Believe In Me

Please stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel.

Our gospel this morning comes from the Gospel of John chapter 20 verses 19 through 31, which you can find beginning on page 1321 in a few Bible if you would like to read along. So, hear now the word of our Lord. "It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you." Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you don't forgive them, they aren't forgiven." Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn't with the disciples when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put the finger in the wounds left -- put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won't believe." After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!" Thomas responded to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus replied, "Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don't see and yet believe." Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples' presence, signs that aren't recorded in this scroll. But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God's Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name." This is the Word of God for the People of God. You may be seated.

Where to start? There's so much in just these few short verses that we have both here and in the Book of Revelation. So before I get into the gospel, just a few quick notes on Revelation. We will be reading some passages from Revelation throughout the next few weeks in addition to from John. It's unlikely that the John who wrote Revelation wrote the Gospel. They're different John's, most likely. And kind of a minor little pet peeve of mine - it's the Book of Revelation. Singular. Not Revelations. It was one divine revelation to John in his recording and so I just, I'm excited about this time with Revelation we'll be spending over the next few weeks and... Oh, man, how many of y'all either read the books or watched the movie "Left Behind"?

Okay. Not many. Well, I read it when I was like a teenager cuz that's when it came out and I got to tell you for the longest time ever since I read the book whenever I couldn't find my parents I would start looking for like their clothes.

Because I was afraid maybe the Rapture had happened and my parents were taken and everyone else was just, you know, left behind.

But [indistinguishable] there are a lot of people who believe that the Book of Revelation is a prophecy. It talks about, you know, all that will happen before Christ returns. And while that's one interpretation, I'm not someone who shares that. The Book of Revelation, for that time, it was a part of a genre that was very popular. Apocalyptic literature. For people who were being oppressed by Romans, the Roman Empire, they were undergoing such emotional turmoil that normal language wouldn't suffice. They needed something bigger.... to kind to talk about what they were experiencing. They needed something bigger to get to them the message of hope that God Is bigger. It was a genre and so kind of a modern-day parallel for me would be Hunger Games or Divergent. These sort of dystopian books that are not prophecies, but they do speak of a future that could happen. They speak of realities that are, that are present even now and calling us to be more aware of that. And so, in the same way that we wouldn't take those works to be a prediction of what the future holds. It doesn't make it any less true... the messages that that are spoken within those the series, they resonate with people for a reason just as the Book of Revelation resonated with people for that time, but we'll spend the next few weeks talking about that. And again you're welcome to disagree with me. That is your right as a human being, as a person that God has endowed with free will, with the ability to read Scripture for yourself. And to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and see where God leads you. I hope that I can honor that. And just as I hope that you will honor my experience when I read scripture and study the Word. So that, back to the Gospel of John

So, early in this chapter is John's narration of what happened on Easter morning. The women went to the tomb early in the morning and found it empty. They returned to the disciples and they said the tomb is empty and we don't know where he has gone. And then we're told that Simon Peter and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" - AKA probably John - had a race, ran to the tomb and John won, but he stopped at the door whereas Peter went in. That's a very human thing to do by the way, to just kind of narrate this and to say there was a race and I won. I was faster.

But so Peter looks into the tomb and John does as well and they see an empty tomb. But they see the linen cloth that was over Christ's face folded and left. But then they return to the other disciples. And we're told that Mary's outside the tomb and she's crying and weeping and Jesus appears to her, but she doesn't recognize him at first. And when he asked, "Woman, why are you crying?" She thinks that he's the gardener and so she says, "If you have taken him away, tell me where he is."

And then Jesus says, "Mary!" Calls her by name and, in that moment, she recognizes Christ. And she says, "Rabbouni!" My teacher. And then she returns to the disciples and says, "I have seen the Lord."

Later that day, that night, the disciples are in a closed room. They are behind locked doors because they are afraid, as they should be, of the authorities. They have just seen their leader crucified. They're confused because the tomb in which their leader was buried is empty.

They have not yet believed Mary when she said, "I have seen the Lord!" They're still in a state of disbelief.

They still need their own experience, their own encounter with Christ in order to believe.

So it's kind of unfair that Thomas gets this bad rep. For doubting. Because Thomas does exactly what the other disciples do. He doesn't believe until he has an encounter with Christ. All Thomas wants is what the other disciples got.

Jesus appeared to the other disciples and he said, "Look at my hands. Look at my side." The disciple didn't ask; Jesus volunteers that.

By the way, it's interesting that Jesus manages to appear behind a locked door.

Like there's something in his resurrection that he no longer has to play by the same rules and yet his body still bears the scars of the crucifixion.

Easter doesn't erase the pain of the cross.

Resurrection doesn't erase the pain and the suffering that that we go through on this side of Eternity, but...

But... it does erase the pain.

We are healed from ongoing suffering.

I think that in order for us to truly be courageous, to no longer be afraid of of death. I think that in some ways maybe we do have to die and to remember our death because then when we are resurrected we know that God is true to his word. That God is more powerful than death.

Our memories are important.

But the disciples, they see Christ. And they rejoice. They're happy again. They see their Lord. In this moment, Christ breathes on them the Holy Spirit. This is John's narration of Pentecost. In this moment, the disciples receive the Holy Spirit and Christ says, "As I have been sent, so I am sending you."

And yet eight days later they're, again, in a locked room.

