James T. Cleland - "The Wounds of the Risen Christ" Easter Service (April 14, 1968)
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| (soothing piano music) | 0:05 | |
| (choir vocalizing) | 0:12 | |
| (choir vocalizing continues) | 2:53 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 5:53 |
| Let the words of my mouth, | 5:56 | |
| and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable, | 6:00 | |
| in Thy sight. | 6:04 | |
| Oh Lord our strength, and our Redeemer. | 6:06 | |
| Amen. | 6:12 | |
| Although John 20:19-31, | 6:20 | |
| which was read as the lesson, | 6:26 | |
| is one of the post resurrection stories. | 6:29 | |
| It may seem to many of us as strange scripture passage | 6:34 | |
| for Easter morning. | 6:39 | |
| Why was it chosen? | 6:43 | |
| It insisted on being selected on this particular Easter, | 6:48 | |
| following the death of Martin Luther King, | 6:55 | |
| and the student vigil, on our campus. | 6:59 | |
| But why? | 7:05 | |
| Well, let us look at the passage together. | 7:08 | |
| The story begins on the first Easter evening, | 7:12 | |
| it ends a week later. | 7:17 | |
| The disciples were gathered together, | 7:22 | |
| behind locked doors, | 7:27 | |
| you bet they were locked. | 7:31 | |
| The disciples were scared, | 7:34 | |
| and understandably so, | 7:37 | |
| suddenly Jesus appeared and gave them | 7:40 | |
| the old Hebrew blessing. | 7:44 | |
| Shalom, peace. | 7:47 | |
| The disciples were filled with joy, | 7:52 | |
| and understandably so, | 7:56 | |
| but one disciple, | 8:00 | |
| Thomas, was not present. | 8:02 | |
| When they told him what had happened, | 8:06 | |
| Thomas was frankly and emphatically skeptical. | 8:08 | |
| His reaction was, "Unless I see the mark of the nails | 8:14 | |
| on His hands, | 8:21 | |
| unless I put my finger into the place where the nails were, | 8:24 | |
| and my hand into His side, | 8:31 | |
| I will not believe." | 8:35 | |
| Thomas came from the Missouri section of Galilee. | 8:40 | |
| He had to be shown. | 8:47 | |
| A week later, | 8:51 | |
| the disciples were gathered again in the room | 8:52 | |
| and Thomas was with them, | 8:55 | |
| Jesus reappeared and gave them the shalom, | 8:58 | |
| and then offered His hands | 9:03 | |
| and His side for Thomas experiment. | 9:05 | |
| Thomas said, "My Lord." | 9:11 | |
| He added," "And my God." | 9:16 | |
| Then the author of the fourth gospel adds his punchline. | 9:23 | |
| Jesus said, "Because you have seen Me, | 9:29 | |
| you have found faith. | 9:34 | |
| Happy are they that never saw Me, | 9:37 | |
| and yet have found faith." | 9:42 | |
| Many sermons have been preached on that statement of Jesus, | 9:45 | |
| but not this sermon. | 9:51 | |
| That punchline is not ours this Easter morning. | 9:56 | |
| Why? Because many of us, | 10:01 | |
| including me, | 10:05 | |
| are disciples like the doubting, | 10:07 | |
| questioning, incredulous Thomas. | 10:10 | |
| What do I mean? | 10:16 | |
| Some of us come to the resurrection faith | 10:19 | |
| with raised eyebrows. | 10:22 | |
| We are scientists by training, | 10:25 | |
| and science suggests from the accumulated evidence | 10:29 | |
| that dead men, stay dead. | 10:33 | |
| Resurrection may be possible in principle, | 10:39 | |
| but there is no sufficient evidence | 10:45 | |
| of the kind we are normally used to, | 10:47 | |
| regarding the resurrection of Jesus. | 10:50 | |
| Therefore we are skeptical, agnostic, | 10:55 | |
| others are equally doubtful | 11:00 | |
| from a historian's point of view. | 11:03 | |
| We wonder about the reliability of the witnesses, | 11:06 | |
| about the contradictions in the post resurrection stories, | 11:11 | |
| about the actual of occurrence, | 11:16 | |
| we too are skeptical, agnostic, | 11:19 | |
| like our scientific fellows. | 11:24 | |
| We also are from the Missouri section of academia. | 11:28 | |
| The one fact which might make us less doubtful, | 11:34 | |
| is the reality of the living continuing Christ, | 11:41 | |
| in the experience of others. | 11:46 | |
| Even this would be neither scientific nor historical proof, | 11:50 | |
| but it would be a reasonable inference | 11:57 | |
| and the possible basis of our personal faith. | 12:00 | |
| Well, there are enough folk who are exhibit A, B, C, | 12:05 | |
| right through the alphabet for our consideration, | 12:11 | |
| what do you think changed the disciples, | 12:15 | |
| from worried, frightened cowards, | 12:19 | |
| into willing martyrs, | 12:24 | |
| but the confidence that Jesus was not holding, of death. | 12:27 | |
| Why did the medieval church ascribe | 12:36 | |
| to Saint Francis of Assisi, | 12:38 | |
| the stigmata, | 12:41 | |
| marks similar to the wounds of Christ, | 12:43 | |
| except as an affirmation, | 12:49 | |
| of the fact that Christ lived in him? | 12:52 | |
| How does one account for the steadiness of Abraham Lincoln, | 12:58 | |
