Last Sunday, we looked at the glorious news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We looked at how Mary (and some other women) found Jesus’ tomb empty that Sunday morning. We saw that she went and got Peter and John and brought them to see for themselves. We saw that Peter and John witnessed with their own eyes the emptiness of the tomb and the absence of Jesus’ body. We saw two angels appear to Mary, and then Jesus himself came to Mary to inform her of his resurrection. At the end of our text, we saw Jesus tell Mary that she shouldn’t cling to him, but that she should go and take the good news of his resurrection into the world. Specifically, he commanded her to take this wonderful news to the disciples. It’s there that we find ourselves today. Mary had delivered this message to the disciples early that morning. It’s now evening, and the disciples have had nearly the entire day to let this news sink in. We would expect to find them out in the streets proclaiming that what the Messiah had said was indeed true. However, that’s not at all what we see. Instead of being out in the world, we find the disciples locked inside of a house out of fear. They are afraid of the Jews. They’re possibly thinking that after crucifying Jesus that they will be next. Or maybe they’re afraid that the Jews will claim that the disciples had taken Jesus’ body in order to give the illusion that he has risen from the dead; the later option being a very popular and well-known explanation by those who do not believe in him for how Jesus’ body left the tomb.
So as the disciples are gathered in this house with the doors securely locked behind them, Jesus appears to them and says, “Peace be with you.” As he said these words, the words of the typical greeting from one Jew to another, he showed them the marks left on his hand and side from the nails and spear respectively. He said again to them, “Peace be with you.” Now, we know from our lengthy look at John’s gospel that anytime the same phrase is said consecutively that it means that everyone better pay attention. Jesus was letting the disciples know what they are to do next; he was telling them just how they should respond to the news of his resurrection. He said to them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” In other words, he was telling them the same thing that he told Mary earlier that day. He was telling them to GO! Just as the Father sent him into the world, he was sending them out into the world. Just as he sent them out into the world, God’s word sends us out into the world. Like we said with Mary Magdalene last Sunday, our response to the good news of Jesus’ resurrection should not be to hide ourselves away from the world around us, but to take this life-saving (literally life-saving) news out into the world. The only way that the gospel can be spread and that the world can be transformed into the image of Christ’s kingdom is for Christians to be out in the world. This is John’s version of the Great Commission that we find in the other gospel accounts. Jesus then goes on to breathe on the disciple and tell them that they have the power of forgiveness. This is seemingly a foretaste of what is to come at the time of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will descend upon the disciples. He’s telling them how they will continue on this ministry after he is gone for good.
Then we come to the story of Thomas, the disciple who everyone describes with his double name of “Doubting Thomas.” I hated growing up with the name Thomas. Every time I didn’t understand something or didn’t accept something as true, some folks would say something like, “There goes doubting Thomas again, just like the disciple.” It was almost as if people presupposed that because my birth name was Thomas that I was predisposed to doubt and asking questions. Somehow I didn’t think that my disbelief in things as a child quite compared to this disciples disbelief that his Savior had risen, but what are you going to do? We’re told that Thomas didn’t believe his fellow disciples when they told him of Jesus’ appearing to them. Now, for some reason Thomas was not with the rest of the disciples when Jesus came to them in the locked house. Thomas told the other disciples that he would not believe anything unless he saw it for himself. My grandmother used to say that Thomas must have been from Missouri (you know, the “show-me” state). Thomas would only believe that Christ was risen if he saw him and could put his hands through the wounds. So, some time passes and eight days after Jesus first appearances before Mary and the other ten disciples, Jesus met once again with the disciples within the house where they gathered before, but this time Thomas was with them. Jesus greeted them the same way he did the first time, but them he offered for Thomas to physically touch Jesus’ wounds. Now, we’re never told whether or not Thomas actually takes Jesus up on his offer, but we know that ultimately this encounter ends with Thomas’ disbelief fading away. Thomas called to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” Notice that Thomas doesn’t call him Rabbi, Teacher, Master, Messiah, or any of the other names that we commonly see used in the gospels of Jesus. Instead, the word that is used here is a word that correlates with the Old Testament word for Yahweh, the name of God. Thomas here acknowledged completely that the man before him, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, was God Himself.
Our text concludes with Jesus’ words to Thomas, followed by some authorial comments made by John. Verses 29-31 read, “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Make no mistake about it, Jesus isn’t rebuking Thomas. He not saying to Thomas, “It’s great that you believe, but it would have been better if you did so without having to see it. You know you should have just believed without having to see.” That’s not the case at all. Jesus is pleased with Thomas’ belief, but it’s not as if Jesus is going to physically appear to everyone so that they will believe in him. I know that many of you have heard people say that if only God would appear to them in some way that all hesitations about faith would be gone. Maybe you’ve even said that too. However, it shouldn’t take the miraculous for us to believe in our Savior. As a matter of fact, the miraculous has already happened; it’s just that it happened over 2000 years ago. What we are left with now is God’s Word. And it’s that Word that John makes the authorial comments about. The sad truth of the matter is that there is no amount of signs that Jesus could have done to prove to everyone that his claims to be the Messiah were true. There’s always going to be someone who wants just one more. If you can’t believe that his conquering of life and death and achieving salvation for all God’s children is enough, then there’s never going to be enough. The fact of the matter is that we can try and figure it out and convince ourselves or deduce things all we want to but it really comes down to one simple fact or question: has God called out to you and revealed Himself to you? A good friend of mine who does a weekly internet radio show said this a few weeks ago, “Friends, I spent a lot of time, years, and miles looking for God, but it wasn’t until He revealed Himself to me that I really saw Him for the first time.”
It doesn’t matter how you became a Christian. Some grow up in the church. Some go through experiences that bring them to saving faith later on in life. Some even say that God spoke directly to them during a point in their life and that caused them to believe. Whatever it may be, it really doesn’t matter. Yes, your story matters to you and it should because it’s part of your testimony, your witness. However, in the overall scheme of things, it doesn’t matter how each individual person came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. What really matters is two things: 1. That it happened, that God has called out to you and you have heard His voice amongst the noise and have taken up the burden of bearing the name Christian throughout all the earth. And 2. What you do in responding to that saving faith. Friends, our response to the wonderful and saving news of the resurrection should not be to stay still or to hold firm with what we know, it should be taken out into the world. It should be shared with the entire world around you. I’ll end by quoting a song by a guy named Charlie Dodrill. First, let me set up for you what is going on in this song. Charlie is at a train station and overhears a conversation that three folks are having about life. They’re talking about exercise, religion, and general life matters. Charlie notices that as they talk about religion, it is apparent that the gospel has made no impression upon their lives. Charlie, not wanting to seem like the overbearing Christian, is debating whether or not to go and talk to these folks. Finally, after much inner debate, Charlie realizes that as he is hearing their debating, that he “possess the answer to their every question.” He gets up and shares the gospel with these folk. It’s that simple. We, Christians, have the answer to all of life’s questions. The question is, will we share it, or keep it to ourselves. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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