The Third Sunday of Easter - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 The Third Sunday of Easter - Luke 24:36b-48 

The other day I received an email in my St. Thomas email account. “Dear Reverend Colette,” it read, “we are writing to inform you that after careful investigation and a thorough multi-step verification process, the government of Uganda has confirmed that you are the recipient of $5.5m. You may choose to have it deposited directly into your bank account by providing your account number below or if you choose to send your mailing address, we will mail a check to you.”  This is a phishing scam that’s been scouring the internet for years. But to be truthful, when I read the email, for a split nanosecond, I thought, “maybe THIS time, it’s for real. It’s from Uganda. All the other scam letter’s I’ve gotten are from Nigeria! Maybe THIS time!” Doubt… and maybe for a split second, disbelieving joy.  

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped from the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the surface of the moon. Stepping onto the area called the Sea of Tranquility, he said those famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Amazed on-lookers gathered around their TV sets in awe of what was happening as they watched him bounce across the surface of the moon. I imagine that watching this event unfold on TV brought about doubts and disbelieving joy. We can see rockets take off from the ground and fly into space but after that, we don’t know, do we? There are some who doubt what happened. Other people have disbelieving joy over what happened.  

For the past two weeks, we’ve been reading texts of doubt and disbelieving joy. Jesus was hung on the cross, died, and taken to a tomb. But when the women went to the tomb, it was empty. They were told by an angel that Jesus was not there. Jesus had risen. In Mark’s Gospel, he writes, that when the women went to tell the disciples, they were afraid. Were they filled with doubt? Were they filled with disbelieving joy?  

Luke’s Gospel says that the disciples did not believe the women and when Peter went to the tomb he was amazed at what had happened. Could that have been disbelieving joy?  

Last week, we read John’s account of the disciples meeting up with Jesus. Thomas was not with them and when the disciples told him they saw the risen Jesus he said, “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. (John 20:25b)” Doubt? Disbelieving joy?  

In the verses just before those read in today’s Gospel, is the story of the Walk to Emmaus. Two disciples are walking to the village of Emmaus when Jesus begins walking with them. They don’t recognize him and tell him the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. They tell the stranger that they were “astounded” when the women of their group told them that Jesus’ tomb was empty. Astounded, yet they didn’t believe the women. Was it doubt? Was it disbelieving joy?  

Today, Jesus miraculously appears through a locked door and says to the disciples, “Peace be with you…why do doubts arise in your hearts?” He showed them his hands and his feet, to prove he was the risen Christ. To see Jesus standing there…to see his hands and his feet…they were joyous. But Luke says that in their joy, they were “disbelieving and still wondering.” Jesus ate with them to show that he wasn’t a ghost – he was flesh and bones. Did they still sit there in disbelieving joy, wondering? Luke doesn’t tell us that they were not wondering any more. We are left to our imagination.  

Jesus told them how things written by Moses and the prophets had predicted all that had happened. A Messiah would be born, he would suffer, and on the third day, he would rise from the dead. The scriptures had been fulfilled. After he told them, did they still sit there in disbelieving joy, wondering? We don’t know because Luke doesn’t tell us. Luke doesn’t say, “Now the disciples were without any doubt.” He doesn’t say that their disbelieving joy turned into believing joy, or that their wondering now turned into a lack of curiosity and that now they fully believed. In fact, there are only five more verses left in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus blesses them, he is carried up into heaven, they worshiped him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God. That’s the end of the Gospel according to Luke.  

I think that Luke’s vagueness gives us space to wonder – it gives us permission to wonder. It gives us space to live into the Paschal Mystery. The very core of our beliefs as Christians is a mystery. The Passion, the death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension – all a mystery. Not smoke and mirrors mystery…but a revelation that we cannot fully understand. And that’s okay.  

“Swiss theologian Karl Barth has pointed out, miracle stories (and resurrection stories most of all) are designed to astonish — and astonishment, after all, is a blend of belief and disbelief. Accordingly, Christians should neither merely ‘believe’ miracle stories (for that would mean we aren’t truly astonished by them) nor merely ‘disbelieve’ them (ditto). Rather, these stories should leave us continually ‘taken aback,’ helping us call into question our assumptions about what may or may not be ‘possible’ and ‘impossible,’ and thereby inviting us into an open-minded, open-hearted posture of Easter faith, Easter doubt, and Easter joy.”1 

Easter faith, Easter doubt, and Easter joy. The disciples “disbelieved in joy” because what they were witnessing was too good to be true. In fact, what they were witnessing was too good not to be true! That is what disbelieving joy is. You are so overjoyed and overwhelmed, that it is hard to believe.  

When I opened my $5.5m email from Uganda, I knew I was not a multi-millionaire. I have been warned over and over again by people who had been scammed themselves and by news reports warning of these emails.  

When man landed on the moon, we saw videos and pictures, samples of rocks from the moon, and heard first-hand accounts from the astronauts themselves. It was easy to believe this story and at the same time to have disbelieving joy because for many of us, we could not believe that we would ever step foot on the moon.  

So, what does that say for us about this story of the resurrected Jesus? When Jesus revealed himself to the disciples he showed the holes in his hands and feet, he broke bread with the disciples, and he told them of scripture that had been written about the coming Messiah. At the core of this Easter story is faith and hope. Easter faith, Easter doubt, and Easter joy. Jesus left the disciples with a promise…left them with what his Father had promised. Jesus leaves us with the same promise. We are promised forgiveness of all our sins and a promise of life beyond here. And we are promised disbelieving joy…that is a joy that is unfathomable.  

I ask you to ponder these questions this week: What causes you to doubt what you believe and how do you handle those moments of doubt? What is on step you can take this week to nurture your faith?  

Just as the disciples were reminded of the prophesies and promises through scripture and the breaking of the bread, we too are reminded here each Sunday, through preaching of the Word and coming together at the table for the breaking of the bread.   

Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said that humans can have anxiety and doubt when we try to grasp the infinite nature of God. He says that true faith is not the absence of these doubts but the act of overcoming them and finding joy in the face of mystery.  

Doubt and disbelieving joy are filled with the promise of hope and love. Amen.