How God Touches Us Through Communion

(John 20:24-28 NRSV) But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said 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." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

This summer, I touched both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. It was my first time in Vancouver, my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, and I couldn't wait to put my hand in the water, to touch it. Until I touched it, it was as though, somehow, I wasn't really there. So I touched it. Heck, I waded in it, I even tasted it. And it's salty. And I knew I was there.

Later that summer, we drove to Prince Edward Island, and the first thing we did was stop at the shore, get out of the van, run onto the beach, and touch the water. Waded in it, even. Hershey tasted it - drank about a gallon of it - and can report that it is salty. He can also advise you, through harsh experience, to not drink a gallon of it. But we touched it, and we all know we were there.

I don't know what it is about this touching thing. In Germany, I touched the homes where my mother and father grew up, putting my hand on the doorframes. In Wittenberg, I touched Martin Luther's dining room table, running my fingers over the rough surface; in his church, I stood in the pulpit from which he preached, and leaned where he would have leaned. In Israel - in Israel, I touched the water of the Sea of Galilee; I cupped my hands in the River Jordan; I felt the rock on Golgotha; I rested my forehead on the cool marble in the Holy Sepulchre. As I remember those moments, those sensations, I know beyond doubt I was there.

And how much more important is our sense of touch with other people. We shake hands. We hug. We kiss. We pat our child's head. We stroke our lover's hair. We bounce our babies on our knee. It turns out that babies need physical contact, need the stimulation of touch, just to survive. In a reprehensible experiment conducted in a Romanian orphanage, one group of babies, while receiving the same amount of food, air and light as another group, received no physical contact with the staff - nothing other than the gloved hands providing food and changes of clothing - but no affection, no hugging, no tickling, nothing. Guess what? The babies simply didn't develop. No amount of food or vitamins could make up for the lack of touch. We need it. It is a part of us, from our earliest moments. It convinces us, perhaps, that we are real.

Turn to the people around you for a moment, and touch them. Shake their hand. Pat them on the shoulder. See? They're real. You might have forgotten about them for a moment, but they're real. Nobody, later on, can convince you that the person whose hand you just shook wasn't really there. "Yes they were," you'll say. "I touched them. I shook their hand."

Jesus knew about the importance of touch. Throughout the New Testament, we read about Jesus touching people, dozens of times: "He touched him. He touched her. He reached out his hands, and touched them." It makes the point, too, that Jesus touched those people no-one else would be caught dead touching - like lepers, for instance. Do you know it was against the law for someone to touch a leper? But do you think that stopped Jesus? Listen:

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. (Matthew 8:2-3 NIV)

I don't know if the leper was more surprised to be healed, or to be touched; each was equally unlikely, I expect, in his mind. But touched he was. And healed.

Most relevant to us, however, is our friend Thomas. You know the story by now; Jesus has been crucified, died, and was buried; three days later he rose from the dead, to the considerable surprise of all concerned, with the exception of Jesus himself. Luke tells us of Jesus' appearance among the startled - and frightened - disciples:

(Suddenly,), Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:36-43 NIV)

"Touch me and see." Did you get that? "Touch me and see." But Thomas, alone among them all; Thomas didn't touch, didn't see, wasn't there, dropped the ball, missed the boat. He wanders in, and the excitement is still high. "Guess what?" the others say. And Thomas says this:

"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

"When I touch and see," he says. When I touch and see. And a week later - think about that week, for a moment, and what it was like for Thomas, left out, disappointed, bitter, unsure - a week later, this (John 20:26-28 NIV):

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

And now it is our turn. I can't bring all of you to Israel, to touch the waters of the Sea of Galilee, or to cup your hands in the River Jordan, or to feel the rock on Golgotha, or to rest your forehead on the cool marble in the Holy Sepulchre, or to stand where Thomas stood when Jesus said, "Touch and see." But I can bring you to this table. I can bring you to this table, upon which are bread and wine, symbols and elements, simple stuff; but symbols and elements which found their beginning at a table long ago, a table where Jesus took bread - touched it - took it in his hands - broke it - passed it down the line - and said, Take, eat. Take it in your hands, this bread, this cup, eat, and drink. And when you do, you're eating, drinking, experiencing, being touched by, me. This bread, this wine, is closing the gap between us. Take and eat. Touch and see.

By the grace of God, this table stretches back two thousand years and half a world away, stretches where only the eyes of faith can see, stretches back through the generations and the miles, stretches back, back to Jesus, who, through the miracle of grace, touches us through these gifts, touches us through His Word, touches us through one another, touches us with his love.

It is I myself! Touch me and see!

Thanks be to God; Amen.