Fear of Missing Out

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, April 7, 2024
John 20:19-31

    Do you ever have FOMO, “Fear of Missing Out?”  For example, we are looking forward to the solar eclipse tomorrow, but many of us have to go to work and school and aren’t taking the day off to travel up north to be in the path of totality!  If you get there, great, and hopefully you can at least step outside around 3 o’clock tomorrow with those safety glasses, but some of us will miss out completely.  The next solar eclipse for us New Yorkers won’t be until 2045 so it’s something you might not want to miss.  You can’t be there for everything in life, right? Part of living is learning to accept finitude, but there are some things we don’t want to miss.
    Speaking of FOMO, how about Thomas that first Easter??  We do not know why he was not there when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples, showing them his hands and his side.  Maybe he was sick or got stuck in traffic?  Maybe he had responsibilities at home or was enjoying some alone time as an introvert after hanging around a dozen other guys for three years.  Maybe he ran further away from Jerusalem than the others and was still too afraid to be in the same room with known followers of Jesus after his arrest and crucifixion.  Whatever the reason, he misses out on Jesus’ first appearance to the other disciples, and he cannot bring himself to trust their word that the risen Christ is indeed alive. Or, maybe he is so upset that he was absent that first Easter that even though ten trusted men can corroborate each other’s witness that they have seen the risen Lord, Thomas announces defiantly he must see it for himself.
    We call him Doubting Thomas for this reason, yet Thomas is sort of typecast in the gospels as the doubter.  He is a more complex person, I’m sure – unlike Peter or John or even Mary Magdalene, we don’t have many stories actually in scripture about Thomas that give us a picture of his personality other than this gospel passage.  To be sure, to be human is to doubt; all of us, including the other disciples, not just Thomas, struggle with doubt as a part of our faith journey.  The gospels never directly describe Thomas as Doubting, in fact– rather, he is called “The Twin,” John tells us. If you spoke Greek you would know that his name actually means, “Twin.”  We don’t know who his twin was – brother or sister, if they also followed Jesus or not.  We don’t know what Thomas did for a living before following Jesus, if he was married, etc. There are so many unknowns.  What we do know is that when Thomas sees the risen Christ face to face, he answers, “My Lord and my God.”  His statement is one of deep faith.  And his story is very easy to relate to, even today, because how many of us would feel more comfortable totally 100% believing that Jesus is risen if we ourselves could put our hands in his side and our fingers in the wounds of Christ’s hands?  How many of us still would rather see it to believe it?  Instead, along with many of the faithful who believe after Jesus’ ascension, we strive to believe without seeing.  We strive to be OK with missing out on the first Easter and look for signs of his presence out there in the risen Christ living through you and me.
    Here’s some good news – Jesus doesn’t want Thomas to miss out on seeing him again.  He intentionally comes again for a second time, and repeats his appearance performance saying AGAIN, “Peace be with you.”  Jesus knows Thomas’s struggle, regret, and doubt.  “Put your finger here!  Put your hand in my side!  Don’t doubt, but believe!” Jesus encourages him.  Jesus shows up for the doubters.
Jesus doesn’t want any of us to miss out, either, on this gift of resurrection life he has to offer us.  It’s true that we are like Thomas.  We would rather see and touch to know something, especially somebody rising from the dead, is real.  Jesus promises to help us believe, we who have not directly seen him.  Jesus gives us signs of his presence with us even now so that we might not feel left out or abandoned. Some people are blessed to have pretty dramatic encounters with God, “lightning bolt” experiences.  Thomas is the disciple for the rest of us, who just want to trust that God in Christ is in fact there, our Lord and God who will save us as he promised.  We have all been there – you show up to a party and no one comes over to introduce themselves.  Maybe you even attend something here at church and feel like you’re on the sidelines or in the corner by yourself.  I recently attended an event where my friend who invited me couldn’t come at the last minute; I still went, but for a few awkward moments, I was right back to those first few days of my freshman year of high school, holding my lunch tray, scanning the tables for a friendly face to sit by and feeling very left out and alone.  Jesus showing up for Thomas is not just about giving him faith amidst his doubts; it’s assuring us that we are never truly alone or forgotten by God; there’s always a place for us in the Father’s house thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection!  
    So we come forward for Holy Communion today and we remember that Jesus gave us this bread and wine as his body and blood.  We gather for fellowship after worship and see Christ in one another’s faces as we share our joys and concerns over coffee and goodies.  We look for the quiet ones standing off to the side and try to find things in common even though we may be very different from one another on the surface.  We see Christ in the people who have food on the table or clothes in their closets thanks to our New Life Food Pantry, Christ in the children who come to our Nursery School or Sunday School to learn and grow in faith.  We start to realize that we may not see the historical Jesus of Nazareth face to face on this side of the grave, but just like those first Christians, the early disciples, we have seen the Lord.  We have tasted and touched his goodness and presence with us.  We have not missed out – rather, God in Christ has found us wherever we are, in whatever state of mind, despite our struggles and fears, and has promised us life in his name.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.