Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven through the Holes of Jesus Christ 透過耶穌基督身上的釘孔窺見天國 (中英文)
sermon by Father Jonah
John 約翰福音 20:19-31
http://www.justin.tv/dao_love/b/402454705
今天是復活節後第一個星期日。耶穌現身的時候，宗徒們都很害怕，他們聚在屋子裡面把門鎖上。他們心中的懷疑與害怕表露無遺。耶穌復活的肉體，並不受限於物理定律，可以直接穿過門進到屋子裡。耶穌顯現在宗徒面前，說的第一句話就是：「願你們平安！」我們還記得，耶穌受難在十字架上說的最後一句話是「Accomplished」，它代表了「完成」。現在，他給予大家真正的平安，這平安並非俗世的平安，或是我們討價還價得到的，它是上帝的平安，是上帝的恩賜，是一種與上帝同在的生活狀態。這就是為什麼在聖禮儀中，神父常常對大眾說：「願你們平安！」我們來參加聖禮儀，一同經歷復活、感受喜悅。而耶穌基督也藉由神父的口向大家說出：「願你們平安！」
耶穌顯現在宗徒面前，讓他們認出他，但是，宗徒非常害怕，他們甚至不敢相信這個事實。他向他們露出愛的記號，也就是肋旁和手上的釘痕，它代表了耶穌對世人的愛。門徒看見了就變得喜悅，因為他們感受到復活的喜悅。直到今日，正教會的聖禮儀還持續慶祝這份喜悅。
當時，耶穌對他們說：「願你們平安！父怎樣差遣了我，我也照樣差遣你們。」並對他們吹了一口氣。耶穌這句話顯示出，教會不是一個自我封閉的團體，教會是一個入世團體。這裡所說的入世，指的不是某種傳教使命，例如：派遣某人去某地傳教。我們都知道，傳教士有各種類型：新教的傳教士、不同宗教的傳教士，耶穌所說的差遣，指的並不是這種傳教使命。
耶穌所說的使命是「像父差遣我那樣」，由此可知，使命起於神聖的三位一體，也就是上帝。上帝想要與我們分享祂的生命，因此，祂想要走出自己，進入我們的世界，而這就是「教會」。「教會」是上帝「走出自己，迎向世界」的過程。因此，耶穌所說的使命，指的不是教會舉辦的各種活動，而是讓大家聚在一起，慶祝耶穌復活，讓耶穌真正進入我們體內、與我們合一，然後帶著耶穌走向外面的世界，例如：職場、人際關係、家庭關係…等。並且，藉由我們的生活方式，或是自己獨特的方法，向大家傳達訊息。讓我們謹記，能夠走出自己，真正瞭解教會並不限於一個靜止而有形的（大家漠不關心的）團體，是多大的恩賜。我們應該讓耶穌進入我們體內、進入我們心中，將耶穌放射出去，讓耶穌無所不在。這就是為什麼，那些阻礙傳教使命的人，等於是公然反對上帝。
只實踐傳教的使命是不夠的，這就是為什麼耶穌對他們吹氣又對他們說：「領受聖靈吧！」許多教父神學的學者對這句話提出了不同的看法，然而，我們應該留意的是，在伊甸園中，上帝曾經對亞當說：「你若吃了那些果實就會死亡。」亞當還是偷吃了果實，事實上，亞當吃完果實並沒有死亡，上帝所說的「死亡」指的是失去了上帝的恩典，這才是真正的死亡。就像在浪子回頭的比喻中，父親對兒子說：「我兒子過去曾經死了，但是，現在又活過來了。」事實上，他的兒子並沒有死，而是一時誤入歧途，不務正業、揮霍金錢。現在，耶穌再一次對宗徒吹氣，上帝的恩典（聖靈）又進入宗徒體內，就好像上帝創造人類時所做的一樣，祂也吹了一口氣，把生命吹進人類體內。之後，聖靈降臨節時，他將聖靈完全賜給我們每一位，當然，這是藉由教會、藉由受洗聖事來執行。
我們無法強迫一個人接受上帝吹的氣，唯有敞開心胸、迎向上帝的人，才能真正領受聖靈。耶穌不只帶給宗徒復活的訊息，還賜給他們寬恕。寬恕並不是法律上的和解，好像一個人犯了罪卻不受法律制裁。寬恕是重新找回內心的平安，再一次與上帝合一。因為，所謂的「罪」指的並不是犯了一條法律，而是破壞了良好的「關係」。John Chrysostom在一段有名的證道中告訴我們，復活節之夜，我們可以看見寬恕由死亡而生。教會給予世界教導，主要就是為了把平安和寬恕帶給每一個人。耶穌並沒有治癒他身上的釘痕，然而，賜下寬恕，治癒我們每個人心中的傷痕。然後，耶穌就離開這個世界。
讓我們回到福音的內容。耶穌來的時候，多馬並沒有與他們同在。聖經中沒有解釋為什麼，但是，對多馬來說，這並不是一件好事，因為，他失去了真實體驗和感受復活的機會。宗徒們非常喜悅地告訴多馬：「我們看見耶穌了，他復活了！」多馬的希臘名字叫做「Twin」，它代表的意義是「成對的」，就像天秤的兩邊，必須不斷取得平衡。從福音的描述我們會發現，多馬總是在兩件事情中間游移不定。有時候，他會悲觀地說：「我們應該死在耶路撒冷。」他的性格就是如此。對於其他宗徒對他說的話，他無法完全相信。事實上，從猶太律法的觀點來看，他應該接受大家說的話，因為，在場有二到三位證人，這件事情應該是真的。今天晨禱時，我們唱誦的讚美詩提到了多馬，詩文並沒有給予他負面的評價，而是讚美他。今日，教會一同慶祝多馬的聖日，他親手碰觸了耶穌身上的釘痕。教會並沒有要我們盲目地相信或接受任何事，教會鼓勵我們：一個良善的人應該自由的探索萬事萬物，這樣他就會有所發現。事實上，聖經當中多次提到：「探索之後就會有所收穫。」
多馬的信仰並不是完美的信仰，因為，他把「信仰」當成是一個知識或信念的系統，這是非常大的錯誤。然而，很不幸的，近日許多基督徒都是如此，例如：我們是中國的教會，你們是美國的教會，人們把教會用國籍去區分，就像政黨政治那樣，我只為我的政黨做事，別人的政黨與我無關。這樣的作法是錯誤的。耶穌指出了這個錯誤，這是非常重要的，我們應該拋棄這樣的思想。
八天之後又是星期日，宗徒因為心中懼怕還是把門鎖著，多馬也在屋內。耶穌再一次現身，他告訴宗徒們：「願你們平安！」然後他對多馬說：「多馬，過來吧！」因為多馬不敢說話。耶穌又說：「伸過你的指頭來，摸我的手；伸出你的手來，探入我的肋旁。不要疑惑，總要信。」耶穌總是鼓勵我們多瞭解他，他甚至幫助我們去瞭解他。每位探尋者，一定有所收穫，這是毋庸置疑的。我們並不知道多馬究竟有沒有伸出手去摸耶穌的傷痕，聖經只有寫到多馬說「我的主！我的上帝！」這句話代表了他完全的接受。此時耶穌並沒有讚美他，而是說：「你因看見了我才信；那沒有看見就信的有福了。」耶穌在聖山上也曾經說過同樣的話。這句話讓我們感到喜悅，雖然我們並非聖人（至少我自己並不是），然而，我們身上總有一些好的特質。就算我們擁有的，只是小小的信德，但是，我們終究是相信祂的。
