April 7, 2002
Second Sunday of Easter
"Touch And Remember"
(John 20:19-31)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
[19] When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
[20] After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
[21] Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
[22] When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
[23] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
[24] But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
[25] So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "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."
[26] 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."
[27] Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
[28] Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
[29] Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
[31] But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
[NRSV]
Have you ever noticed that if you tell a someone that there are 300 billion stars in the universe, they'll believe you. But if you tell them that a bench or a door or something else has just been painted and the paint is still wet, that same person has to touch it to make sure? Haven't you ever done that? Of course you have. We all have.
It's the Thomas in us. Not the part of Thomas that doubted but the part of Thomas that needed some tactile reassurance. Obviously Thomas was a realist. And touch was important to Thomas. Touch helped him remember all that Jesus had said and taught.
And touch is important to us as well. For the very same reasons. Touch helps us remember. Close your eyes for a second. First I want you to just touch the things around you. Feel the smooth softness of your dress or your pants? Now compare that to the rougher feel of the pew cushion. Feel the smoothness of the finished wood of the pew? It's so much different than the rough hewn wood of the cross which Christ bore for us.
Now touch the hymnal and the Bible in the rack in front of you or on the pew next to you. They certainly would feel different than the parchment or animal skin of the Scriptures in the disciples' time.
Now think about the touch and feel of certain things. Remember the feel of a puppy? The feather soft feel of that puppies fur. And the warm wet feel of it's tongue on your hand? Remember?
And what about the feel of your favorite toy. Maybe it was a doll and you can still feel the ruffles on the dress or the springy curls of that dolls hair. Or maybe it was a Tonka truck. And you can still feel the cold steel and the smoothness of that yellow paint. You can still feel the big, hard, rough rubber of the wheels.
A. OK, you can open your eyes now. Touch is an important part of life, isn't it, and we use the word touch in a number of different ways. Henny Youngman used to tell people: "I have a very fine doctor. If you can't afford the operation, he touches up the x-rays."
Touch is so important that we've incorporated all of it's various nuances into the phrases we use every day. We tell each other to "Keep in touch" because we don't want to "Lose Touch." And for years the phone company tried to encourage us to use the phone by using the phrase "Reach out and touch someone."
We talk about people being a "soft touch" or having a "soft touch." Some folks are "out of touch with reality." We talk about someone making repairs as "touching it up a little." And when they are nearly finished, of course they have to put on "the finishing touch."
We talk about emotions as being "touchy feely." We use touch in a negative when talking about some situation we don't want to get involved in, "I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole."
It scares us if a doctor comes in and says: "Well it's touch and go right now." And we all know that a single word or a look or gesture can "touch off" a serious of events or "touch off" a certain emotion.
And probably the most hated phrase in all of parenthood, especially while traveling, is the dreaded: "Mom, Glenn keeps touching me." But Dad always had the "magic touch" because all Dad had to say was, "All right you two, don't make me stop this car."
So, you see, Touch can evoke all kinds of memories. We've even established places where we can go to Touch And Remember. Places like The Vietnam Memorial, The Murrow Building, Oklahoma City memorial, The Western Wall in Jerusalem, any Graveyard where you can touch the headstones and trace the chiseled out names and dates.
B. Sometimes we're "touched" by a simple story as I was by Booker T. Washington's story about his brother's sacrificial love. In his autobiography, Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington recalled how the shirts worn on his plantation by the slaves were made of a rough, bristly, inexpensive flax fiber. As a young boy, the garment was so abrasive to his tender, sensitive, skin that it caused him a great deal of pain and discomfort. His older brother, moved by his little brother's suffering, would wear Booker T Washington's new shirts until they were broken in and smoother to the touch. Mr. Washington said it was one of the most striking acts of kindness he had ever experienced among his fellow slaves. (1)
The rough cloth that touched his skin was made smooth by the touch of his older brother and that story touches our hearts.
Touch is a very important sense in our lives. And in our emotions. It helps us remember.
A. Touch became very important for Thomas. We don't know where he was when Jesus appeared to the other disciples. They were all behind closed doors. They had locked themselves in for fear that they would be arrested and tried like Jesus.
And there they were, locked in their room and locked in their confusion. Wanting to believe but having trouble making that leap of faith. And all of a sudden, there stood Jesus. Like some Holy Jack in the box, Jesus was suddenly there.
After getting over their initial shock, they were excited and enthralled. They soaked up every second they could got. And when Jesus breathed upon them, don't you know they breathed deep, taking in all they could and then holding their breath for as long as they could. They didn't want to miss a single ounce of that Heavenly breath.
But Thomas wasn't there. Where was he? Did he go out for Lox and Bagels? Did he have an early morning appointment? Did he just have to get away and be by himself? Maybe he walked back to the tomb to look in and make sure he wasn't dreaming, that it really was empty.
We don't know where Thomas went or what he was thinking. All we know for sure is that he wasn't there the first time Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples. He wasn't there and he wasn't about to believe until he could reach out and actually touch Jesus and look at the wounds
And that's not so odd, is it? We know people who are the kind of folks who need proof. Maybe you're one of those kind of people. You need something concrete, something physical to hold on to so you can believe.
