The Gospel of Doubting Thomas
Growing up, my mother would
often tell me just how appropriately she had named me. I don’t think it was necessarily a complement, but I quickly
identified with the moniker of Doubting Thomas, I was even proud of it. It was the same at school, which actually served me
well in most subjects, math, science, even spelling. My nature served me well in most subjects. It just so happens that
I attended a parochial school and religion was one of our regular subjects. Let’s just say that the nuns who tried to
teach me about religion did not appreciate my questions in the least and so they were strongly discouraged. So much so, in
fact, that in the eighth grade when the rest of my friends were preparing for confirmation, I was convinced that religion,
all religion was just bubble gum for mind. It was a means of controlling people, “the opiate of the masses,” religion,
for me was something to be avoided at all costs.
I remained hostile toward religion for many
years, very proud of my Doubting Thomas role. One would think that someone so openly hostile towards everything religious
would do everything possible to avoid the subject, but truth be known, religion has always been a constant fascination of
mine. I read any number of books on the subject, took college courses on the subject, and loved to debate the merits of religion
with anyone who would listen. And frankly, things haven’t changed much, I am still skeptical, I still doubt and
question everything, but I have since discovered something about religion that wasn’t so apparent to me when I was younger.
I discovered there was an underlying truth to this religion thing, one that isn’t nearly as apparent as it should be.
Ironically, I came upon this new understanding of religion in the lost gospel of Thomas, allegedly the same Doubting
Thomas found in the gospel of John. The gospel of Thomas was discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. It was part of
a cache of books buried there by early Christians that found themselves on the wrong side of orthodoxy and did not want their
sacred texts destroyed. What I found most interesting about the Gospel of Thomas was that it provided the essence of the other
gospels without those things I had always had trouble accepting.
Here, for the first time, for me
anyway, was the Christian message laid bare, minus the virgin birth and miracles. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection
of sayings attributed to Jesus absent any narrative whatsoever, many of which parallel sayings found in the four canonical
gospels. There are a total of 114 sayings, and it was on saying 113 that I received my great epiphany. The following is the
translation I read, “His disciples said to him, ‘ When will the (Father’s) imperial rule come?’ ‘It
will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, “look, here” or “Look, there!” Rather,
the Father’s imperial rule is spread out upon the earth, and people don’t see it.”
This actually has a parallel in Luke, but I hadn’t noticed it before. And frankly, the language of “imperial
rule” and “kingdom” has always turned me off, But this time, it occurred to me, that perhaps, just
perhaps, the message of Jesus had been misrepresented to me. It occurred to me that behind all the dogma and ritual
was a deeper truth, a truth that I had always sensed was there but could not fully understand due to my skeptical nature.
The gospel of Thomas helped me connect the dots, it helped me see that what is “spread out upon the earth” and
people don’t see, god’s imperial rule, the kingdom of god, is not some vague reference to heaven or even some
future time. The kingdom of god, that which is spread out upon the earth and people don’t see is the transformative
power of love.
Jesus never said, “Believe in me and you will be saved.”
No! His one commandment was love. Love your neighbor, love your enemy, love god. Love . Love. Love. The
gospel of Thomas helped me come to terms with my own early Christian education, helped me accept in my head what I had always
felt in my heart, that the human tendency toward religion is grounded in Love.
The Ancient Greeks had three
words for love, more depending on who you talk to, the others, I believe relate more to particular aspects of love and not
necessarily love itself. Philia is the love experienced between friends, family and community, considered by the ancient greeks
to be a most virtuous form of love. Eros is the love experienced between lovers, it is passionate and sensual, generally
more intense the philia. Agape is the third form of love, it is used in ancient texts to denote feelings for a good
meal, one's children, and the feelings for a spouse. It can be described as the experience of feeling content.
Early Christians used the word Agape to describe the sacrificial love of God for creation. C. S. Lewis, in his book
The Four Loves, used agape to describe what he believed was the highest level of love known to humanity—a selfless love,
a love that was passionately committed to the well-being of the other. The new testament writers, who wrote primarily in Greek,
used agape almost exclusively, as in the following from the sermon on the mount.