在上文中我們提到，耶穌說：「你因看見了我才信；那沒有看見就信的有福了。」為什麼耶穌這樣說？在希臘文中「信」一字也代表信任或信心，它的意義並不局限於相信或信仰。耶穌希望多馬能夠瞭解，「信」代表的是一種參與，也就是真正參與復活的事件，擁有復活的喜悅。信仰並非那些我們插不上手而只能相信的東西。舉例來說：我身邊有一些椅子，我必須接受它們就是椅子，不然大家會覺得我瘋了。「信」來自於自由意志。我們的意志不用受到限制，也不用成為某些對象的奴隸。讓我們拋開哲學性的思維，用一種比較簡單的方式來解釋：有一對戀人深深愛著彼此。他們能夠證明他為什麼愛她或是她為什麼愛他嗎？例如：找出彼此的DNA序列，看看這些序列是否相配，如果相配就證明了他愛她情有可原。我想，這是行不通的。自由意志超越了一切必要限制。自由意志就是愛。我們相信耶穌基督，因為我們愛祂。最完美的自由意志就是愛，正如父親愛著兒子。基督宗教召喚我們追求一種新的存在方式：活出最完美的自由，也就是活出最完美的愛。很多人要我為他們證明上帝存在。首先，讓我們一同思索，從科學的觀點來看，「證明某件事」究竟代表了什麼意義？當代的認識論（epistemology）學者Karl Popper、（此人名錄音檔案無法辨識）和哲學家們都曾經提出，我們無法真正證明任何事情。往往，我們創造一個理論，然後試圖證明它是錯的。所以，我必須說，我們無法單純地「證明某件事情」。事實上，我們無法證明任何事情，也無法證明上帝。我們能做的，只有創造一個理論，然後不斷檢驗這個理論是否有錯誤。
上帝的知識就是上帝的愛，上帝要我們將祂看作「三位一體」，看作「愛」，而不是某個擁有至高權力的對象。對魔鬼來說，上帝就是至高的權力，是他害怕的對象。在基督宗教中，我們不該把上帝當成是某個抽象的、擁有權力、可以幫助我們達到目的的對象。上帝是聖父，還有聖子和聖靈。聖子成為人類，他深愛著人類，因此，他帶著人類在他身上造成的傷痕回到聖父那裡。透過耶穌身上的傷孔，我們窺見天國，感受上帝無窮的愛。就好像透過耶穌基督手上的傷孔，偷偷窺視天國的樣貌。別人對我們造成傷害，或讓我們陷入困境時，我們可以說自己也擁有這些傷孔。這些傷痕提醒我們，我們不會白白受傷害。這些傷害也是耶穌基督身上傷痕的一部分，藉由它們，我們與其他人緊密相連：因為我曾經在別人身上留下傷疤，別人也曾經在我身上留下傷疤，因此，我們彼此有了更深的瞭解。這些傷疤讓我們坦誠相見，讓人們接受真正的你或他，愛真正的你或他，在復活的氣氛中彼此包容、彼此相愛。我希望，我們都能親愛相連，彼此分享生命。
願聖三守護我們每一位。
Today is the first Sunday after Easter. When Jesus appeared, the Apostles were afraid and they were gathered in the house with the doors locked. We see that they were in doubt and in fear, but at least they were together. When the people were together Jesus appeared to them. The body of the Resurrection appeared, and it was not bound to the laws of physics, so it could enter with closed doors. The first words he said after the Resurrection were, “Peace with you.” This is important since the last words on the Cross were, “” which means “Accomplished.” Now He gives peace, the real peace, not the peace that the world gives or that we have negotiations for, but this is the peace of God, it is the gift of God and the condition of living with God. This is why when in the Liturgy the priest says several times, “Peace be with all of you,” you must remember that through the mouth of the priest, Jesus cries, “Peace with you.” We come to the Liturgy to feel the joy and the event of the Resurrection.
Jesus showed himself to the Disciples so they could recognize him, but they were so scared they could not even believe. So he showed to them the first sign of love, the scars that He had because of His love for us. And they felt the joy and they were in the joy of the event of the Resurrection, the same joy and the same continues today in every liturgy in the Orthodox Church. And He spoke to them, He breathed to them. First of all he told them, “Peace. As the Father sends me, I send you to the world also.” It is important that the first thing Jesus says is that the Church is not a self-closed community, but the Church goes to the world, enters the world and empties to the world. And this entering is not just a mission, like somebody is doing a mission; we have missionaries of different types, missionaries of Protestants, of different religions and things like that. But it is not like that.