I think Jesus revealed Himself in all these different and various resurrection experiences for a purpose. I think He showed himself in so many ways because we're all different and we all need different kinds of proof. Some folks can immediately believe on faith alone. Others, like Thomas, needed something a little more solid. Neither way is more right than the other. They are just different ways of looking at things.
B. Jesus knew that, so about a week later. In the same house and the same room, the disciples were gathered again. This time Thomas was there. Jesus came and stood among them. He knew how Thomas was. He knew how Thomas thought. He even knew what Thomas had said.
So, upon greeting Thomas, Jesus said: "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
But you know what? Thomas didn't really need to touch Jesus. Upon seeing Jesus, Thomas believed and remembered.
Thomas was touched by the Master's willingness to be touched. Mary wanted to touch Jesus in the garden, but He wouldn't let her. And she must have shared that with the disciples, It was part of her story and her witness. It's recorded in Scripture, so obviously the early church thought it was important.
But here, Jesus offers to let Thomas touch Him. Jesus held out His hands and feet to prove who He is. He asks Thomas to put his hand in Jesus side and feel the wound, there.
But Thomas didn't need to touch Jesus. All Thomas needed was to see the scars.
A. If you've ever watched Antiques Roadshow, then you know that if you examine a piece of fine silver, on it somewhere you will find some marks placed there by the jeweler or manufacturer.
You will find initials or some other sign engraved on the bottom of the item or on the backside of a display object, or, as is the case with rings, on the inside of a band.
These markings are called hallmarks and they have that name because originally, many years ago, all items made of silver, whether pots, dishes, trays, utensils, jewelry or whatever, were produced by members of a guild or union. Early on, all the guild members lived in the same complex. And at one time the guild members both met and worked in largest rooms of the guild, the Halls.
Later on the Halls would be the meeting and eating places. And the places where guild members would bring their work to be inspected by the Masters of the Guild. If it was deemed of good enough quality, it was marked with the mark of the Guild Hall. And was called the Hall Mark.
Hallmarks are etched or engraved into every item for two reasons, they tell us two things.
The first reason is to show that the item is actually what it appears to be. That it is in fact an item made of pure silver, an item that is not mixed with other, cheaper, materials. The Hallmark is a guarantee of quality and purity.
The second thing a Hallmark does is tell you where the product comes from. In other words the Hall or the Guild that produced it, and in some cases, which particular individual of that Guild made it.
In England, hallmarks are not only composed of letters or initials, often there is a crest of some sort incorporated into the markings, and especially in the case of larger items.
If there is a leopard's head: that piece comes from London. If there is a castle: the silver came from Edinburgh. If there is a crown: it's the hallmark of the guild in Sheffield. If there is an anchor: it came from Birmingham. And if there are three wheat sheaves, then the silversmiths of Chester made it.
All this business of hallmarks started in the year 1300 when King Edward of England passed a law saying that no precious metal could be sold without a guarantee of its purity being marked on it. From 1300 to this day the practice of hallmarking has continued in one form or another. (2)
B. So, why this brief history lesson on hallmarks? For Thomas, the scars of Jesus crucifixion became God's Hallmark on the most precious treasure of all time. The Son of God even bore a crest there on the crest of Calvary. That crest, of course, is the cross. The cross He bore for us. The scars and the cross make up the Hallmark of Heaven.
When we see the hallmark on a piece of silver we know it is genuine. The scars served the same function for Thomas. He didn't need to touch Jesus. He saw the hallmarking of the scars and knew Jesus was the genuine item. And he never doubted again. The sight of those scars took all his doubt away.
We all have scars of our own. Some are on the outside, physical scars of the pain and trauma that our bodies have been through. Scars from injuries. But some scars can't be seen, they can only be felt, in the heart and in the spirit. No one else sees the scars we carry inside. The psychological, emotional and spiritual scars that we carry are the scars that no one else can possibly see.
But know this, Jesus sees those scars. He knows the pain they have caused you. He knows the doubts about others and yourself that they have caused. Jesus knows because he sees and feels those scars, too.
But know this also, Jesus carries those scars as well. His and ours. And the pain, the torment, the hurt and the devastation of what caused those scars was nailed to the cross with Christ. It died with him and it was buried with him. It was sealed away in the tomb.
And the Good News is that because it was sealed away in the tomb, it no longer has to plague you. Because it wasn't raised with Him. YOU were raised to new life with Jesus, not the things cause you pain. But the things that offer life. YOU were raised to new life with Jesus, just like Thomas.
Today I invite you to come like Thomas. I invite you to touch those tender places in you heart and in your memories. I know it's uncomfortable but touch those places that have caused you pain and hurt. Touch those places and touch those scars. And then let Jesus touch them with His healing hands, hands marked with the hallmark of heaven. Hands whose scars shout out God's love for us. Today touch and be touched. Touch and be healed. touch and be raised to new life.
Then come to the Lord's Table. Come and touch the bread and the cup of remembrance.
Eat and drink and remember that Christ died for you. Remember that God loves you so much that God sent His only Son to prove that love.
Eat and drink and let yourself be touched by the love and grace of God. Eat and drink and remember the healing power of the scar laden hands of our Savior.
Touch and Remember. Touch and be healed. Touch and be raised.
Touch and Remember.
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