The Big Questions
Second Sunday of Easter – Year C
April 11, 2010

Let us pray: O God, we stand among the ones who are witnesses to your presence in the world. What questions shape our relationship and understanding of you? How does the story of resurrection give form to our faith? May my words today be ones which help us find answers and form questions – for both are important to our journey. Amen.

Sometimes this happens – what I planned to reflect upon is not what comes out when I sit down to write about it. Such a thing happened this morning. I was planning to offer some thoughts on what we might call the “Big Questions” - the questions of mystery that give shape to our belief system. But instead when I sat down to write, there was only one big question on my mind, and as you'll hear, while it might be a big question for some people, I don't see it that way as all. But it does give rise to some other questions – which are big ones. This creates a divide in the Christian community and it is a reflection on this divide that gives form to this morning's reflection. Since I come up with the title for the reflection long before I write the content, it won't quite match what I have to say. I hope you'll excuse the divergence. Now on to what came out....

The great divide in the Christian community – at least that's the way I experience it – puts the resurrection as the defining event for the Christian faith. Now some of you may hear that say “Duh, nothing like stating the obvious!”. Of course, the resurrection is the defining event of the Christian faith. There would not be a Christian church without it. That's not the issue. It's how we understand the resurrection – the form in which it occurred and function that it serves that describes the great divide.

On one hand, we have a rather large group of Christians who have no trouble accepting the resurrection as something that defies all the laws of nature and science as a physical coming back to life. Jesus was dead and now he is alive – walking and talking with people just like he did before. I recognise that with that description, I've probably already revealed which side of the divide I find myself on. I have no problem seeing the laws of nature and science as God given gifts, but they cannot be broken.

Thomas in some ways is a hero for both groups. He needs proof. He has to see for himself. The physical resurrection folks take heart from the words of Jesus who says to Thomas when he finally has a chance to meet the risen Jesus: “Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!" People like me who see the resurrection in a different way, also see Thomas as a hero. Doubt defines our faith, helping us to grasp the mystery and deepen our understanding of just what the event of resurrection means for us as followers of Jesus in the world.

Perhaps none of this is new to you. Perhaps I am stating the obvious here. However, I have to tell you that the divide is real and at times intense. Last September I was invited by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to speak as part of a panel of people representing different faith traditions in a forum on the concept of salvation. I was there to bring a Christian perspective. I say “a” Christian perspective because I would never claim that I hold “the” Christian perspective for 1) I don't believe that “the” Christian perspective exists and 2) that I've been around long enough to know that even if there was “the” Christian perspective I would quite likely still stand outside of it. I have no problems claiming this position for I believe it is consistent with the teachings and example of Jesus who consistently raised questions and offered perspectives that were outside the expected and traditional point of view.

I began my presentation at the forum with words that said that I could only offer “a” Christian perspective and that I was more wary and concerned about the Christians who were in attendance at the forum and what they might have to say about what I would have to say than I was for members of any other faith group that were in attendance. For one thing my perspective on multi-faith issues is one that is very open to other faith expressions so I was unlikely to say something that would create walls among the faith communities represented at the forum. However I also know that there are branches of the Christian faith which are not at all open to other faith expressions because for them the Christian faith is the only acceptable faith, and that there could well be a group of Christians in attendance at the forum who would want to challenge what I had to say. I went so far as to say that at the beginning of my presentation – that it would be Christians more than any other faith group who might want to take issue with me.

I was not wrong. After my presentation I was told by a colleague from the ministerial association that one of the statements I made was borderline heresy. I always find it interesting that the Christian community can get so exercised about putting a box around just what comprises the orthodox Christian point of view when I see Jesus' example as one that was always questioning the lines we draw around who is in and who is out.

And what was it I said that so raised the objection of at least some of the Christians in attendance? A short little phrase which I admit now was provocative – possibly even intentionally provocative – but which I stand by because in my understanding it left open the possibility for a different point of view which leaves open the range of perspectives that define what it means to be a Christian. Here's what I said in part “The resurrection of Jesus – whether real or figurative – and lets not get into that one...” and yes it was that little phrase “real or figurative” that got me into trouble with my colleague.

For me the question is “Is it essential for us to set aside rationality and believe in a physical resurrection to be a true Christian?” Well, you know my answer, but I have an even bigger question. Isn't this akin to the kinds of question that the Pharisees asked of Jesus to try and show him up? We know how Jesus took those questions and made them into object lessons about how wide the doors were open for entry into God's community.

And finally, it is this mention of doors which I want to address. I used to think it was wrong to raise the kinds of question that I've been asking today. I used to think that I just wasn't being faithful enough by asking them. I used to lump myself in with the group that was like Thomas – not quite fitting the bill for membership in the group that Jesus talked about – the ones who could believe without having to see the wounds. But then I began reading the work of scholars who were Christian but not Christian apologists, who dared – for it can be a dangerous road when people are ready to question your faith – it was not completely easy for me to set aside the challenge from a colleague that I was speaking heresy – who dared to offer a different view of resurrection – one which makes eminently more sense to me – for it focuses not just on the personal but the corporate – the call to be a community of people who are using the story of resurrection as a story about transforming not just our personal lives, but the world. And then I was able to read the story with a more discerning eye. John's gospel has this strange mixture of real and super-real. They can see the wounds, but they are on the body of someone who just passed through a locked door! And when we hear the story of the walk to Emmaus. It took some time for the disciples to recognise who was walking with them. And even Mary at the tomb did not recognise Jesus right away – it was only when he spoke that she figured out who it was.

Resurrection is about living on and I have no trouble with that at all. We are here because the story of Jesus and the response that the story calls us to live out. They are as real today – with their call to openness and inclusion in God's community, their call to challenge the powers of empire that we still find in our lives and in our world – as they ever were – perhaps even more real than ever before. Those are the questions that describe the journey I am called to make in this world. I hope I can take even a few steps along it. Amen.