The mission is, he says, “Like the Father sends me,” so the mission starts from the Holy Trinity, as God wants share his life, to go out of himself, and come in to the world: this is the Church. The Church exists and it is the Church when it is in the process of going out to meet the world. So this mission is not just a small activity of the Church to say, “Our church is doing a mission, another church is not doing a mission.” It is not like this. You, we come to celebrate the Resurrection, to take Jesus inside ourselves, and them to go to the world: to our jobs, to our friends, to our families. And by our lives, our different ways, to proclaim the message of the Resurrection to everybody, So it is very important to remember what a great blessing we have to go out of ourselves, to understand that the Church is not a static community, where we are here and the others are there, so we don’t care. We take Jesus and we radiate Jesus everywhere. And this is why anyone who is against the mission, who puts obstacles in the way of the mission, is against God himself.
But it is not enough just to do missions. We must have something, and this is why Jesus breathed to them and He said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And there are a lot of Patristic theological interpretations here, but the most important thing is that Jesus is – well you know, in Paradise when Adam took the fruit of which God had said, “If you eat of this, you will die at once.” Actually from one point of view we know that Adam did not die at once; but how did he die at once” He died at once when the Grace of God went out of him: this is the real death. Like as in the Prodigal Son, the father said, “My son was dead and he is alive now.” Actually the son was not dead; he had been enjoying his money in bad ways.
So now Jesus again breaths the spirit of the Grace of God to the Apostles, as He did during the Creation, when he breathed the breath of life to them. And later, in the Pentacost he sends the fullness of the Holy Spirit to everybody of us, as of course comes through the Church and through the sacrament of Baptism. So when we see a human being, it is, as a matter of fact, to accept this Breath of God, this Holy Spirit, because this cannot go by force, but only if we open ourselves to God. The result of this, and what the world needs from the Resurrection is not just theology; it’s forgiveness. This is why Jesus sent the Apostles not only to preach and say the message of the Resurrection, but to say the result of this, which is forgiveness. And this forgiveness is not like in the law, for example if I did something bad and nobody punishes me; it is not like this. Forgiveness is that I make peace again, and I am again united with God. Because sin is not that I break a low; sin is that I break a relationship. So forgiveness comes from the grave, as we see on Easter night from the famous sermon of John Chrysostom. Forgiveness is the first thing that somebody, when the Church preaches to the world, brings this peace and forgiveness to everybody. Jesus did not cure his scars, but he cures our scars by giving forgiveness. And then Jesus left, disappeared.