| except that he was dominated by a conception of God, | 13:03 | |
| and by daily applications of Christ, | 13:07 | |
| daily applications of Christ. | 13:14 | |
| These last words, are found in his own handwriting. | 13:16 | |
| What maintained and marked the life of Martin Luther King, | 13:23 | |
| but the reliving of the spirit of Christ, | 13:29 | |
| in the 20th century. | 13:33 | |
| It is this kind of living down the long years, | 13:36 | |
| which satisfies the Thomas in me, | 13:40 | |
| or as Pascal said, | 13:44 | |
| "The heart has its reasons, | 13:46 | |
| the reason does not know." | 13:50 | |
| Resurrection, had to follow crucifixion, | 13:53 | |
| or this whole experience of living is insanity. | 13:59 | |
| A tale told by an idiot, full of mayhem, | 14:04 | |
| signifying very little that makes sense. | 14:10 | |
| Moreover our reason comments, | 14:15 | |
| if God is love and power, | 14:18 | |
| as Jesus taught, | 14:23 | |
| then the defeated defenseless love of Good Friday, | 14:26 | |
| had to be followed by the triumphant power of Easter, | 14:31 | |
| which gives the assurance of victory, to love. | 14:36 | |
| The faith that Jesus was not holding of death, | 14:42 | |
| is the promise of the ultimate triumph of good. | 14:46 | |
| Easter is the festival assurance, | 14:52 | |
| that we shall overcome. | 14:56 | |
| Now, how shall we recognize these Christ men in heaven? | 15:00 | |
| A crossword puzzle, gave me a hint. | 15:08 | |
| I was looking for a four letter word, | 15:13 | |
| to answer the definition, "memento of a wound." | 15:16 | |
| The answer was, scar. | 15:24 | |
| We shall look for their scars, | 15:30 | |
| crucifixion scars on Jesus, | 15:34 | |
| and Peter, yes and on Francis, | 15:38 | |
| the marks of bullets on Lincoln, and King, | 15:43 | |
| John Bunyan in the second half of "The Pilgrim's Progress," | 15:50 | |
| has put the matter in unforgettable words, | 15:54 | |
| the summons to cross the river of death | 15:58 | |
| had come to Mr. Valiant for truth. | 16:01 | |
| He spoke his last will and testimony. | 16:06 | |
| "I am going to my Fathers, | 16:10 | |
| my sword, | 16:15 | |
| I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, | 16:18 | |
| and my courage and skill, to him that can get it. | 16:24 | |
| My marks and scars I carry with me, | 16:31 | |
| to be a witness for me, | 16:37 | |
| that I have fought His battles, | 16:40 | |
| Who will now be my rewarder. | 16:43 | |
| My marks and scars I carry with me, | 16:47 | |
| to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles, | 16:51 | |
| who will now be my rewarder." | 16:56 | |
| So he passed over, | 17:00 | |
| and all the trumpets, | 17:03 | |
| sounded for him, | 17:06 | |
| on the other side, | 17:08 | |
| he had overcome. | 17:12 | |
| Now, what does this say to us? | 17:16 | |
| Do not expect resurrection without crucifixion, | 17:20 | |
| in this kind of our road. | 17:26 | |
| This is a word to all of us, | 17:31 | |
| perhaps a special word, | 17:34 | |
| to those vigil entities, | 17:37 | |
| who have so successfully disrupted the timid tenure | 17:42 | |
| of our lives this past week. | 17:46 | |
| With innocence and honor, | 17:50 | |
| with naivety and seriousness, | 17:54 | |
| with controlled passion and solemn earnestness, | 17:58 | |
| they have shaken us all, | 18:02 | |
| whether we like it or have no, | 18:05 | |
| but let them and us be aware that Good Friday, | 18:08 | |
| precedes Easter. | 18:14 | |
| That Easter is not understood without some experience, | 18:17 | |
| in fact or in imagination, | 18:22 | |
| of a Friday that was black and brutal, | 18:26 | |
| and is perennial. | 18:31 | |
| About 20 years ago, | 18:35 | |
| Reinhold Niebuhr was accused of preaching a gloomy gospel. | 18:37 | |
| He answered his critic, | 18:42 | |
| "I shall be an optimist with you for eternity, | 18:45 | |
| if you will be a pessimist with me for the next 70 years." | 18:50 | |
| There are 50 years to go, | 18:57 | |
| and these years will be mocked by bad Fridays, | 19:01 | |
| which become good, only in the light of Easter. | 19:06 | |
| And the reason Christ, | 19:14 | |
| will still be recognized, | 19:17 | |
| by His wounds, His scars, | 19:20 | |
| thank God for Thomas. | 19:26 | |
| Let us pray. | 19:32 | |
| Oh God Who art the source of all true joy, | 19:37 | |
| grant us a vision of Our risen Lord, | 19:42 | |
| wounds and all, | 19:45 | |
| that we may know the peace which passes understanding, | 19:49 | |
| which the world can neither give, | 19:53 | |
| nor take away, | 19:57 | |
| and that pure joy, | 20:00 | |
| which shall make radiant all our duty, | 20:03 | |
| and our toil, | 20:07 | |
| through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. | 20:10 | |
| Amen. | 20:16 | |
| (soothing piano music) | 20:26 | |
| (choir vocalizing) | 20:52 | |
| (soothing piano music) | 22:27 |
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