Now, maybe... I'm hoping that they have actually left the house by this point, at some time, but we're not told that. For all we know, they have been in this room for eight days.

Can we really blame Thomas? The disciples have said, "We have seen the Lord and he gave us the Holy Spirit." And yet they're still there. For all we know Thomas doesn't see a change in them. Not yet.

They are still afraid.

Fear is an ever-present reality.

Coming to know Christ and to be in a relationship with Christ doesn't erase the fear. It's still there. But with the Holy Spirit, we are given the Companion, we are given the Comforter, we are given the promise that we are not alone and that we do not have to do this on our own.

The promise of the Holy Spirit is that God gives us a purpose. You know, the world says that our goal is to survive. Survival of the fittest. Survive at any cost. It doesn't matter what happens to other people, you do what it takes for you to survive. Many Pharisees warn Jesus, "Hey, Herod's trying to kill you," because they're assuming that Christ's goal is to survive. That is not Christ's goal. Christ's goal was to go to Jerusalem, knowing that he would die. That it was necessary. Because then three days later he would triumph over death.

And then his followers would believe.

Then when he appears to the disciples, they know, they saw with their own eyes Christ dying. They saw Christ dead. They saw Christ put into the tomb.

Eight days later, Christ appears again and this time Thomas is with them.

Side note. Random fact. Thomas called Didymus. Didymus is the Greek word for twin. Thomas was a twin, twin brother. Just kind of interesting, just in case you were wondering what "Didymus" means.

And he tells Thomas, "See my hand. See the hole. Put your finger here. See my side." So this is interesting because Christ knows exactly what Thomas asks for, but Christ wasn't there, supposedly.

So that tells Thomas that not only has Christ returned, Christ has a knowledge of things that happened when he wasn't in the room supposedly.

And Thomas, Doubting Thomas is the first person in the Gospel of John to look at Christ and to say, "My Lord and my God!"

Thomas may have been the last one to come around but he was the first one to say, "My God!"

He leapt past the other disciples there and in that moment, he became a strong fervent believer.

I remember when I first got into ministry, one of the warnings that I was kind of always told from different pastors is to be skeptical of the people who are immediately on your side when you show up in a new church. Like the ones who are buddy buddy and want to be your best friend, you know. Just be skeptical, but maybe...maybe they are truly just friendly and kind and generous, but... it's also possible that they don't have the best motives at heart.

Because if their loyalty is easily gained then it's easily lost.

I was told the people who, it takes a while for you to win their trust.

Those are the people that you want in your corner.

Because they don't believe just anyone who comes. They don't just give their trust away lightly. And so when you have it, you have it. These are the people who will stick by your side.

Doubting Thomas is a person like that. Maybe he takes a little bit longer to be convinced, but once he is convinced, boy...

He's the one who stays by his side. He's the one who leads the way. He's the one who who says, "My God!"

So what does this all mean for us today? 2000 years later.

We're still talking about this story and... Just as the disciples at that time were afraid because there was violence in their world.

We still have reason today to be afraid.

From the news, we know that there is no house of worship that is immune when someone means to do us harm. That door still unlocked.

When we come together to worship, we are vulnerable.

And yet we come. And yet we gather.

I don't know if any of y'all saw the video from the pastor of the church in Sri Lanka forgiving the shooter.

Forgiving suicide bombers.

I think that they heard Jesus when he said if you forgive them, they are forgiven. And if you don't forgive them, they're not. I don't know about you, but that's not a burden I want on my heart. To know that because I didn't forgive someone, they weren't forgiven.

If we want to be forgiven ourselves, we have to do the hard work of forgiving others. Forgiving the ones who hurt us. And there's nothing easy about it. And forgiveness does not mean forgetting just for the record.

Forgiving does not mean that you open yourself up to being hurt in the same way. By the same person. It does not mean having to stay in a situation where you are continually taken advantage of. That is not what God is calling us to do.

God calls us to remember that our identity is in Christ. Our identity is not in the work that we do. It's not in the things that we have. It's not in the people. We know it is one alone. The identity that we have as a child of God in Christ Jesus.

And when we have that

we have peace and we have purpose and we have power.

Now our lives have a meaning and purpose.

Now we are told that we are invited to work with God in bringing about the kingdom of God to Earth here and now.

That God will work with us and through us

to show the world his love.

To show the world what life in the kingdom of God looks like.

And life in the kingdom of God where swords are beat into plowshares. Because no longer will there be violence.

No longer will we be controlled by fear.

Because we will have the courage and the conviction to do what is right, even when it's not easy.

But, even so, when we fall, when we stumble, God is still there with us, offering his hand out to lift us back up. And never is Christ angry with us for doubting, for stumbling.

He simply encourages us again. Simply reaffirms his message of love for us. And invites us to get back up, to try again.

So this morning the question I have for us is how are we living out the kingdom of God on Earth?

How are we, through our lives and through our actions, through our words and our deeds... How are we showing the world what life with Christ is like? How are we showing a vision of a better way of living?

One that goes against what the world says.

The one that is so powerful.

That when people see that, when people can experience that,

then they're invited

to believe that maybe, maybe life can be like that for them too.

But it does take us. It takes us working with God. It takes us being courageous. It takes us loving when it is hard. It takes us forgiving.

But through it all, God is with us. Through it all, we have is the Companion, the Comforter.

We are not alone and through it all, we have each other in the church, in the body of Christ. Amen?