You have heard that it
was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that
you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the
evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax
collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what
are you
doing more than others? Do not even pagans
do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.
To be sure we all understand this text, let me rephrase and summarize it a bit, “You have
heard it said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: love your enemies and seek the best for those
who persecute you. This is the path to spiritual harmony. The interdependent web of existence is inclusive of all people and
all beings, it is easy to love those who love us, to love our enemies helps awaken the divine that is inherent in all of us.”
The word gospel, which means nothing more than “Good News.” The gospel, the good news of Unitarian Universalism,
is the mystery and the power of this thing we call Love. As Unitarian Universalists it is not enough to talk about love,
the love of god, the love of friend, the love of enemy. As Unitarian Universalists we recognize that is through deeds, not
creeds that we are saved. We recognize that love is a verb, it calls us into action. Love calls us into solidarity with all
of creation and to take stands on the side of love. Love calls us into full participation with life, it calls us out of our
self-imposed isolation to be in community with all of creation. Love is the end and love is the means to that end.
Martin Luther King noted that “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our
time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must
evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method
is love.” The Gospel, the good news of Unitarian Universalism is that you, and you, all of us, are not alone in your
pursuit of a more just, more loving world. As individuals, we stand on the side of love in any number of ways. We stand in
solidarity with the soldiers fighting around the world in support of the peaceful resolution to conflict. We stand in support
of recent immigrants that face any number of life diminishing factors. We stand in support of all those in our community in
need of basic medical care, food, and clothing. We stand on the side love in support of basic rights for all people, including
the legal right to the benefits of marriage for all people in committed relationships.
On October 11, some of you
will be in Washington for the National Equality March. The purpose of this march is to gather people from all across America
to let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
I would like to share this from the National Equality March website:
Our single demand: Equal
protection in all matters governed by civil
law
in all 50 states. Our philosophy: As members of every race, class,
faith, and community, we see the struggle for LGBT equality as part of
a larger movement for peace and social justice. Our strategy: Decentralized organizing for this march in every one of the 435 Congressional districts
will build a network to continue organizing beyond October. This is our
single message as we march on Washington on October 11, 2009. We seek equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.
Not all of us can attend the March, not all of us can go to Washington, but all of us can participate in this event.
We can stand on the side of love where ever we happen to be, including here in Beaufort County. There are any number of ways
we could Stand on the Side of Love in support of equal rights for all people, however, a candlelight vigil is planned to take
place in Bluffton next Sunday and it is a joint effort between our two congregations, a logical follow-up to our shared ad
in the paper in which we declared our shared commitment to Stand on the side of Love.
As Individuals, we are called to stand on the side of love in many different
ways, and in the end, each serves the larger goal of peace, justice and equity for all beings. Ours is a gospel of inclusion,
something that many people have a hard time understanding. So, When people ask, “How is it that atheists and Christians,
and Pagans, and Buddhists can join together in community?” I respond “The permanence and strength of love transcends
such superficial and transient differences.’ When People ask, “How is it that black people and white people, young
and old, gay and straight can join in community?” I reply “Love does not concern itself with such things.”
When people ask how we create community out of such diversity, I say in a loving way, “How is it that you cannot?
Is it your god that cannot tolerate diversity of opinion and ways of being, or is it you that cannot tolerate such differences?
You are welcome to join me even if you would not welcome me.”
It is unfortunate that Jesus’
original message of love and forgiveness became so conflated with esoteric doctrines and dogma, but that orignal message is
as true today as it was 2000 years ago. Though many of neighbors may be actively fighting against those same things
we would fight for, though our neighbors would not heed the words of the one they would follow, in the end we are all on the
same side. When we stand on the side of love, we do so not in opposition to our neighbors but in support of our own
consciences. It is imperative, in our efforts to spread our UU gospel of inclusive love, we are consciously inclusive
of those that disagree with us. Love demands no less.
So be it! Amen! Blessed Be!
