John 20:19-31 NIV
19 On the
evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with
the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed
them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw
the Lord.
21 Again Jesus
said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am
sending you.” 22 And with
that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you
forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven.”
24 Now
Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the
disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the
other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “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.”
26 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.”
28 Thomas said
to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus
told him, “Because you have seen me, you have
believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus
performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not
recorded in this book. 31 But these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Do You Dare Believe?
Are you
convinced enough to believe the resurrection story? Are you willing to suffer
for belief in the truth of the resurrection story? Are you willing to go beyond
the story of it all and declare the truth of the resurrection? Think deep and
hard about that. Look at the proof before your eyes. Hear the words of
generations of witnesses before you. Make up your mind! True belief in the
resurrection of Jesus will cost you your life. One way or another, if you
believe, you will die.
Last
week I heard one of the astronauts in space, as they were looking back at the
earth and travelling to circle the moon, speak about how, even with the
distance from the earth, he felt a unity with creation. That’s my huge
paraphrase of what I thought I heard. Anyway, it made me think of how God
created this universe and gave each of us a home to dwell in. God gives us all
we need to live. Everything we need to live in His creation and with Him in His
Kingdom, forever. And with that in mind, just a week after we celebrated the
resurrection from the dead, of Jesus; how can I NOT praise God for all He has
done?
Yea,
well, I’ve not seen Jesus in the flesh and blood of which He came into this
world thousands of years ago, however, I love Him. I’ve seen and read and heard
so much about Jesus that I can’t help but to know Him, and believe that what He
did is the real deal. Doesn’t make sense, does it? But, for me, I’ve got more
than enough proof to last my lifetime; to know that what God has done in and
through Jesus is real.
The
disciples had good reason to be afraid. The disciples had not only run in the
face of Jesus persecution, suffering and death; they were also targets of
elimination just as Jesus was killed. Would they believe the women that they
had seen Jesus? Would they go that far? Humanly I think we all can understand
the fear. Life was going to change in profound ways for all of the disciples…
one way or another.
Yet, as
they gathered together, it’s like the first Sunday evening service of the church
in some way. They gathered with much in common. They gathered in fear, probably
doubt, and most likely confusion for what the future may hold. But they
gathered, like a Sunday evening church gathering today.
And
Jesus graces these disciples with His miraculous presence. Jesus shows Himself,
without a doubt, to the disciples as risen from the dead. It’s amazing how
Jesus came to them through a locked door. Did this mean that at some moment in
time, Jesus had melded together the physical and the spiritual realms of being?
Was Jesus, at some time, like one with the wood of the door? Was Jesus like
bread and wine together with body and blood, all one. Was this a time of
physical and spiritual presence all wrapped into one? Maybe… perhaps… but the
fact is… here is Jesus… alive and risen from the dead, for all His disciples
hiding behind a closed door to see. Jesus, right there in flesh and blood for
all to see.
And the
disciples were happy! Remembering what Jesus had told them earlier…
John
16:22 NIV
22 So with you: Now is your
time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no
one will take away your joy.
Talk about happy. What a change in
emotion. From great fear to great joy. What a relief!
The resurrection is without a doubt
the real deal. This is Jesus THE Messiah. And not only some made up story, some
exaggeration, some trick of the mind; there right in front of their eyes, in
flesh and blood, is Jesus. You can see Him, you can touch Him. This IS real!
And Jesus brings them peace. But there
seems to be a twist in this peace. We now know that Jesus IS the Messiah, sent
by the Father, but… but… what’s that He said again?
What’s this business about being sent,
sort of like He was sent into the world? What does this mean?
Yet, first, Jesus breathes the breath
of God upon the disciples. That breath of life. The Holy Spirit is given to his
disciples. What does this mean?
Did the disciples recall some past prophetic
teachings?
Joel
2:28-29 NIV
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my
Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream
dreams,
your young men will see
visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit
in those days.
Is this that Spirit? Is
this the prophecy fulfilled today?
Are we the sons and
daughters, sent out?
Perhaps this is the day of
a New Creation Story?
We heard Jesus forgive
those people who had killed Him from the cross. So, what’s this stuff about us
forgiving people? Boy oh boy, this just may be a really tall order to be
obedient to uphold. How can we forgive these people?
And to think, that now
Jesus gives us the authority to forgive! What’s that about?
Is forgiveness part of
this Gospel lesson that Jesus has proclaimed to all the world. Even to those
who killed Him?
So many questions. Joy,
filled with questions and concerns of just what God has gotten us into abound
for Jesus’ disciples. Even for us this present day and time!
