Full Sensory Discipleship
John 20:19-31
We disciples of Christ are not saps! There again, we are sort of like sap. Yes, we are like tree sap that through a very careful refining process becomes high quality maple syrup! Did anyone have some of this pure delight with their breakfast this morning?
There is good reason top grade syrup is so scrumptious and so costly. Cheap stuff tastes cheap and is manufactured accordingly. But the good stuff … wow, there is such a slow and painstaking process behind its creation. It begins with workers venturing into deep wood together with hand drills. They find trees, make holes, tap metal tubes called “spiles” into it, and then attach buckets. Next it’s all about waiting on the drip, drip, drip. On a very good day, fifty trees might yield some thirty to forty gallons of sap. The trouble is, this same amount, once it goes through boiling and straining, winds up being only about a gallon of syrup. That’s a lot of process to produce a small, but precious yield.
I’ve never gone maple sugaring, though I know quite a few folks who have and loved it. Good deep wood bonding. I’m honestly not sure I’d have the patience and resilience for this process. I’d have to just leggo my ego and adjust, I suppose. I do know that it would be totally worth it given how glorious the end result is.
Now, why am I metaphorically comparing this process with our life as Easter people, as disciples of Christ?
Recall the process of how it is we have the blessing of being able to taste eternal glory. Did it come about through some cheap, quick process? Good Heavens, no! Instead, Jesus had tremendous patience and resilience as His life was poured out of him for the sake of reconciling our sin with God. The salvation He made available upon planks of tree wood was a very slow, painstaking process. And it was the glorious result of His being a single source tapped for the good of the entire human race. The outpouring of this Grade A-mazing Grace gift continues through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, then, we are who are in Christ, we who are His disciples, are part of a beautiful, carefully carried out, constantly flowing process of being made pure again. As Easter people, we are transformed from plain ‘ol sap into something “precious, sweet and useful.” This refining process makes us pure, genuine disciples “easily distinguished from cheap imitations.”[i] And this high grade Good News flows through us as we serve it up in loving words and actions to neighbors near and far.
I’m pouring on this tangible imagery (go ahead and groan, puns are what’s left in my tank after the intensity of Holy Week!) because I think it’s fairly easy to dismiss the word and concept of discipleship as something only academic types like to toss about. I do find it true that most folks I know are more comfortable saying they are church members than they are identifying themselves as Christ’s disciples. Yet discipleship is by no means something only for the bookish to banter about. It’s a very tangible part of the daily life of all Easter people. Why are we here this morning? Discipleship. Why are we giving countless hours of our time and talent to this congregation and to the many blessed, life-sustaining branches of the universal church? Discipleship.
Professor Karoline Lewis of Luther Seminary in St. Paul points out that in John’s Gospel, discipleship is described as “full sensory.” Sometimes John stressed the importance of tasting, as in the feeding of five thousand. Other times, it is hearing, as when sheep hear the voice of their gatekeeper calling them by name. And, of course, he stressed the importance of touching, as in our passage today about the disciple Thomas and his pregnant need for tangible proof. This “full sensory” definition of discipleship, the professor concludes, is because “A full, intimate, meaningful relationship will encompass the entirety of who we are and what it means to be human” and because “God wants nothing less than this kind of relationship with us.”[ii]
To be disciples, then, means we are more than just a labeled group. We are people striving every single day to experience the power of the Risen Lord in relationships that are rich with real interaction. Relationships where the purity and goodness of God can be touched, tasted, heard, seen right up close. Relationships where the freely offered, intimate yet eternal peace of Christ is really and fully present and not just something hoped for at some future time.
In what ways are you living as a full sensory disciple? How are we here as FPC demonstrating full sensory discipleship? As those not just eruditely addressing the teachings of Jesus, but tangibly presenting them? As those who reveal in our daily words and actions the deep gratitude we have for the long labor Jesus went through to give us new life? How are we presenting ourselves as pure grade believers instead of cheap imitations?
Praise God, I have quite a few answers to my own questions! One I want to lift up is the example of our choir. They have a well-deserved break today from presenting an anthem. Think about the full-sensory nature of this ministry. It calls for seeing the music on the page and seeing Robin’s excellent direction. It calls for hearing and abiding in one another and with the musical accompaniment. It calls for the physical commitment of being here for practice week in and week out. And, obviously, it calls for using God-given vocal talent. This is embodied discipleship. And they pour themselves into a process that requires slow, steady refinement. Our choir does not do this to create a product for sale. They do it to produce holy praise, praise that is served when our FPC family of faith is gathered together. I also want to lift up the example of Bible study. I can’t speak as directly to the Women’s Bible Study, but I sure can offer witness to the fact of the Wednesday Morning Men’s Bible Study being a full-sensory discipleship experience. We listen to the Word and to one another. We taste and see the goodness of God in the breakfasts that get prepared and served. We sense the real presence and peace of Christ in our devotional growth together. Everyone who attends serves up ample amounts of time and talent to FPC in other supportive ministry ways to God’s glory.
One briefer example, among the many I’m pleased to share for inspiration. How about all that full-sensory discipleship offered through our Sunday School? Totally embodied devotion to God and God’s children happens week in and week out in our Community House rooms. All the senses get engaged, creatively and constructively teaching the sacred stories of Scripture and the meaning of discipleship.
A concluding comment about our passage from the Fourth Gospel this morning to cement the importance of our being full-sensory disciples. A central, vital verse has Jesus declaring, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.” I’m going to state the obvious – we declare Jesus as Risen, but not one of us who are Jesus’ disciples today have had the miraculous event of seeing and touching His body directly. Now, if I’m wrong, please correct me now because I’ll really want to talk to you after the service!
So the task of encouraging doubting people to have a tangible experience of Christ, of inspiring them to come to a conclusion that has them declaring, like Thomas, “My Lord and My God!” falls on us. We, the Church, are His Body. Empowered by the Holy Spirit working through our faith, we are responsible for Jesus being seen, heard, and touched in the world today.
So much of the headlines in the news I read every day are sad and tragic. I see one person after another have a full sensory experience of sorrow and shame. I see them through the eyes of Christ. I feel for them through the compassion of Christ. I touch them – sometimes quite literally as in when I lightly touch the computer screen -- with the heart of Christ. And I realize again and again, that we are all in some pretty deep woods together. So too, I realize again and again that we are Easter people being sent to be with others in the practical, personal, powerful way our Lord once walked, talked, and touched the lives of others. Amen.
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