Followers of the Way

Doug Lambert - 27/04/2025

Readings - Psalm 150; Acts 5: 27-32; John 20: 19-31

Over the Easter period I re-read “The Last Week” a book written by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan. This book takes a day by day journey through the gospel accounts from Psalm Sunday to Easter Day, using Mark’s gospel as its main source. So each day I read the relevant chapter. Once again I was struck by how our familiarity with this saga causes us to conflate the significantly varying gospel accounts into a composite whole. This is an approach that we also take with the creation stories, we do it with the birth stories of Jesus, there are probably others. To illustrate the variations in these the Easter stories look at the rendition of the Passover Meal in each of the gospels. In Matthew it occupies 18 verses (26: 17-35), in Mark it occupies nine verses (14: 17-25), in Luke six verses (22: 7-13), and in John five chapters (13 - 17). What we have are four differing narratives each reflecting the events and themes its author sought to give prominence. It’s not the story details which matter, it’s what the story is trying to say that is important. We need to wrestle with the relevance of the Jesus story for us today. What are the essential truths that these writers were recording for their own communities and future ones. Those several gospel authors clearly believed that they had something of importance to say. They were undoubtedly spurred on by the fact that during the 40 years or so between the actual time of Jesus and the publication of Mark’s gospel most, if not all, of the people who were able to give first person accounts would have died; the Jesus movement itself was spreading across the known world; the imminent physical return of Jesus in the manner they had expected had not occurred; there was significant political upheaval. These authors would have felt a pressing imperative to preserve the core of the Jesus story in a permanent form, one which revealed the essential core truths about Jesus. The writers would have been aware of many stories and versions of stories so the collation and editing challenges they faced were prodigious. They personally may or may not have been literate; there were no laptop computers to help assemble and order content for a book; paper or more likely papyrus was expensive, so you could not indulge in too much redrafting. Their context was that of educational, cultural and scientific, beliefs and understandings of 2000 years ago; that context cannot be ignored. All this serves to emphasise the importance the authors placed on their work. Our attention today is on John’s story and in particular that of Thomas, of whom there is no mention in Mark’s account. Borg and Crossan make these observations - “Thomas has been treated quite negatively in much of Christian preaching and teaching. He is often held up as a negative role model. Indeed, while we were growing up, the only thing worse than being a “doubting Thomas” was to be a “Judas”. But there is no condemnation of Thomas in the story. Thomas desires his own firsthand experience of the risen Jesus; he is unwilling to accept the secondhand testimony of others. And his desire is granted: Jesus appears to him. Unless they are inflected in an accusing way, the closing words of Jesus do not need to be read as a condemnation: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe” They simply affirm that those who believe without firsthand experience of the risen Jesus are also blessed.”1 So, we too are blessed; we are among those multitudes who have not seen and yet have come to be followers on the way. We celebrate that experience in these rites we are now 1 “The Last Week” page 203 Page 1 of 2 observing. If we are followers on the way then we have committed to more than simple participation in a religious ceremony. John’s narrative describes a model for believers. The premise of discipleship directs us to what Jesus did in offering light and life and truth through a relationship with himself and with God. We are to offer a new way of being to the community in which we live. Each of us in our own way are helping to bring about the Kingdom. The kingdom is a world in which all people will be respected and assisted as they strive to reach their full potential. A world in which abundance is shared. A world in which the very earth itself is respected. In her Easter Message the President of the Assembly, Rev Charissa Suli proclaimed - “The tomb – once a symbol of defeat – became the birthplace of courage. They came grieving and afraid and were called from their sorrow. They rose up. They ran and they proclaimed. Fear gave way to faith. Despair gave way to purpose. And now, the question comes to us: What tombs are we living in? The tomb of fear? Of division? Of hopelessness? The resurrection of Jesus is more than a promise. It is now. It is ours. It calls us to rise from death to life. From despair to hope. From the tomb to new beginnings, or new life! Like the women who were the first to proclaim that Jesus had risen, we cannot stay silent. We cannot go back to life as it was while our communities long for renewal and our world aches for peace. This is our moment. We cannot wait. We must rise now and speak words of healing into a world torn apart. Act with courage where the vulnerable are forgotten. Love without limits. Serve without fear. Hope without hesitation. From the silence of the tomb rises the song of hope. Do not linger in the shadows of fear and despair. Step out from the tomb. Stop looking for the living among the dead, for Christ is risen.” It seems to me that this call applies regardless of the size of the congregation and the resources available to it. This call is not directed so much to the institutional church as it is to the faithful people of God bringing light, and hope, and justice, to this community. Amen