John 20:19-31
1 Peter 1:3-9
“My Lord and My God!”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
How many times have you tried to give another person advice, perhaps a son or a daughter, and they didn’t listen…
…they went ahead and did the exact opposite of what you suggested they do…
…even though you warned them…
…even though you told them, that from your own experience and mistakes, you have learned the right way to do something and the wrong way.
You give them all this advice, along with information about how you had to learn “the hard way” and yet they go out and make the exact same mistakes you warned them not to make and that you made yourself!
We learn from experience, do we not?
And not from someone else’s experience, but from our own experience.
How many times has someone asked you the question, “If you could go back in time would you do it?”
And how many times have you answered that question with: “I would do it only if I could go back knowing what I know now.”
We learn from experience.
We learn from mistakes and from things that go well.
It’s just the way things seem to work in life and in faith!!!
Last week we saw how the risen
Lord first appeared to Mary Magdalene, and then Mary heeded the extremely important task of being an “eyewitness news reporter” for Jesus as she “went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’”
But, was Mary’s “eyewitness news alert” enough to convince the disciples or even Mary herself?
That evening we are told that the disciples were together, with the doors locked because they were afraid that the same fate which had befallen Jesus—the crucifixion—would befall them.
Despite Mary’s “breaking news” of having seen the risen Christ, they were still hiding behind locked doors…
…they were shaking in their boots “for fear of the Jews.”
It wasn’t until “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you,’” and then showed them His hands and side that the disciples believed the resurrection had taken place, but they still did not seem to understand it’s significance.
It didn’t change them all that much.
They still hid behind locked doors.
Have you ever felt as if your faith hasn’t changed you all that much?
Are you still hiding in fear behind locked doors?
Thomas gets a bad “rap” from those of us who refer to him as “doubting Thomas.”
Fact is, beginning with Mary who stood outside the empty tomb crying Easter morning telling the supposed “gardener” (who was really Jesus) that someone had stolen Christ’s body on down to every single one of the other disciples…
…they had all been doubting…
…they had all been clueless, is the better way to put it.
Jesus’ appearance to Thomas just happened to take place a week later…
…other than that it was no different from His appearance to the others.
We are told plainly in verse 20 that it was not until Christ showed the other disciples His hands and side that they “saw the Lord.”
We are all doubting Thomas or clue-less Thomas, or doubting Mary or clue-less Mary, or doubting Peter or clue-less Peter until…
…until…
…the Risen Christ…
…through His amazing and completely unmerited grace enters into our lives and speaks our name: “Mary, Peter, Phillip, Ken, Barbara, Valorie…
…Peace be with you! As the Father sent me, I am sending you.”
Has the Risen Christ yet appeared in your life and said this…
…bringing you peace and mission?
And even if Christ has appeared to you—bringing you peace and mission—you probably still have times when you doubt…
…you might still have times when you have trouble believing.
You probably still have areas of your life where you need to cry out: “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!”
The Christian life is a journey.
It’s not a destination.
And that is one thing that makes it so exciting!!!
I have always believed in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
It is what I was taught to believe by my parents and by my church.
I never had reason to doubt that these good folks were not telling me the truth.
I remember, very early on praying at bedtime.
And of course, I never had any problem…
…I never had any cognitive dissonance while reciting the Apostles’ Creed.
I believed.
It was part of my life.
But, my faith wasn’t alive, shall we say, until the Risen Christ showed Himself to me.
Only then was I “awakened.”
Only then did the Scriptures come to life and take on a very tangible and personal significance.
Only then was I “overjoyed.”
Only then were my clouds transformed into bright sunlight…
…Only then did I feel the need to go about and become an “eyewitness news reporter” for Christ—telling others—“I have seen the Lord!”
But it had been a part of a much larger life journey.
And I don’t always feel like “I’m on top of the world” but over-all life gets better and better the longer I practice my faith—making an intentional choice to believe-- walking more and more out of the darkness of doubt and unbelief and into the sunshine of faith.
Much in the same way that we must learn from our own experiences—no matter what others tell us…
…We must experience Christ for ourselves…
…no matter what others have told us…
…before we will finally, to some extent, “get it” and our faith “comes to life!”
Some folks describe this as having their faith “become their own.”
Others describe it as their “born again” experience or “conversion” experience.
When this happened to John Wesley…
…the founder of the Methodist Movement…
…Wesley too had been a “believer” all his life.
At 36 years old and living as an Anglican priest, on the morning of May 24th, 1738 Wesley found himself crying out: “Lord, help my unbelief!”
And he wrote in his journal that morning that “he felt dull within and little motivated to pray for his own salvation.”
But that evening a friend persuaded Mr. Wesley to attend a meeting on Aldersgate Street.
It was a Bible study of some sort.
