Morel Mushrooms, Texas Wildflowers, and Saint Thomas

 

Text:  John 20:19-31

Theme:  "Morel Mushrooms, Texas Wildflowers, and Saint Thomas"

2nd Sunday of Easter

April 7, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

There was some mix-up in my childhood brain about toadstools and mushrooms.  Are mushrooms toadstools, or are toadstools mushrooms?  Every now and again, either toadstools or mushrooms would appear in our front yard.  It was the strangest thing I ever saw, and no one -- to date -- has been able to explain satisfactorily.  Now mother said not to eat the toadstools; that's what she called them.  They were poison. Thus, ever since, I've been jaded in my thinking about toadstools and mushrooms.  Even now, I see a portabella mushroom in the store, and I kind of cringe. 

 

Imagine my surprise when a friend, back in high school days, invited me to go mushroom hunting -- and these would not be just any old mushrooms but "Morel" mushrooms.  My first thought, which I didn't share with my friend, was "Why are we going to hunt something that's poisonous?"  

 

In Nebraska, the big, in-state river is the Platte River.  It flows into the Missouri River which, in turn, flows into the Mississippi.  And the Mississippi, of course, runs down into the sea.  I grew up in Fremont, but we had a little cabin on a lake just west of town next to a village called North Bend.  It was a sand pit lake, and it was right next to the Platte River.  Now there was a road that ran down the Platte, alongside some farmland, to a forested area.  It was there -- next to the river and in the trees -- that we hunted the infamous Morel mushroom. They only popped up for a few days in May. 

 

I went from an unbeliever, to a skeptic, and then, finally, to a believer -- at least when it came to Morel mushrooms. You take them home, clean them up, and then bread them and fry them or saute' them. 

 

Next up on the journey from unbelief to faith:  wildflowers!  For the past few days, at the Denton Christian Preschool plant sale (right here on our grounds), we saw pot after pot and plat after plat of various annuals and perennials.  From what I was able to see, there were no wildflowers there.

 

In fact, for years and years, I thought that wildflower was simply a polite term for a weed that had a little more class!  Where I came from, wildflowers were called dandelions.  Mr. and Mrs. Fees, who lived across the street from us, always had a problem with those pesky little things. They were so bad that any homeowner's association should have complained, but they didn't have homeowner's associations in those days (maybe they shouldn't now)!  Down the street at the edge of the cornfield, there were lots of thistle plants and milkweed that would go into bloom.  Now those were wildflowers.

 

I love the state of Texas for many reasons. One of them is that it's simply a bigger version of the state of Nebraska.  Back when I lived in the Nebraska, my understanding of wildflowers sort of flowered into bloom, if you will.  I remember reading something in school about Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of LBJ and the First Lady of the United States.  She loved wildflowers.  In fact, as I think most of you know, she made it possible for the highways and byways of Texas to be dappled with them. 

 

Now, I came to believe that; there was no reason for me to doubt that. What reason would anyone have to tell falsehoods and flat out lies about wildflowers?  My mind, apparently, was open -- and, when confronted with the lesson in school, I swung from a rather limited view of wildflowers (dandelions, thistles, and so forth) to a great appreciation.  Just a few years ago, I took my first trip down into the Texas hill country -- right about this time of year.  I was headed to Mo-Ranch to give a workshop at a Presbyterian men's conference. Traveling down in the car, I was blown away the magnificence of all the wildflowers along the road. The colors were kaleidoscopic.  On the way down, we drove by -- of all places -- the LBJ ranch, and it all came flooding back to me.  We even stopped at a nursery near Fredericksburg, Texas where all sorts of wildflowers were being grown. 

 

My point in mentioning mushrooms and wildflowers is simply this (and you knew I was going to get to it!): we all have opinions, viewpoints, understandings, and beliefs, etc.  Guess what?  They can change.  People can move -- and sometimes by no choice of their own -- from unbelief to doubt and skepticism, and from doubt and skepticism to belief. They also can change in the other direction.  In which direction are you moving at this point in your life?

 

All of this brings us to our annual visit with St. Thomas.  St. Thomas, you may recall, was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ.  He's featured in the Gospel reading for the second Sunday of Easter.  Unfortunately, he has been called "doubting Thomas." And it's true:  he did have his doubts, but that is not the end of the story.

 

The Gospel reading doesn't tell us why he was absent and A.W.O.L. on the first Easter.  The rest of the disciples had locked themselves in a room.  Who could blame them?  The powers that be had crucified Jesus; maybe they were next ones in line to get killed.  Perhaps Thomas wanted to be done with the whole shebang.  He may have thought:  "Jesus is dead, and, come to think of it, I don't really want to hang around with His followers either.  So I'm out of here!" Have you ever noticed this? When the pressure is on, people either hide or bail out.

 

To all of this, Jesus, in His mercy, paid no mind.  On that first Easter evening, He showed up -- behind the lock doors.  The reading says the disciples were overjoyed to see Him.   Thomas, however, wasn't there.  But somehow, some way, a bit later on, they got the word to him:  "We have seen the Lord."

 

Thomas replies with language that has won the hearts of doubters and skeptics the world over:  "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."  There you have it: unbelief as an act of the will.  It takes a lot of willpower to be an unbeliever!  Mushrooms are poisonous; wildflowers are dandelions, and dead men don't rise, period.  End of discussion. 

 

One of the little miracles that surround the big miracle of our crucified Lord's resurrection and rising from the grave is this:  Thomas did  show up a week later.  He didn't get to the party on time, but he did get there.  There must have been something -- a gentle nudging, if you will -- that triumphed over his "willpower."  Could it be that his mind was slightly ajar? Could he, the initial doubt notwithstanding, actually have an open mind?  For some Christians, sad to say, an open mind is a rather novel concept.

 

There he stands on the second Sunday of Easter -- locked in the room with the rest of them.  The text says:

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!” ²⁷ 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!

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

 

Here's a quotable quote -- attributed to William Paley.  It's a little long, so, if you like it I can print it out for you.  It goes like this:

 

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

 

If Thomas followed that principle to the letter, he would never have showed up with the rest of them on the second Sunday of Easter.  But he didn't follow it to the letter, did he?

 

Point A is pretty clear:  mushrooms are poisonous; wildflowers are dandelions, and dead people don't rise.  I'm holding onto and holding out for Point B:  mushrooms can be delicious; wildflowers are glorious, and Jesus Christ is "my Lord and my God."

 

When Thomas afterwards had heard

That Jesus had fulfilled His word,

He doubted if it were the Lord.

 

"Thomas, behold My side," saith He,

"My hands, My feet, My body, see;

And doubt not, but believe in me."

 

No longer Thomas then denied;

He saw the feet, the hands, the side;

"Thou art my Lord and God," he cried.

 

Blessed are they that have not seen

And yet whose faith hath constant been,

In life eternal they shall reign:  Alleluia!

Yes, there's even a poetry to such a faith as this; the faith that says to Jesus:  "My Lord and my God."

 

Amen.