THOMAS’ LEAP OF FAITH: LEVELS IN KNOWING
JESUS AS GOD
(The following is the inaugural Sermon of The Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara,
missioner for Asiamerica Ministry in the Episcopal Church when he accepted to
help revive St. James Episcopal Church, 84-07 Broadway, Elmhurst, New York. Founded
in 1704 in what was then Newtown, a Dutch neighborhood, St. James is now
finding its place in the 21st century. Elmhurst is now one of the most racially,
culturally and ethnically diverse communities in Queens, NY. In 2005, its
theologically conservative congregation voted to separate from the Episcopal
Diocese of Long Island. In 2008, the Diocese regained the church properties but
the congregation departed, leaving a small remnant. Subsequent efforts from
succeeding leadership failed to revive the parish which has reverted into
mission status. In April 1, 2013 Bishop Lawrence Provenzano asked the help of
the Asiamerica Missioner to help revitalize St. James. This sermon last April 7,
2013 was the precursor of exciting events in the unfolding redevelopment of St.
James. To God be the glory)
Introduction
A summary of
our Gospel reading (John 20:19-31): The doubting Thomas, seeing and hearing the
risen Christ, exclaimed “My Lord and my God!”
“My Lord and
my God!” What a screaming expression of Thomas’ leap
of faith! A moment ago, he did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Now
he believes---and more. He confesses
that Jesus is Lord and God!
A moment
ago, he was not ready to follow Jesus up to death. Now he is ready to go where
He leads him to go. At the death of Jesus, his faith drooped and his hope
faded. But at the rising of Jesus, his faith is revived and his hope springs up.
Journey in faith
The
faith-journey of Thomas mirrors our own. There are moments of glory, there are
moments of doubts. At some points, we soar above in the heights of faith; at
other points, we backslide and down. My father, who was a war veteran and a tailor
used to say, our journey with God is like Singer Sewing Machine---it is “atras avante.” Or at best, like the
dictum of Mao Tse Tung, “two steps forward, one step backward.” It is never
continuous.
That was
exactly what happened to Thomas and the apostles. At the miracles that Jesus wrought,
their faith rose to highest heights. At the death of Jesus on the cross, their
faith sunk to lowest depths. But just when they would totally dim the lights, a
new light shines forth. By the grace of God, a new revelation comes and propels
them to move on.
At the death
of Jesus, the apostles when back fishing, the job they were accustomed to doing
and not so excellently. At the rising of Jesus again, they renewed their
commitment to be “fishers of men,” the ministry that they were trained to be,
and to do it excellently. Do you know the difference between “fishermen and
fishers of men?” The fishermen catch fish alive and put them down dead. The
fishers of men catch men dead and put them down alive.
So from
reluctance to total commitment, Thomas, like the other revived apostles,
traveled from Jerusalem, to Samaria and to the ends of the world. It is said
that Thomas became an apostle to India, where he introduced Christianity and
planted churches until he was martyred in Madras (now Chennai). Today, Mar
Thoma Church is one of the churches in India, who claim their origin from the
missionary work of Thomas.
What lessons
can we learn from the journey of St. Thomas?
In old Israel,
the prophet Hosea said (Hosea 4:6): “My
people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” It was not that the people of Israel in Hosea’s
time did not know God; they simply did not know the true God. The key to Thomas’
commitment as apostle lies in his enlightenment of Jesus as the true God. This
faith commitment grew from one degree of glory to another as he began to know
Jesus as God.
Levels of Knowing Jesus as God
Danish
philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the father of “existentialism,” wrote that there
are three levels of knowing Jesus: the aesthetic level, the ethical level and the
spiritual level. At what level of faith
are you on? Will you be willing to take a leap of faith and move forward?
By the way, since
this is my first sermon in this congregation, I must say to you, at the outset,
that I am a three-point preacher. No matter what scriptures, I read, I always
find three points. One time, a youth member of my former parish asked “Father Fred,
why do you always have three points? “ and I replied, three reasons: one, I am
a Trinitarian; two, I am the third child in my family; and three, survey said
that the most that people can remember in a sermon is three points. And I told
the young man, “When you grow old like me, there are three things you will
lose. First is your memory, the other two, I could not remember.”
