello."

If you started saying things like that, someone would probably measure you for a straight jacket.

Yet we are called, commanded even, to believe in things that not only seem without evidence, but may very well exceed all rational explanation.  Dead men back from the grave.  Floods that cover mountains.  Seas parted.  Livestock holding conversations.  Men surviving fire hot enough to melt steel.  The list goes on.

It is sad to say that many, if not all, of us are like Thomas.  We struggle with believing something outlandish unless we are given something tangible.  Selfishly, if understandably, Thomas wanted to physically see and touch the risen Lord.  Notice, Jesus doesn't berate him for his struggle to believe.  Sure He makes it clear that it is better to believe the testimony without having to physically be there, but that doesn't make Thomas any less of a faithful Christian.

Any more than it makes any one of us less faithful when we struggle with the question "is it real?"

Consider: without having ever seen the Messiah, or even (as far as we know) meeting anyone who would be His ancestor, Job knew that his redeemer lives.  Not "will live."  But is alive now.  What faith.

The list of the faithful goes on.  The author to the Hebrews spends considerable time listing them.  Abraham, Moses, Deborah, Ruth, David, Jeremiah, Micah, and more.  None of them "saw" the long-promised Messiah.  Yet, they believed.

We, who now live two thousand years after His death and resurrection have not "seen" Him either.  And, yet, we have.  Go back to the Gospel reading first.  See all the red lettering?  Those are Christ's words.

Now look at all the readings.  All of that is Christ.  As John says at the start of his gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  That "Word" is the Son of God: Jesus Christ.  To read the Scriptures is to see Christ.  As is being baptized, and partaking in holy communion.  There not only do you see your Redeemer, but you physically interact with Him.

So seeing is believing.  And believing is seeing.  Not by our own strength, but by the grace of God.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, alleluia!