"Doubt Cannot Hide The Resurrected Jesus”

In Jesus Holy Name April 14, 2024

Text: Luke 24:38-39 Easter III Redeemer

“Doubt Cannot Hide the Resurrected Jesus”

On this Sunday after Easter Jesus meets His disciples in the Upper room where they had been hiding since the tragic death of their Lord on Friday. They have heard stories from the women who found the tomb of Jesus empty. They have heard the story of the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. The eleven were not convinced. Their minds just could not believe.

I appreciate Pastor Jim’s message last week when he took us on a journey with Thomas. Pastor Jim reminded us that Thomas was not the only one who doubted the words of the women who had visited the empty tomb of Jesus, so did the eleven.

When Jesus enters their hiding space, they did not recognize Him. Jesus said: “Peace be with you.” “Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds?” He knew they were no different than Thomas. Belief in His resurrection had to move from their “mind” to their “hearts.”

Christian author Kathleen Noris has written: “To believe is not a matter of the mind but a matter of the heart.” For what we “believe” is what we give our heart to. We can read the bible from cover to cover and subscribe to all the ethics suggested; we can come to church, follow the liturgy in proper fashion, perhaps even listen intently to the sermon; but unless all that we see and hear becomes part of us, (part of our character, our inner being) well, then nothing is life changing.”

It all happened for two disciples on the Emmaus Road and for the disciples in the Upper Room. It had been a long day. The two had much on their minds. But their fellow traveler stirred a fire in their hearts. So they welcomed him in. They pulled out an extra chair, poured some water in the soup, and offered bread. Jesus blessed the bread, and when he did, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him”. (Max Lucado)

Sure, a couple of women had returned from the tomb in hysterics, going on about how “they did not find the body of Jesus there.” They told how they’d seen “a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive;” but no one was going to convince these disciples in the upper room of anything like that!

Jesus’ own followers did not expect Him to rise from the dead, even He had told them He would rise. They were fearful and shocked when He did. The resurrection was supposed to take place only at the end of time. The Resurrection of Jesus establishes Christianity as a faith that is based in the reality of history.

The Resurrection did not happen in the disciples’ minds. It happened in time and space with physical and historical evidence to support it. This is why Jesus said: “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.”

We should not be too hard on the disciples. Faith, belief in Jesus as the Savior who would replace forgiveness of sins with the cross rather than in the temple was a radical transition for Jewish men and women. Fatih, belief in Jesus as Savior depended on being in the physical presence of Jesus, when He touched people who needed healing; or when he raised children and Lazarus from death. Only Jesus had the Holy Spirit. So, it was necessary for Jesus to appear physically and thus enable them to believe.

What did Jesus say to Thomas: “:..because you have “seen” me you believed”… but in the future blessed are those who believe but have not seen….because in the future the Holy Spirit, my Spirit will replace my physical presence and create faith and belief. (3rd article stuff)

We must admit that doubt has a stubborn power to control our emotions and what we believe to be true. During their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites had clear and visible proofs of God: a pillar of fire leading them, daily provisions of manna, God’s own presence with Moses on Mt. Sinai and in the Tent of Meeting. Yet these very people who had been liberated from slavery by the Ten Plagues, who had manna digesting in their stomachs, often doubted and whined about missing the pleasures of Egypt. After 40 days of not seeing Moses in their doubt they fashioned pagan idols to worship.

Doubt is a normal human problem. Billy Graham tells this story about his

grandfather who was also an evangelist. Both he and his grandfather experienced times of doubt.

Billy had already been an evangelist with Youth For Christ and had preached across Europe in the aftermath of World War II. He had held his first “Billy Graham Crusades” in places like Charlotte, N.C, and Grand Rapids, Mich. He was also the president of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn., the youngest college president in the country. however. His crusade in Altoona, Pa., had been—in his own words—“a flop.” He began to doubt that he would be an evangelist.