Thomas
wasn’t there with his disciple friends on the evening when Jesus appeared to
them. Thomas wasn’t there to see Jesus alive and risen from the dead that
Sunday evening. And neither was I. We give Thomas a bad rap when we declare him
to be a doubting man, at least in my opinion. After all this same Thomas was
the one willing to die with, and for, Jesus. Remember? Just a couple of weeks
ago, when we were looking at Jesus raising Lazarus, when Jesus had just almost
been killed by the people of Jerusalem, and now Jesus was ready to go back,
just a couple of miles away from Jerusalem, to Lazarus’s home. Thomas was bold
enough to want to go with Jesus and declare to his fellow disciples…
John
11:16 NIV
16 Then Thomas (also
known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we
may die with him.”
I think we tend to forget
this passion that Thomas had for Jesus.
Well Thomas hears the
testimony of his fellow disciples about how they have seen Jesus! He is risen!
But Thomas wants this experience for himself. Thomas wants the evidence to see
and believe. Are we that different? I don’t think so. We want the DNA before we
can believe. Yet, how’s that going to work?
So, as we listen to fellow
disciples of this day testify to Jesus’ resurrection; is it that far of a
stretch to not understand how others want a little proof as well, before they
believe? Where are the wounds? Where are the scars? Show me some proof! Show me
the DNA. Help me believe that what you say is true!
On the next
Sunday, after Jesus’ resurrection, He shows up again. The disciples are still
hiding in fear of all that may be happening to anyone who believes that Jesus
has risen. And Jesus does it again; He moves through the physical realm of a
locked door to the spiritual realm of coming to the disciples. And He comes in,
to offer peace.
Doesn’t
this cause you to think of worship gatherings on Sunday? Jesus comes to us in
Word and Sacrament and offers His peace. Sure, we gather together, but Jesus
comes to us. How great is that? Seems like God has been coming to His people
all along. Do we notice this, or are we too busy being entertained by coffee,
music and inspirational speeches?
And
next, Jesus offers Thomas to touch Him. It’s a physical thing. Jesus comes to
Thomas in his physical world and seeks Thomas’ touch of Jesus’ physical body.
Sunday,
as we gather, Jesus comes to us physically as well. We can touch the Bread and
the Wine; we can smell, touch and taste both elements. It’s a physical earthly
element that is as real as real can be, yet it gives us a deeply spiritual
touch from God as well.
Even in
the physical waters of Baptism, that water is real stuff, yet with God’s Word
and promise He gives us something deeply spiritual in His Spirit. The water and
word combine to new life in God as He claims us as His own forever.
So, it’s
really cool that Thomas is given the opportunity to touch and feel the wounds
of Jesus.
And now
Thomas knows that the resurrection is for real! He has seen God and touched Him
and worships Him in no doubt whatsoever.
How I so
look to today to sing, along with all the Host of Heaven and praise God as One…
Revelation
4:11 NIV
11 “You are worthy, our Lord
and God,
to receive glory and honor
and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were
created
and have their being.”
And that’s not a future
song… No! It’s a song for today… Like right here and right now… Go ahead and
sing!
Some disciples
have the opportunity to believe based on sight. Like the disciples at the time
of Jesus presence with them in this passage of Scripture. But there are other
of us disciples that come to believe through the trust of the accounts of
witnesses. Or even the trust in what has been heard throughout time about Jesus’
resurrection. Both are legitimate paths to come to believe in Jesus’
resurrection. Both a legitimate and should not be in doubt. In either case,
physical sight, or spiritual trust, as disciples, we can expect scrutiny from
this world. Expect it, but don’t let that scrutiny deny your true belief in
what God has done. For we live by faith. Go back in your devotional time and
take a look at Hebrews chapter 11. All through time God’s people have been given
the gift of faith in God, and it’s through this gift of faith that we come to
believe in all the God has done to gather us back to Him through Him.
In this
faith we have been given, we are fortunate to have written accounts of what God
has done through Jesus, even after His resurrection from the dead, and beyond,
to even today. All actions of God that lead us into communion with Him and one
another into eternity. That’s so great! My puny words fail to express how great
that is…
And why
did all of these witnesses testify to Jesus’ life? So that we may believe! So
that we may have life in Jesus’ name. Wow!
So, how
could you NOT dare to believe?
As an
astronaut looks back on the earth from miles away, in the deep depth of space,
he sees a world. A world from which he has been separated, yet he feels a
communion. A communion with the earth, with people, with God and with the
universe. He sees and believes in a unity with mankind. And to think, all this
we see, all this the astronaut can observe, are physical. Yet the feelings he
has is spiritual. Pause and consider that all of this is NOT the finality of it
all. Jesus WILL come again, to raise to NEW LIFE all those who believe, to be
with Him forever and ever in a NEW, perfect creation, without the stain of my
sin, to live with Him and all believers forever and ever. How can this be? Only
through God. Only through God’s forgiveness, grace, and love, which He freely
gives to all who accept the gift of faith and believe in Him… today… tomorrow…
and forever.
How
could you NOT dare to believe?
Thanks
be to God!
I leave
you with this YouTube Music Video. I must admit… this one got to me… enjoy
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