Nurse Thomas

by Rev. Jimmy Pickett
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+We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to us. Amen+
    This is a day for those of us who carry scars, scars on our bodies and scars in our hearts. It is a day of deep humanity. Last Sunday, we heard the miraculous Resurrection account. Mary went to the tomb and saw Jesus who she thought was the Gardener.Whenever I hear that Easter Morning Gospel, I always feel like I’m a little outside of the scene, like I’m sitting in a pew watching something but not really part of it. I wonder how many of us can relate to that feeling? I deeply love the Gospel account of Easter Sunday Morning, but I’m always a curious listener, again, not a participant. 
    I usually find myself more in the Paschal Mystery here, today, with this Gospel. With Thomas, not being there at first, but coming close. Whenever I hear the Gospel of Thomas, I can feel myself in that story in a very, very, tangible way. Again I’ll ask, how many of us can relate to that? 
    Our scars tell stories, and the gift of Thomas’s encounter with Jesus is that our scars, even our open, bleeding, wounds, have a place at the table, have a place within the Church, have a God who can look us in the eye and reach out to us and say “Ya, me too. I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours. I want to see your scars, here are mine, let’s share life.” And doubt and fear are transformed into mutual love. The Holy Strange Other becomes the wounded companion along the way, helping us make it through the day, helping us make it through the hour, to get to tomorrow, to get to that next day of Eastertide. We’ve got 50 days to get through in this holy season, and thanks be to God we don’t have to do it alone. 
    I often think of my Aunt on this day. My Aunty Mandi is a nurse and has a deep love, almost an obsession, with wound care. Whenever anyone in the family has an injury, no matter how small or how deep, she excitedly yells “Let me look at that!” Let me see, let me see, I want to get in there, I want to scoop out the debris so I can see how deep that scar is, so that I can see how deep your love is. I think that’s what happened with Thomas and Jesus. I also think of my friend Harriet, she is a retired OR nurse. When we would drive the half hour long trip to church when I was in college, she would tell me stories. One that I’ll never forget is that she was elbows deep in someone’s innards, and praying for them. Whenever she would be in the operating room, she would be touching people’s bodies in ways that only God, and nurses, do.
 So maybe, we should stop calling Thomas “Doubting Thomas”. I’d like to propose today that we start calling him “Nurse Thomas”. We learn as kids not to call people names, especially when they’re hurting. Thomas just lost one of his best friends a week and a half ago. Of course he was hurting, of course he was heartbroken, of course he couldn’t see, he couldn’t understand that his friends said “oh, he’s alive again”. Thomas just saw him, bleeding on a tree, and you’re saying he’s here now? No, no, I need to see that wound, let me see, let me see how deep that Love is. For Thomas, it wasn’t some mystical experience, it was seeing God face to face in the tenderness of another broken human body.
    Last week, according to John, Mary saw the tender brokenness of someone she thought she knew, someone she thought was the gardener tending the tomb, doing his daily work. She must have seen the scarred hands and assumed he was the gardener. Those of us who work with dirt, and shovels, and chickens, know that gardening can leave us filled with scars. So Mary thought she saw the gardener, until Jesus said, “Mary”, and that tender word, that tender name helped her to see who it really was in front of her. But I want to dwell on the scars a little bit more. As many of you know, I was a farmer before I became a priest, and still dabble in agriculture. I have some scars that were given to me by rusty nails, a protective rooster who didn’t want me to take the eggs. When I was sitting in the middle of the field, pulling this nail out of my foot, not to be too graphic, I was so thankful for Thomas, because he probably had some four letter words while Jesus was on that tree. I was sitting in the field like, “ok, well, if Jesus and Thomas could take care of this, I guess I can too.” And that scar on my leg from the protective rooster reminds me of the fierce love of God, because you do not mess with a mother hen, or a rooster, just like you don’t mess with God’s People.
    The work of Love can leave us with wounds on our hands, on our feet, on our hearts, but Jesus knows that. Jesus knows and comes to each one of us with a bandage, some healing ointment. A few weeks ago we had this big jar of nard that got poured out, I’m sure there was plenty left on Jesus’ hands so he could come and wipe that nard on us. That’s what he did with Thomas. In the midst of the heartbreak and the confusion and the disbelief, Thomas exclaimed “My Lord and my God!” My Lord, and my God.
    St. Julian of Norwich tells us that scars are nothing to be ashamed of. In her Revelations of Divine Love, one of the first known books written by a woman in English, she had this encounter with Jesus and she tried to cover up her body, she tried to hide her scars, and God looked at her and said “no, these are beautiful, because they are proof that you lived, proof that you lived a life.”  
    So if you’re like Thomas, if you’re like me, and you’re not quite at the place where you’re ready to hear that Little Pentecost where Jesus breathes and says “the Holy Spirit be with you”, know that we have a friend in Thomas. Jesus, the Gardener, Jesus the Good Shepherd, Jesus the Divine Physician is ready standing with open arms and outstretched hands waiting for us to look, but if you’re not there, Nurse Thomas is waiting, Nurse Thomas can take you out on a little walk in the garden and say “Yup, I know, it's hard, trust me, it took me so long to get ready to see.” But then he was able to become a wounded healer, and each one of us are able to carry the scars of life and help someone else who is going through something rough. So as we continue to walk through this Great Season on the Resurrection, I invite you to be like Thomas, be a wounded healer. Reach out your hand to someone else who is struggling today. The Divine Physician will hold us all, and Nurse Thomas will carry us along the way.

I preach to you in the Name of our Loving, Liberating, and Lifegiving God. Amen.

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