305 Bummer

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Bummer”, originally shared on April 3, 2024. It was the 305^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.) 

   There was good news last Sunday, but who heard it? There will be doubt this Sunday, but who will believe? Today, we’re going to find out.

   One of my brothers was at worship on Easter Sunday morning in a church where they had a Children’s Sermon. The pastor asked the kids to look around the room and tell him what looked different that morning, thinking about the Easter Lilies. One of the little boys answered, “There are lots of people here.” 😊

   I doubt that there are many churches in the world where that wasn’t true, at least lots more people than usual, and certainly more than most churches are likely to see this coming Sunday.

   Churches in Southern California have long observed that if the weather is nicer than normal, attendance will be down. But, if the weather is worse than normal, attendance will be…down. So, we just hope that the weather will be normal. 😊

   But the weather is not always predictable. The Sunday after Easter is.

   In fact, the expectation that attendance at worship will drop dramatically has become so ingrained that the Sunday after Easter has an appropriate name. It’s formally called “Low Sunday” in some places, or what could be called the Sunday of Disappointment!

   The secular celebration of Easter is over, the Peeps are getting hard, the Easter Eggs have been turned into egg salad, and we’ll all look around next Sunday and say, “Bummer! Where is everybody?”

   In Western Christianity it’s also known as “Divine Mercy Sunday”, “the Octave Day of Easter”, “White Sunday”, and “Quasimodo Sunday”.

   Yes, that’s right. “Quasimodo” Sunday, the name of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, so named because he was found at the cathedral as a hunchbacked infant on the Sunday after Easter, “Quasimodo Sunday”, which was named after the first words of the antiphon of the Latin introit in the Mass for that day, found in 1 Peter 2:2, “quasi modo geniti infantes…” or “Like newborn infants…” It’s also the name of a surfing position. But I digress. 😊

   Last Sunday, The Sunday of the Resurrection of Our Lord, aka Easter Sunday, our churches were as full as they get. We celebrated the Good News, that Jesus had given his life, and then he had taken it back again, for our salvation. Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! We celebrated that, and then this Sunday it will almost be like it never happened.

   There are people who don’t keep the sabbath holy every Sunday. But if there is one when they do, it will be Easter. Others are dragged or guilted-in by insistent friends and relatives. Some are bribed with the promise of candy, or for adults food, afterwards. Some just come because it’s what they and/or their family have always done and it has become part of their identity. They, as Steely Dan said, “suit up for a game they no longer play”.

   And our churches will have put out their best everything in the hopes that some will come back. And maybe some will but, if you had never been to a church and you were there last Sunday, you’re probably going to be just as flummoxed as everybody else is this coming Sunday.

   Our Gospel text for this coming Sunday, however, is even more disappointing!

   The disciples are gathered on the evening of the Resurrection.

   They are still processing what happened that morning. Then this happens in John 20:19-23,

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.”

   The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had handed Jesus over to the occupying Roman leaders to be crucified. The disciples were afraid that what had happened to Jesus could happen to them. Yet, it’s been said that the Bible says “fear not” or “don’t be afraid” or something like that 366 times, one for every day of the year plus one for a leap year! 😊

   Jesus said these or similar words many times. And that’s the first thing Jesus says to them in this reading.

   When Jesus suddenly appears in a locked room with them, the first words out of his mouth are “Peace be with you”, “sholom aleichem”, a common, even casual, greeting.

   Then things get weirder. He shows them the wounds on his hands and in his side. He commissions them with a mini-Pentecost, just for them: he breathes on them. He breathes on them the Holy Spirit. He tells them that, in the Spirit, they can forgive sins. Does that seem strange?

   What else began with a breath?

   In Genesis 2:7, we read,

⁷ then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

   Where does the authority of the Bible come from?

   In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we read,

¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

   “Inspiration” has the same root word as “respiration”. Other translations replace the word “inspired” with “God-breathed”. The Bible is more than the words on a page. It is alive. It comes from the living God, and it is the means by which God speaks to us and comes alive for us.

   But one disciple, who had ventured out, was not present when Jesus breathed life and power on the disciples. We see it in John 20:24-29,

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.”

   So, there’s a doubter?

   Jesus acts to send the disciples out anyway. Remember how the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew is set, well after the Resurrection? In Matthew 28:16-17:

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

   The gospel of Matthew immediately concludes without missing a beat, with verses 18-20,

 ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

   “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” How could that be? They had seen him do miracles! They had seen him still the storm. They had seen him raise the dead! They had seen him dead.

   They had seen his side pierced with a spear and the water, by then separated from his plasma, flow out. The had seen his burial, and then, they saw him alive. He had appeared to them on the evening of the third day, and later.

   And in the end some doubted, yet they worshiped him. How could that be?

   We live in an increasingly secular age. We live in a time when people have been isolated and estranged and, I believe, are hungry for the real community that God gives.