The best
three point sermon was done by John Wesley, the Anglican priest who founded the
Holiness Movement which paved the way for the Methodist Church. It was a three-point
sermon on money. Wesley said, “First point, we must earn as much money as we
can.” And all Anglicans said, “Amen!” Second point, Wesley said, “we must save as
much money as we can.” And all Anglicans said, “Amen!” Third point, Wesley
said, “we must give as much money as we can.” And all Anglicans said, “Lord,
have mercy.”
First Level- The Aesthetic Level
Aesthetic means cosmetics or the
external beauty. If you want to have a facial, you go for cosmetology. If you
want to change your face and make your lips look like Angelina Jolie’s, you go
to cosmetic surgery. External beauty is called aesthetics.
To know
Jesus in the aesthetic level is to see him as the image of God. Colossians 1:15
says, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God; the first born of all
creation.” This is the most elementary way of knowing Jesus. Jesus is the
image, the icon, the representation of God.
In India,
the predominant religion is Hinduism. There are over 33 million gods in the
Hindu religion. When you walk in Calcutta, most likely you would bump into a
god. Jesus is one of their gods, one of their avatars, one of the icons of God.
He can be placed alongside any god and no one will notice his uniqueness. He
could just be one of the 33 million models of God.
I was once
wondering why fashion designers often choose slim or thin ladies to model their
signature dresses. Later I learned from one couturier that the reason why he
chose thin ladies was this: “models do not express themselves; they express the
clothes. In other words, they have to be thin because they serve as hangers!”
Well that
was logical, though a bit dehumanizing. The problem in knowing Jesus simply as
a hanger or a model of God is that models change. Take for example the model of
courtship. During my father’s time, the men were expressive of their love. They
sang songs like this (Frank Sinatra):
“My love is deep as the sea that flows forever;You ask me when
will it end? I tell you never.
During my
time, we were a bit subdued, but nevertheless poetic. And we sang songs like
this:
No, I never meant to love you; No I
never meant to care.
But have you ever noticed; Just how often I was there?
Today, the
model of courtship has changed. It’s like “Gangnam style.” The young people
simply say like this (Justin Beiber):
“Baby,
baby, baby Oh; Like baby, baby, baby Oh!”
So to know
Jesus simply on the aesthetic level is not enough. It opens up the doubt as
expressed by John the Baptist to his cousin, Jesus: “Are you He who is to come or
shall we wait for another?” (Luke 7:19)
Second Level- The Ethical Level
The second level of knowing Jesus is
the ethical level. This means knowing Jesus not only as a model of God but the
reality of God. Being co-equal with the Father-God and the Spirit-God is the
uniqueness of Jesus, the Son-God. Models may change but the reality does not.
Jesus as God is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end.
Knowing Jesus in the ethical level
leads to commitment. Thomas learned that
the power within him was greater than that of the world. But it was only head
knowledge. His behavior did not change. Faced with pressures in life, he
rationalizes. This is called paralysis of analysis. But when he saw Jesus' body penetrating the closed door and heard him speak and saw the marks of the nails, he made a leap of faith. The miracle
of the resurrected body broke open his heart to believe. Then he
decided to obey Him even unto death.
In 1517, the
German monk named Martin Luther, nailed down a piece of paper on the door of
the church in Wittenberg. The paper contained 95 theses or reasons condemning
the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church of his time. These theses
set the stage for the Protestant Reformation. When he was excommunicated and
condemned by the papacy of his time, Luther said, “Here I stand, I can do no
other.”
I’m sorry
that I could not remember those 95 theses of Luther. Had he broken them down to
only three theses, I might have remembered, but that’s another story. The point
I am driving at, is that ethics (behavior) and faith intersect. We are supposed
to practice what we preach because if we
do not practice what we preach, we become superficial and hypocrites. If we say
we love God and hate our brothers and sisters, St. John wrote (1 John 4:20), we
lie. For how can we say we love God whom we cannot see and hate our neighbors
whom we can see?
