Over the Holy Week period, Desiree has guided us through an illuminating comparison of the structure of The Genesis account of Creation and that of St Johns Gospel, in which the “eighth day” of both narratives describe pivotal moments of the creation process, when something relational, wonderful and new is revealed.

Today’s gospel passage describes events that happen on the same day as the breath-taking account of Mary embracing the risen Christ; a new creation emerging from the resurrection, the two in eternal embrace representing the new humanity. Into this mix, the Holy Spirit breathes upon the disciples in earnest of their full participation in the new relationships of human existence.

All this a parallel with the Genesis story of an earth creature (Hebrew ‘adam אָדָם) made of clay (Hebrew ‘adamah אֲדָמָה) into which the Spirit of God breathed life, the creative act that gave way to a new creation when Woman (Hebrew ‘ishshah אִשָּׁה) and Man (Hebrew ‘ish אִישׁ), both of whom are fashioned out of the earth creature, are declared to have become one flesh, a new creation, humanity.

So, here we are. All is done, seemingly, and we are all breathing, imbued by the same breath of life that vivified the clay form that God moulded on the eighth day of creation, that the risen Christ breathed upon the disciples on the eighth day of the second creation. Or are the two creations both the same? Time is an equally tricky concept.

But where are we really? For almost a lifetime, I have been pleased to know about Thomas because of his nickname, Doubting Thomas. However, it has finally dawned upon me (pun intended) that Thomas simply wanted to see what the others had already seen, the disfigured flesh of his one-time friend and mentor, the man Jesus. Jesus graciously allows his request.

The risen Jesus, unimpeded by locked doors, appears, nail scars and all. With no condemnation of Thomas, he bestows his blessing of peace together with a simple invitation to see, to touch. His subsequent question to Thomas “Have you believed because you have seen me?” is devoid of accusation or condemnation, for it is the precursor to his declaration “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

In this enquiry and promised blessing, Jesus assigns the same task to his followers that the Father sent him to do, to bring the same blessing to whoever will listen, to spread the Word, to scatter seeds of love in a world of doubters, to lay the ground for a continued declaration throughout the ages to come.  Even so, as Joy Moore observed,

Today’s listeners bring their own turned over worlds. Some by their own doing: a community scattered, distraught, by … vehement denial of what was once confidently promised, and compromised by a price unequal to the betrayal of a loved one. Some by what has been done to them: disenfranchised by wavering public opinion, persecuted and tormented by the very systems that should sustain them, demoralized by the loss of hope for a future.

None of this, then, is really about a phantom appearance or even a doubting disciple, although there are plenty of the latter. Again, to quote Joy Moore,

It is how to tell of a world when the divine shows up in disaster. It is how to tell of a world when forgiveness is forever … It is how to tell of a world when a woman’s witness welcomes wonder. It is how to tell of a world when life is to know the God whose mission is to forgive … and reconcile communities scattered by oppression.

It is this message that gives rise to John’s vision: a myriad surrounding the throne singing, “worthy is the Lamb … to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)

That vision continues with a significant inclusion: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation5.13)

Let me repeat this vitally significant phrase - “Every creature in heaven and on earth and under the sea, and all that is in them.” Not just people; the whole of creation. The original blessing of creation is not confined to a bunch of human animals.

Yet, many Christians have a habit of thinking they are very special, set apart, different from the rest of the bunch. The paradox herein is that this is both true and not true. To tease this out, let us start with one particularly special human being.

The classical Eastern Orthodox icon of the baptism of Jesus shows him naked and often up to his neck in water. John the Baptist stands on one bank of the river and three angels on the other holding Jesus’ clothing. The hand of God descends from above, whilst below the surface of the water, a curious little figure of the river god is often depicted.

In the Orthodox interpretation of this image, the baptism of Jesus represents a descent into unregulated, chaotic reality prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, akin to the waste and void that covers the face of creation at the beginning of Genesis. This tradition views Jesus’ baptism as a recapitulation of Genesis. The Word descends into chaos and, under the supervision of the Holy Spirit in her role as midwife, something is brought to birth, that something being the vocation of Jesus to live out his innermost identity.  

Likewise, the Christian vocation includes not only to live out one’s innermost identity, but to live in the neighbourhood of chaos, the unregulated mess in which the world finds itself.

The chaos of other people’s lives, the chaos of suffering, the chaos of doubt, the chaos of a real world in which people are ground down and oppressed and denied by others who don’t understand what it is to face their nothingness.

If, as we claim, baptism is an entry into the identity of Jesus Christ, it is also, as Rowan Williams put it, an entry into the most profound solidarity with human experience that we could imagine.

But, in the light of the Revelation to St John, we must perforce extend that solidarity to all that is, seen and unseen; that is to say with the whole of creation.

Richard Rohr has reminded me that Julian of Norwich, one of my favourite medieval divines, wrote

All those who are on the spiritual path contain the whole of creation, and the Creator. That is because God is inside us, and inside God is everything. And so whoever loves God loves all that is.

As Mary Earle eloquently remarked,

God is within us, at home, patiently and kindly awaiting our recognition. As Maker of all, God is in everything, present in all places and all times.

Amen.

Doug Bannerman 2021