And at about 8:45 p.m. while someone in the meeting was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the Romans…
…while this person was reading Luther’s words “describing the change which God works in the heart through faith,” John Wesley records in his journal, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
In other words, the Risen Christ had appeared to Wesley and Wesley’s faith had finally become a living, breathing reality…
…not just something written on a piece of paper…
…not just what he had learned about in seminary.
And then Wesley spent the rest of his life cultivating that living organism called faith…through study, and through standing up for the poor, the uneducated, the marginalized, the widow, the orphans, the workers and being an “eyewitness news reporter” to the Resurrection of the Lord!
We come to truly believe in the Resurrected Lord…
…only when we ourselves begin to be resurrected as well!!!
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, the other disciples had told their friend Thomas that they had seen the resurrected Lord.
But still Thomas replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week passed and the disciples were in the house again but this time Thomas was with them.
And though the doors were locked…
…notice the doors were still locked…
… “Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 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.”
In verse 28 we read, “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.”
Well, hey, wait a minute here.
How could it be that those who do not see and believe will be so blessed?
Does God give an extra special approving nod to blind faith?
Or is something more going on than meets the eye?
Could it be that seeing isn’t really believing?
Think about it, we can only actually see a fraction of that which is real anyway.
We can’t see microbes nor can we see distant galaxies.
But even though we can’t see these things we believe they exist.
And what about folks who happen to be blind?
They can’t see anything!
Could it be that real faith isn’t about seeing at all?
Could it be that it is more profound…
…the effect is more real…
…the transformation is more pronounced…
…when one does not see Christ’s physical body per se’, but instead is brought to faith through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and conviction of the Holy Spirit touching them like tongues of fire…
…bringing them to life…
…causing them to choose love over hate…
…salvation over sin and death…
…heaven over hell…
…good over evil…
…service over being served…
…humility over pride…
…peace over war…
…and light over darkness!
When we choose to believe in the gift of faith through our own free-will we find ourselves possessing a new confidence and conviction.
And, over time--time which is spent cultivating our faith—we suddenly find that we are no longer hiding behind locked doors trembling in our boots!
In Acts Chapter 1…
…before Jesus ascended back up to heaven He spoke to His disciples and said, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised which you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized you with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
And the disciples did wait.
For Jesus had told them, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
They had to wait.
They couldn’t do a thing without the Holy Spirit.
They still didn’t have a clue as to what Jesus had been telling them without the Holy Spirit.
They had seen with their eyes Christ’s resurrected body, but they still didn’t understand the significance.
We are told in Acts Chapter 1 that the believers who waited with the disciples numbered 120 men and women.
The “believers” numbered 120 men and women.
They believed, but what did they believe?
They believed but had their belief come to life?
They believed, but they were still in the dark, were they not?
Then Pentecost came--the day that the Holy Spirit came upon them like “the blowing of a violent wind,” and “what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
The day of Pentecost came and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
The days of waiting was over and they stood up boldly before the Jews who had crucified Jesus…
…before the Jews from whom they had been hiding in fear behind locked doors…
…and began to proclaim: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”…
And we are told that 3,000 believers were added to their number in that one day!!!
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
That is the majority of the early Church!
That is you.
That is me.
…Believing is not seeing…
…believing is experiencing the Resurrected Christ for oneself through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and putting one’s faith in action every moment of every day!!!
We see through believing or we remain in the darkness.
If this believing comes hard to you pray along with John Wesley: “Lord, help my unbelief.”
Continue to search the Scriptures, and to come to church.
Water the seed of faith you do have through living what you believe and wait to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and to receive power and to be given living faith and living mission!!!
John Wesley, although he had been a priest in the Church of England for a number of years, did not experience success in his work until he himself experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
After Wesley had his heart strangely warmed he preached, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and thousands and millions were converted!!!
In our Epistle Lesson from 1 Peter; Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
… “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Peter goes on to tell his readers that those who preached the gospel to them did so “by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.”
And then he adds that “Even angels long to look into these things.”
Imagine that!
Even angels long to look into how God reveals God’s self to us—bringing our faith to life through the power of the Holy Spirit!!!
Imagine that!
If even angels long to look into these things…
…what about mere men, women and children?
Blessed are you who have not seen and yet have believed and have received the Holy Spirit!!!
Blessed are you who rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, sharing your gifts with everyone you encounter!!!
Blessed are you who, together with the apostles, are captured by God’s living Presence, imagining the infinite possibilities in being used to create a world that believes without seeing!!!
A world that loves unconditionally.
A world where Peace reigns.
A world where the hungry are fed.
A world where good news is preached to the poor and the captives are set free!!!
A world where Christ’s Resurrection has vanquished any need to fear death, hell, or the grave!!!
It is a glorious mystery, this faith of ours.
And it is more precious than silver and “of greater worth than gold”!!!
What a reason to rejoice!
What a reason to live!
What a reason to share the most precious thing in the world—our faith—with everyone we meet both through our actions and by our words!!!
Amen.
