Walk a Mile in His Shoes by Rev. Kathy Sides (Preached at Fort Des Moines UMC 4-12-2015) In 1970 Joe South wrote and sang a song entitled Walk a Mile in My Shoes. How many of you remember it? It was basically about our tendency to judge people without understanding what they ve gone through or what their lives are like. It expounded on the old proverb that advised; Don t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. The refrain of the song goes: Walk a mile in my shoes, walk a mile in my shoes. Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse, Walk a mile in my shoes. We have as our Gospel lesson on this Sunday after the resurrection, the story of Thomas; or as the world has labeled him, Doubting Thomas, a nickname earned because, no matter how sure and faithful he might have been before or after, there was one moment when he needed proof of what others were telling him. He demand some proof before he would believe in the resurrection of Jesus. When others told him they had seen the risen Lord, his response was; 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. I think Thomas has been harshly judged; and often the other disciples, too. We, who are comfortably removed from the horrors and confusion and fear that Thomas and the other disciples lived through, sometimes have a hard time understanding why Thomas and the others weren t stronger in their faith. We sometimes even have the audacity to think that if we had been there, fear wouldn t have gotten the best of us; we would have been braver, stronger, more faithful, than Thomas and those other pitiful disciples. We would have believed that Jesus had risen! After all, he had said he would, why didn t the disciples remember? Why didn t they get it? We sometimes forget that we have the benefit of knowing the whole story. We ve read The Book, while they were in the middle of living it. We forget that we have the benefit of viewing things from a nice comfortable, attractive sanctuary, almost 2000 years after the events of the crucifixion and resurrection played out. We aren t hidden away in a locked room, grieving the death of someone we loved and had placed all of our hopes in. We aren t living in fear of being found and judged and crucified like Jesus had been, simply because we had been identified as one of his followers. How can we know that we wouldn t have reacted the very same way as the disciples? How can we know that we wouldn t have had the very same doubts as Thomas? 1
Before we criticize Thomas for his doubts, or judge him as less than faithful, maybe we need to walk a mile in his shoes. Or considering the time period, maybe it would be walk a mile in his sandals. Well, that was a long time ago, so we can never really experience those events the way he did. But maybe if we use our imaginations, we can begin to imagine what it would have been like to have been Thomas, to have, so to speak, been in his shoes. Or sandals. So let s try walking a mile in his shoes as he walked the streets of Jerusalem in the days following Jesus death. Imagine that you are Thomas. And you have gathered in a house with the other disciples, in the hope that Jesus will come to you. Part of you is feeling foolish for even being there, halfway expecting Jesus to come. After all, you saw him die, and the only evidence you have that he s alive is the word of Mary Magdalene, who insisted she saw the risen Jesus, and your fellow disciples, who claimed that they, too had seen the risen Lord. They told you that even though the doors of the house were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said; "Peace be with you". Then he showed them the wounds in his hands and side, and said; "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." The other disciples seemed convinced that they had really seen Jesus. They rushed to you, saying; "We have seen the Lord!" But you hadn t been there; you had not seen what they had seen. And you had watched him die! And so you say to them; "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." And it is because of those few words that people will forever know you as "Doubting Thomas". But, you have enough faith that you are there in the house with the others that night, feeling foolish for believing he might really come, and yet at the same time, feeling ashamed of yourself for not believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be there. But to understand even a little about what might be going on in your mind and heart that night, you have to understand what had gone on in the days and weeks before that, the range of emotions that you had experienced. You had felt such incredible hope and excitement, followed by such awful despair, grief and defeat. But let s go back and start at the beginning; Now, you would be less than truthful if you claimed that from the moment you saw Jesus you were convinced that he was the Messiah, that you never questioned or doubted or struggled to believe. Because you had waited so long for the promised Messiah, and there had been others that you had placed your hopes in. Every time you and your friends heard of a new prophet or teacher that was out of the ordinary you wondered, "Could this be the one?" And it was tempting to follow each one, on the chance that he might really be the one you had been were waiting for. 2
Oh, but there was something special about this Jesus, something you could sense from the moment you met him. It wasn't because he was a commanding speaker or an especially powerful man. It was - it was something in the way he looked at you, as though he could see into the very depths of your soul. So, you began to follow this Jesus, with a growing excitement that he really could be the one you had been looking for. But, you had been disappointed before, so you aren t ready to proclaim Jesus the Messiah until you are absolutely sure. So, you were somewhat of a skeptic at first, wanting to believe, but needing to be absolutely certain. But as you walked, and talked, and was taught by Jesus; little by little, your doubts seemed to vanish. This truly was an extraordinary man! He made the blind see and the lame walk. But even more convincing than the physical healing was the way he healed people's souls. He seemed to know what was in a person's heart before they spoke. It was as through he could see all the pain and hurt and longing inside, see all the sins and imperfections, and in a moment heal and forgive and set people free. It was witnessing this power to change lives that erased your doubts and made you believe. For you see, it was not only others who were changed by Jesus, you, too, experienced his lifechanging power. This surely was the Messiah! It was so exciting to be a part of Jesus' ministry! You longed for everyone to be convinced, as you were, that Jesus was truly the son of God. Little by little Jesus' popularity grew, and the crowds began to gather. You