In other words, worship and work must be one.
When we talk about Christian unity, we talk about solidarity in the secular
world as well as unity in the spiritual world. If we cannot be one in sharing pan
de sal and a cup of coffee at the fellowship hall, how can we truly be one in
sharing the Body and Blood of Christ in the holy altar?
So if you
know that Jesus is not just one model of 33 million gods but the one, unique,
solitary God, then your ethics should change. You make a decision. Like Luther,
you make a stand. Someone said that if you don’t stand on something, you will
fall for anything.
Third Level---The Spiritual Level
This is the highest level of faith,
the faith that surpasses human understanding, the gift and virtue of the
mystics. The spiritual level means knowing Jesus not only as the aesthetic
model of God, not only as the reality of God but as the experience of God.
Jesus told his apostles prior to his departure, “Those who believe in me will
do the works that I do and will even do greater deeds, because I go to the
Father” (John 14:12).
Are you able to believe that you will
experience the power that Jesus had given the apostles? Will there be signs and
wonders when you proclaim the message of God? Will there be healing of the
sick, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom for the captives, liberation of
the oppressed and hope for the poor?
Will you, like St. Peter on the Day of
Pentecost, be able to preach one sermon and cause repentance and faith of 3,000 people? Will
you, like St. Paul be able to establish churches and strengthen Christians by
way of writing letters (or now emails and social media?) Will you be able to pray
for the sick and they will recover?
When Jesus died, the apostles went
back fishing. This is called
“backsliding.” From being “fishers of men” that Jesus called them to be, they
returned to being fishermen. But when they experienced the power of the Holy
Spirit, their lives completely changed. They became true to their mission. The
experience of the Holy Spirit became the wind beneath their wings. They
proclaimed Jesus in passion and compassion. As fire is for burning, their
passion for evangelism energized their ministries. The spiritual level of
knowing Jesus makes us to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in moving
mountains of despair and obstacles and achieving the fecundity or fruitfulness of our lives and character.
The Questions
This is my first sermon here as your
new priest. I was appointed by the Bishop
last April 1, otherwise known as “All Fools Day.” Through this week, as I went through
transition, I meditated on what it means to be a “fool for Christ” and asked
myself these foolish questions: “Are you he who is to come or shall they wait
for another?” “What makes you different than the priests before you?” “Are you
able to turn this church around?” “Are you able to revive this church?” “Are
you able to move this church from decline to survival; from maintenance to
growth?” "And can you do it as a weekend priest-in-charge"(my full-time job is missioner for Asiamerica Ministries and staff of the Presiding Bishop).
My answer was and is, “No, I am not a
messiah. I cannot revive this church; I cannot
turn this church around. But I will help the people of God at St. James Church
to know Jesus more and more. So that knowing Him, they may love Him; and by
loving Him, they may serve Him. By
knowing Jesus, by loving Jesus and by serving Jesus, the Holy Spirit will empower
us together, to turn this Church around!”
Conclusion
Like St.
Thomas, St. James, St. Peter, St. John, St. James and all the apostles, may we all know Jesus, the crucified
and risen Lord. The true and living God. He is the Christ who cannot be buried below the ground. He is
the Christ who got out of the tomb. He is the Christ who rose on high and
ascended to the Father. He is the Christ who spoke peace and said, “Fear not...Peace be with you.”
I will help
you to know Jesus as the image of God, the reality of God and the experience of
God. Today, at St. James Church in Elmhurst, a new journey begins. Because Jesus lives, we all
can face tomorrow. Yes, Lord. Do it again. Revive us again. Allelluia! Thine the glory. Revive us again!
(Post note: Attendance at St. James has more than quadrupled in just over 2 years, with new and
innovative ministries and has become financially viable again. The Church is working on its Long-Term Plan for becoming a Parish again.)