But Thomas was not with them at that time. The Bible does not say why, but for Thomas it was not good, because he lost the feeling and the taste of the Resurrection. The Disciples were very happy and they said to Thomas, “Jesus, we saw Him. He is alive!” About his character, we can see that his Greek name was Twin, which means twin, which means that many times he was balancing, and we see many times in the Gospel that he changes back and forth from one thing to another. Sometimes he would be pessimistic and say, “We should go to die in Jerusalem. We can see that his character is like this. He could not accept, he could not believe what the other disciples said to him. Actually from the point of view of the Jewish Law, he should accept what they said since there were more than two or three witnesses and it should be truth, but he did not accept. But Church, if you see the songs that we sung today in the Matins, does not accuse Thomas. The Church praises Thomas, the Church celebrates the day that Thomas touched the wounds, the scars of Jesus Christ. The Church does not tell us to blindly believe; the Church says and encourages us: if somebody is a good person and he is free, and his mind is free to search, then he will find. And actually, we see in the Bible so many times that it is ordered, “Search and you will find.”
But this faith is not the perfect faith. Thomas was thinking that faith is a belief system, and this is a very big mistake, which unfortunately even today many Christians have. Faith is not a belief system like for example I am Chinese or American or whatever nationality, and I like this political party, and I do this in my job: it is not like this. Jesus corrected this, which is very important, so please pay a little more attention.
So on the next Sunday the doors were closed because the Apostles were still afraid, and Thomas was there. Jesus appeared again and again he told them, “Peace.” And then he said to Thomas, “Come here Thomas,” because Thomas did not dare to say anything, and “Put your hand in my big wound here and in my holes and see, and don’t be an unbeliever, but be a believer.” So Jesus is very willing to help us search for him. And everybody who searches will find, definitely. For Thomas, we don’t know if he finally touched or not; the Bible does not say. But at once he fell down and said the greatest acceptance in the Bible. He said, “My Lord and my God.” But Jesus did not praise him, He said, “Because you saw me, did you believe?” And He said something that we must be happy and a little bit proud about, He said, “Blessed are those who did not see and yet believed.” As he said in the Sermon on the Mount, the last blessing is for those, all of us who not saints (maybe you are, I am not) but we have at least something good. We have a faith, even small, but we believe Him.
But why did Jesus say this? For faith, the Greek word also means trust. It is not just that we believe, for example, this thing exists. Jesus wanted Thomas to understand that faith is a participation, a participation in the Resurrection and in the joys of the Resurrection. Faith is not something that I cannot help but believe: for example, I see the chairs here around us; I must accept that there are chairs here because if I don’t accept then I am crazy. Faith is the freedom of the will. It is not my will to be bound, to be a slave to some objectives like I see these things here in front of me. To make this simpler and less philosophical, let us say a man loves a woman or a woman loves a man, can he prove why he loves this woman or why she loves him. Can say that he searched her DNA and he searched his own DNA (which actually we can do) and I saw that these DNA match? It is the freedom of the will over the necessity of the fixed. And this freedom of the will, this is love. We believe in Jesus Christ because we love Him, The perfect freedom is love, as the Father loves the Son, not because he cannot do differently. Christianity calls us to a new way of existing: in freedom over things, and this freedom is love. Many people say, “Can you prove God to me?” First of all, we see from the scientific point of view, what does it mean if I say that I can prove something? Modern epistemology, Karl Popper, , and modern philosophers, they say we cannot actually prove anything: we make a theory and we try to disprove it, to show the theory is wrong. So it is not so simple to say, “We prove.” We cannot prove God because we cannot prove anything else; we just make a theory and try to find if the theory is wrong.
So the knowledge of God is Love of God because God wants us to know him as a Trinity, as love; not as an object like He is there and He has power. That is the way that the devils know Him. And we say God, I use the wrong term, because for Christianity there is not just an abstract God who has power and I try to manipulate him. God is the Father, and the Father of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit also. And this Son became human and He loved us so much that what did He take to his Father to show him? The holes that we made in Him. Through his holes we can see the reality; we can see the infinite love of God. It is like peeping into the kingdom of Heaven through the holes in Jesus Christ . And it is also that the holes we have also, the scars on our bodies that life and bad situations with people caused on us, remind us that we were not wounded for nothing, They are part of the scars of Jesus Christ and they are ways of uniting us with others: because you gave me a scar or I gave you one, so you know me more deeply: you can see my flesh and I can see your flesh and see who you are really, love what you are and accept what you are, accept in the atmosphere of the Resurrection in which we live, and I hope we all live for all of our lives.
May the Holy Trinity protect us