might admit that you felt a certain amount of selfish pride that you was chosen to be one of the 12 disciples, that you was in on the beginning of such an exciting event. It felt so amazing to see the crowds grow, to see people come to believe. And then came the day of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem; how exciting that was! Finally, it seemed, people had come to believe in Jesus. You and the others thought that this would be the beginning of an even more powerful ministry, when people would finally proclaim Jesus as the true Messiah. Little did you know what lay ahead for you that week, how quickly things could change. As you gathered in preparation for the Passover you were all still focused on the excitement of the past few days. Later, looking back, you would be able to see that Jesus tried to prepare you for what was ahead, tried to make you see that your understanding of what he was sent to do, and his, were quite different. But none of you understood. You were so caught up in your own plans and dreams for his ministry, that you didn't really listen. It seemed that Jesus was talking in riddles; about betrayal, about going where we could not yet follow, about preparing a place for you. You just didn't really understand. But even if you had understood what he was trying to tell you, probably nothing could have prepared you for what would happen next. 3
The hours that followed were a nightmare. Later you would be ashamed to admit how you all scattered, how selfishly afraid for your own lives you were. You and some of the other disciples waited in the shadows, wanting to see what was happening. None of you believed it could end the way it did. You had become so convinced that Jesus was the Messiah that you couldn t conceive of others not believing it. Surely once the Sanhedrin talked to Jesus, met him face to face and questioned him, they too would know! But the nightmare continued all the way to the cross. Perhaps you were there when they hung Jesus on the cross, though you probably watched from a distance; afraid that this madness that demanded his life would also demand yours. You watched in horror, unable to believe at first that Jesus would really die. Surely he would save himself, would come down from the cross and prove to everyone, once and for all, that he was the Messiah! You waited, and you prayed; you prayed with all your heart and soul. But as the hours passed and the life drained from Jesus, you found your hope draining too. And then he died. How can you explain the emotions of the next day, when everything you had believed in and hoped for was gone? You grieved deeply for the loss of Jesus, this man that had touched you so deeply and you had come to love with all your heart and soul. You cursed the injustice that would demand the life of someone so pure, so kind, so filled with compassion. But the death of Jesus was much more than the loss of a person. It was the death of a dream, a hope, a vision. And in the agony of your grief you begin to wonder if it had all been a lie. How could you still believe? Didn't the death of Jesus change everything? If he really was the Messiah, as you had so fervently believed a few days ago, how could he have died? Although you were ashamed to admit it later, your faith gave way to fear and doubt and you suddenly felt angry and betrayed. You felt like a fool, believing so totally in Jesus, when it seemed now that he was just another man, pretending to be the Messiah. You somehow forgot all the things that had made you believe in the first place; the way he changed your life, the way he could look into your very soul, and you let yourself believe it had all been a lie. And then came the news that Jesus had risen! Mary Magdalene told of going to the tomb after the Sabbath and of seeing Jesus, who called her by name. And then there were the other disciples who came to you with the news that they too had seen the Lord. When you heard the news your heart leaped! You wanted so much to believe that it was true, to believe that you had been right all along, that Jesus was alive and would prove himself, once and for all, to be the Messiah. 4
But you were afraid it was yet another lie, something that they all wanted so badly to be true that they had imagined it. And so you found yourself caught between wanting to believe again, and wanting to protect yourself from being hurt again by blindly believing something you had no real proof of. And so you demanded proof before you would believe. But there was still a spark of hope and faith struggling to stay alive inside of you. And so you went with the others to that house and waited for Jesus, with the war between faith and doubt raging within you. And he came! He really came! And oh the joy you felt, mixed with shame that you had been so ready to believe it was all a lie. Jesus came and stood among those gathered there and said, "Peace be with you". You were afraid to look into his eyes at first, knowing how those eyes could see inside your soul. You knew he would see the shame of your doubt, would know how quickly you had been overcome by doubt. But finally you could bear it no longer, and you had to look. And you immediately knew that he saw it all, for he said, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." But in those words and in his eyes there was no condemnation, only forgiveness. And being known and yet forgiven, you could only say, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus said. "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." So that might have been your story, had you been the one called "Doubting Thomas". And having walked in his shoes, even if it was only in our imaginations, we might understand a little better now about Thomas doubts; and how they really were pretty normal, pretty understandable, considering the circumstances. And maybe we will be a little slower to judge Thomas and the other disciples for their fears and failures. But bottom line is, nearly 2000 years later, it doesn t matter how faithful or unfaithful, how sure or how doubtful we judge the disciples to have been. What matters is how faithful we will be as disciples of Jesus Christ here and now. The lesson we can learn from knowing about Thomas and the other disciples is that any doubts or fears or failures were understood by Jesus. Jesus response to Thomas demanding proof wasn t, Shame on you, Thomas, I expected better of you! It was, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. In other words, I understand, Thomas. Your doubts are forgiven. I ll give you what you need to make your faith strong again, and we ll start fresh from here. In spite of their doubts, fears and failures; forgiven by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, the disciples went on to be bold, courageous witnesses for Christ. At the end of our lives, will people be able to say the same about us? 5