This sermon was preached at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Holladay, Utah on April 19, 2020. It can be viewed on YouTube at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church SLC channel. Please subscribe! Check out our Children’s Worship videos too!
The texts were:
Acts 2:14a, 22-36
1 Peter 1: 3-9
John 20: 19-31
Maybe you have heard the term: FOMO-it’s a shorthand to refer to a very human state of being: Fear Of Missing Out. It starts early in our lives, such as at Christmas or birthdays and it seems that everyone else got a better present. Or when we see all the cool things our friends are doing on social media, like going to concerts or vacations and we think “hey, why am I not invited?” or “why am I not having that much fun? It’s not fair!” It’s a fear of missing something important or a fear of not being important ourselves. Well, I don’t know about you but as we have journeyed through these past few weeks, I am noticing that I have a serious case of FOMO, all the stuff I’m missing out on. Gathering with all of you for worship, Easter, going on vacations, time with friends and family, and the list goes on. And not just me, but my family, such as my son’s and niece’s college and high school graduations, respectively, which are canceled. I’m sad for them as they are missing out on an important milestone in their lives. No parties, no pomp and circumstance, no robes, no boring speeches. This all leaves a hole, a gap. It’s a fear that I’m missing out on life, that I’m not complete. Or maybe I’m just afraid that I don’t matter without all of these events, or not noticed, or not missed. Or just plain afraid.
This idea of FOMO resonated with me as I read our gospel passage from John today. I think Thomas gets a bad rap from people who aren’t comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s the evening of that first resurrection day, and the disciples are huddled in fear of the Temple authorities and probably the Roman ones too. We get the translation they are in a house, but “house” isn’t in the Greek. The doors “of where they were” were locked. We don’t know where the disciples are, and it doesn’t matter as Jesus shows up-through the locked doors. He comes to them in their fear and gives them peace and breathes into them-reminding us of God breathing into the first human. And then affirms that the Holy Spirit is with them and they are to go to tell people that they are freed from their sins because of Jesus. The disciples now have their own experience of the risen Lord, like Mary from that morning and it seems to have quelled much of their fear. But not all the disciples are now without fear, we learn, as for some reason Thomas wasn’t with them, he was missing. Why, we don’t know. Maybe he had something else to do? A family member to care for, or maybe he was the disciples’ designated person to go get food, a daily task in the ancient world.
When Thomas returned, his friends told him “We have seen the Lord!” What happens next is often misinterpreted as Thomas doubting. I don’t think he doubted them-I think he was upset with missing out on his own experience of Jesus! He had a hole, a gap in his life. Like us, Thomas didn’t like the feeling of FOMO. He wanted to be part of the group, see what they saw, know that he was important to Jesus too, and not be physically distanced. What we hear from Thomas is sadness, fear, anger and lament. But not doubt.
A week later, Jesus comes again and he acknowledges Thomas’ FOMO. He tells him to touch his wounds, we don’t know if Thomas really does, but just being in the presence of Jesus was enough for him. Jesus then says to him, “don’t unbelieve, but believe.” The word doubt isn’t actually here in the text. Its “unbelieve.” In John’s gospel, to believe is to know that you are in relationship with God, it’s to know that you are loved and that you love in return. When Jesus says, “don’t unbelieve” it’s not to shame or scold, but to remind Thomas that his relationship with Jesus is sure, he’s important to Jesus and he won’t and can’t miss out on the promises of God just because he wasn’t there the first time. Thomas is indeed part of the wholeness of life with Jesus.
It seems that right now there are lots of gaps and holes in our lives. We’re not able to participate in life with the ones we dearly love as we want and we feel inadequate, sad, scared and even angry. I know I do. We’re people who are used to being physically with other people, and we feel complete and affirmed when we are together. We, like Thomas, are afraid of what we can’t experience, what we’ve missed, and being disconnected from what matters.
But Jesus comes to us through our locked doors and our locked hearts, breathes into us the breath of God that connects us to the very life of God and each other no matter where we are. Jesus comes to us with his own wounds, his own story of suffering, fear, pain and death and says that there is more than this story of fear for us too. There is abundant life, and we won’t miss it. Jesus breathes life into us and shares with us peace through the Holy Spirit. This peace doesn’t end our fears or difficult circumstances but offers to be with us as we walk through it, to heal us and reveal that there is more than our present situation. We don’t have to worry about not being in the right place at the right time, because God is in every place and every time and will find us. Jesus comes to us and reassures us that we won’t, we can’t, miss out on relationship with God, God’s promises and life together, for God won’t allow it. We don’t live in fear of missing out, we live in the promise of being whole in the love, hope and life of the risen Christ. Christ is risen! Alleluia!
A Lutheran Says What? 