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My father-in-law was a musician who played familiar and popular tunes for an audience who followed him throughout the Midwest, Southwest and New England. At the end of each evening, he played the same tune; everyone knew exactly what the melody meant. When he died, my mother-in-law knew exactly what she wanted etched on his tombstone—five notes “—C-F-G-Bb-and A—“The Party’s Over…” Everyone knew the show had finished and it was now time to head home.

I wonder if in some way, a song like this one went through the minds of the disciples at the end of that first Easter day!  Mary, Simon Peter and the nameless beloved one proclaimed the melody of God’s promise kept and they celebrated the whole day. When the reality of what tomorrow might bring, questioning, filled with judgment, they wondered if the party was over, the whole thing done.

Perhaps on Monday, many of us were saying the same thing while rejoicing.  The party’s over, the majority of the chocolate bunnies were gone, leftovers from dinner were properly stored away and ready for lunches throughout the week and the dishwasher had done its amazing thing. Yes, that party, our Easter celebration, is over and it seemed time to call it a day! What an amazing day it was!

We have experienced Easter so many times before; we know the amazing tone of Jesus resurrection will always be—it will sustain us in all we encounter! In our joys and in our sorrows – but never to be taken for granted. A forever Easter was not on the minds of the Jesus’ disciples at the end of their first Easter day experience. 

Gathered in the Upper Room with the door bolted shut, they sat, wondering and lost, uncertain about what had really happened and what all of it really meant. They sat locked up in their worry that those who had killed Jesus would come to kill them too. They huddled worried they might not be able to withstand the ridicule and scorn they might get from those who would say they had failed at what they and Jesus had proclaimed; worried that they themselves had failed to protect Jesus.  We all know those “If only I had done…” situations that haunt us until someone convinces us otherwise—if ever. It seemed as if everything was over—ended.

When they hid themselves away, it was dark outside, so a light was burning inside—dimly, so as not to be noticed. Their voices were whispered so that no one outside would hear them. As they talked, Jesus came into the room; the room that was bolted shut. One, perhaps two, of them noticed and gasped for air. As Jesus moved closer to the table, they sat worried and afraid. Then they hear Jesus say, “Peace be with you.” Then he breathed God’s Spirit on them.

The party wasn’t over; the peace-filled, Spirit-led party has just begun.  The ten who were there, first startled, began to take in air as the beat of their hearts raced with joy.  There was weeping and shouting, amen-ing and breathing in God’s Spirit—all around. Their whole beings, from head to toe, had been unlocked!

Walter Wink, a biblical scholar says that when they encountered the resurrected presence of Jesus Christ, they could see that “God was, in Jesus, taking on a human face.” In just a few moments, the way they had understood God shifted forever; they could see Jesus had become an indelible imprint on God and God had forever entered the human. Jesus is now like God and God is now like Jesus. Yes, God was in Jesus, taking on a human form.

Thomas was not in the room when Jesus Christ offered peace and the Holy Spirit to his brothers that night.   I suppose he had gone off to do something he felt needed to get done—maybe to hide and avoid the whole thing. We do that sometimes. I’m sure he worried like the others nonetheless. –When the others found him, they told him of their experience with Jesus. Thomas was like, “Yeah right! Show me his hands, let me touch his wound.” Harrumph, he thought, “I doubt that will happen!”

A week later, the eleven disciples gathered in the upper room again with the doors shut and locked.  Once again, Jesus came and stood among them. To each of them he said, “Peace be with you,” Then he looked at Thomas and said, “touch my side, and look at my hands.” Amazed and speechless, Thomas did. His doubt became belief.

The writer Madeline L ‘Engle tells the story of her daughter who as a young child often cried out in the night. L ‘Engle would go into her daughter’s room to try and comfort her and hopefully get her back to sleep.  One particular evening was more difficult than usual. She tried to sooth the girl by saying, “Hush sweetheart, everything will be alright.” The girl quieted for a bit then the tears and the worry intruded again.  L ’Engle then said, “Don’t be afraid dear, God will be with you.” At that, her daughter said, “I know that mommy, but I want someone with skin on.

Christ Jesus is our God with skin on who comes to us whenever we need comfort or challenge. Jesus is the tangible presence of God; a God who began life in a cradle, lived life to the fullest; a God who offered healing and wholeness to all who would receive it, died on the cross and was risen and remains with us forever.   It took a minute or two, but Thomas got it.  His doubt that became belief now turned to faith. He had touched God and had been touched by God.

Something happened to the all of the disciples that night. The presence of the living Christ lodged itself at the center of their beings. God and Jesus forever one in them would now to be God and Jesus breathed through them—in Spirit and truth. Jesus ministry now lives on through each one of us; we too are Jesus’ disciples. Something happened to us on Easter.

All week, I have wondered how each of you experienced Easter. What did you celebrate? What did you doubt? I suspect many of you experienced great joy! I suspect some of you are still locked inside life’s heartaches waiting and perhaps hoping the experience of Easter will someday actually arrive. None of us want the party to be over. We all pray Easter is really real!

Margery William’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, is about a stuffed toy who was given to a boy for Christmas. Since it did not have springs and/or moving parts like the mechanical toys, the Rabbit wondered if it was real.  So Rabbit wanted to ask the Skin Horse, the one who was known as the oldest and wisest toy, “What is real?”

“Real isn’t how you’re made,” said the Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, then you become real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the horse. “But when you are Real, you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Horse.  “You become.  It takes a long time… Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

So the Velveteen Rabbit was loved by the Boy, and dragged around the garden, and left out in the dew; and became very shabby. One day, the Nurse tried to throw bunny away, but the Boy said, “You can’t do that.  He isn’t a toy; he’s Real.” The Velveteen Rabbit shivered with joy; it realized that at last it was Real!

The resurrected Jesus is real! We believe without having to have it proved. This is what Thomas needed to experience to believe. Now, looking back, he could see Jesus spanking new, lying in the manger in the stable, he remembers the many times and places he fed, healed, blessed, and challenged unhealthy authority; he saw how Jesus prayed, ate, slept and wept; how he died on the cross. And how on that night in the upper room, the fullness of who Jesus really is and will always be became real to him down to the tips of his toes!  Love made it real.

Friends, no matter where we are in relationship with God, hiding, hoping or believing, the Good News is that Jesus meets us in that place and draws us to proclaim the reality of Christ’s ongoing presence.

The celebration of Jesus’ resurrection is meant be live on in us. It is never over. We simply live and move, doubting our doubts long enough to believe; long enough be opened to what will always be—God with us. Really, it is so.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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