Low Sunday

Acts 2.14a, 22-32; 1 Peter 1.3-9; John 20.19-31

The royal wedding on Friday last was such a splendid occasion. It was a nice thing to have at a time when there's so much difficulty in the world. It lifted the spirits. In Easter week it was good to have something that for such a lot of people 'raised them up' again if the message of Christ's resurrection didn't speak to them and raise them up.

I came away from watching it on tv though with some mixed feelings. On the one hand commentators, even a distinguished historian were saying how the couples' relationship and their wedding, and how they relate to people, shows how much the Royal Family has changed in recent years. And there's no doubt they have. On the other hand the wedding wasn't much different from that of William's parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents at heart. It had all the hallmarks of privilege, status and wealth. None of that seemed to be compromised. And 'gettting up close' and shaking hands and smiling a lot, doesn't change that and the gulf that there is between the monarchy and their subjects; because despite democratic government that's what the relationship still is and it's preserved. That's the default, the fall back position. Because you can't do both. The way that Jesus put was to say that 'you can't serve God and Mammon.' There's no integrity in that. If you try to serve both, the cracks soon show and you eventually fall apart. If you try to be two different and divergent things at once, there's no integrity in it and eventually you break up and fall apart. Contrary to what Tony Blair said, there's no such thing as a 'people's princess'. It's being a princess that makes the princess not one of the people. And the whole sad story of Prince William's mother I believe was about her not being able to settle for being either one or the other; or that she wanted to be one thing when really she was another whether she liked it or not.

Now I'm only making this point, not because I have any issues with the monarchy or anything like that. I'm making the point to highlight what it means really to change. The royals have made a lot of cosmetic changes and have developed systems and behaviours so that they don't become even more discredited by and detached from their subjects. And all of those I think are good. But they aren't real change. Real change might have been signified at the royal wedding had all the male members of the royal household worn lounge suits for the wedding instead of military uniform. Do you see what I mean?

It doesn't really matter how the change comes about, but real change isn't cosmetic, it's not something overlaid. Real change turns in and issues from the heart. That's what repentance is all about. That's what repentance means. It means real change. And we see this this morning in Thomas and his encounter with the risen Lord.

You have to admire Thomas's honesty and openness. And he gives us permission, thank God, to ask for proof; '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.' Thomas wants proof. And he got his proof and wasn't at all judged for it. And really we shouldn't judge and think any the less of all those who say 'show me', 'convince me'. They are only expressing what most of the rest of us think or feel some times anyway. It's fertile ground for the devil. As I was sat later on Easter Day thinking about our worship and all that we'd affirmed I got really challenged as I thought about the fact that we'd proclaimed that somebody had risen from the dead. How could we do that in the light of reason? It's so incredible. How can it be true? That real doubt came home like a dart and was so clear. For a few moments it really unsettled me. Thank God it went as quickly as it came.

Thomas, faced with what was for him proof, had a change of heart and mind, something that went right to the very centre of his being and it was from there he changed. He believed and he changed. The believing was a change but undoubtedly it changed his whole life. We don't have any documentary evidence but we only need to look at his contemporaries and fellow disciples and disciples down the ages to know that Thomas would have changed in many different ways in his person and in his life as the implications of Jesus being 'my Lord and my God' came home.

Because that's what the resurrection of Jesus is about. It's about fundamental change. It's about heart, mind and soul change. It's not about making cosmetic changes in our life; moving the furniture of our life around to make it look a bit different. It's about radical, fundamental change. It's about coming out of the dark and death of the tomb and into the light of life. It's about change from journeying towards death to journeying towards life. And life in all its fullness, which is what Jesus promised.

But we can only make that journey if we make the change. We can only start to move away from death to the fullness of life if, like Thomas we fall on our knees at the feet of Jesus and proclaim him 'my Lord and my God'. And if we need proof that Jesus is risen to help us do that, we need look no further than the person sitting next to us or in front or behind us in church. No matter what we think or feel about those people they are our fellow disciples who have in their own way seen the risen Lord. They wouldn't be here if they hadn't. They are all the proof we need. The rest is up to us.

Alleluia. Christ is Risen!