   Pastor Will Willimon is a Methodist pastor who has also been a seminary professor, university chaplain, the Methodist equivalent of a bishop and is a fine preacher. He tells the story of a young woman who was a member of a congregation he served who made an appointment to see him during the week. She came by his office and said, “Pastor Willimon, I just wanted to say that I won’t be coming to church anymore. I’ve been struggling with my faith for a while, and I just realized that I can’t do it anymore. I appreciate everything that you and the church members have done for me, and I didn’t want to just drift away. I just came to say goodbye.”

   Pastor Willimon tried to address her struggles and encourage her to continue, but she was having none of it. And, the next Sunday she was back at worship. And the Sunday after that. And the Sunday after that.

   Finally, Pastor Willimon asked if she could stop by his office again, and she agreed. Pastor Willimon said, “Aren’t you the same person who came by and said that she no longer had faith and wouldn’t be coming to worship anymore?” She smiled and said, “Yes.” “Well then, I’m happy to see you, but could you tell me what happened?” he said.

   “Well,” she answered, “It came to me that sometimes, if you can’t believe for yourself, you have to be with people who will believe for you.”

   So, when people tell me that they are having doubts, I ask them to be consistent in their doubting and to question their doubts as well. Doubt their doubts.

   Thomas came to belief because he saw the risen Christ and put his hand in his wounds. That’s not something that happens to us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” Jesus said.

   How do people come to believe?

   Study after study has shown that 80-85% of all people who come to Christ do so because of the influence of a friend or a relative. They come by the Holy Spirit working through us.

   Each of us has a story of how we became a Christian or why we remain a Christian. They come to Christ through our stories.

   This passage from John ends by describing the purpose of the whole Gospel of John with what I think are two of the most important verses in the Bible, in John 20:30-31,

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.

   And what did we give them, those who came on Easter Sunday, but who are not this coming Sunday?

   Some of those who were at worship in Christian churches last Sunday were not doubters. They weren’t even interested. They were (Is it too harsh to say it?) spiritual tourists. They are like the young woman who sat next to one of my colleagues on an airplane who, seeing her Bible, described herself as proudly “spiritual, not religious”. In reflecting on their conversation the pastor said, “I am always interested in people who find ancient religion boring, but who find themselves endlessly fascinating.”  

   What we offer is neither religion nor self-affirmation. We proclaim Jesus, crucified, risen, and coming again. We proclaim that faith is a gift from God and leads people to life that truly is life in a living relationship with the one true living God. God doesn’t abandon us in our doubt. God inspires us with a living relationship! God gives us something to do for others, in response to what he has already done for us on the cross.

   So, we’ll look around this Sunday and some will say, “Bummer. Where is everybody?”

   But here’s another question, “What did we have to offer those who don’t come back?”

   They’ll have heard a lot about new life in Jesus Christ, about empty tombs and empty hearts. But how do we proclaim the gospel in a culture that is willing to hear that they are wonderful, but not that they are sinners. And that, therefore, what can the Good News mean?

   What does the good news mean to people who don’t know the bad news? What does the gospel mean without the law? Heaven without hell?

   The bad news used to be well known in our culture. No more.

   How will they come to life transformation if they believe they need none? How do they receive the Holy Spirit and be filled with the breath of new life?

   Do people doubt the Good News, or do they not even think about it at all? Is the salvation won by Jesus Christ meaningful to people who believe that they need no salvation? Or if we now believe that everyone will be saved by faith or not, that all good people go to heaven and that they themselves are good enough, and that God will forgive everyone anyway so why not just let people alone to do what they want and join the ranks of Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism (Google it. It’s a thing) that some think is the de facto religion of the Western world?

   Part of the answer is that we don’t do anything but listen to God and act in response to the renewed and living presence of God at work through us. We point people at their point of need to new life. Life that really is life. Eternal life in Jesus Christ.

   We point people to open their hearts, to receive the gift of faith, and to be blessed by God.

   Maybe we need to present the bad news before people can hear the good news. Maybe we need to be more of a bummer in our culture. It wouldn’t be popular, and it certainly wouldn’t be easy.

   Easter Sunday delivers the best news in the history of humanity. One week later we come to know it in the presence of doubt and, ironically, that doubt may hold the answer to proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world, as in Jesus words in John 20:29b,

^29b Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

   Doubt is not our main challenge. Indifference is. The opposite of faith isn’t doubt. It’s certainty. If we had certainty, we wouldn’t need faith. But that’s exactly where many people are in our culture. They proclaim their faith in themselves. They worship themselves, and they have a very small god. Every day is a disappointment.

   We live on a larger scale.

   My favorite sports story involves a comedian, Garry Shandling, who once reflected on Leo Durocher, the ruthless coach of the Dodgers when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers, and who said, “Nice guys finish last.”

   Gary Shandling said, “Nice guys finish first, and anyone who doesn’t know that doesn’t know where the finish line is.”

   We were created for a living relationship with the one true living God, but we rejected it. That Sin brought separation from God and evil into the world.

   We are sinners now reconciled to God and given new life by God through faith in Jesus Christ who earned it for us on the cross, a gift validated by the Resurrection.

   The best we can do is to proclaim Reality: the need and the solution. The eternal antidote to small gods and small lives: real victory won by The Savior, Jesus Christ.

   He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!