No Doubts About Jesus
John 20:19-31
Acts 5:29-42
Stephen H. Becker, M.Div.
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church—Elk Grove, CA
Sunday, March 30th, 2008—2nd Sunday of Easter
Evening Contemporary Worship Service Sermon
Did everyone here tonight have a nice Easter last week? You know with all of the events of the Lenten season and then Holy Week leading up to Easter, it seems like its been ages since we have all been together, doesn’t it? Well in fact for me, if you throw in a trip to Indiana, to go back to the seminary to continue work on my doctorate, it has been four weeks since I’ve been here worshipping with you all on Sunday night.
You know, one of the things I love most about children is to believe. Now, I don’t think children have any greater ability to believe than adults, but I think what sets the children apart from adults, is that children doubt less than adults. In other words we grown ups let our doubts cloud our ability to believe. In our lesson tonight we read of a glorious resurrection event of the Lord Jesus, where the Lord, after His death and after His resurrection, presents Himself to most of the Twelve who had gathered. Unfortunately, Thomas wasn’t there. And unfortunately Thomas’ absence from this wonderful gathering set of a chain of events that gave him a title that even now, 2,000 years ago, he just can’t seem to shake: the title of doubting Thomas. We read of Thomas’ hardheaded skepticism—doubt—kept him from believing that Jesus could live. But through these events, Thomas learned an amazing lesson. Tonight, after we pray, let’s see if it’s possible for us to be rid of our doubt so that we can believe more. Let’s open now with prayer…
You know I think that often it’s easy for us “modern” folk—who live 2,000 years removed from the resurrection of Jesus, to look down upon those poor folk who lived with Jesus and doubting what they actually saw with their own eyes. I mean, we have a Bible that tells us all about the Lord and the events leading up to His death and resurrection. Many of us learned about it as we went through the confirmation classes. We have Luther’s Catechism that teaches us about Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have the creeds that tell us all about them. We’ve heard preachers preach on the subject for years. So, yeah, we can understand how those poor folk, who never had these wonderful learning tools, might have doubted Jesus. it’s easy to do, isn’t it? Well, tonight as we look at the lesson of doubting Thomas, I want you keep a question in your mind. What is it that sets us apart from these early Christians when it comes to doubting Jesus’ work on the cross for us? Remember, many of these early Christians were eye witnesses to these events. So yeah, they didn’t have our Bible, but they saw Jesus’ miracles, some of them saw Him crucified, and many others witnessed His resurrection with their own eyes! What makes us different or better than they? Why can’t we believe like the kids do?
I’m going to start with myself. This past week, last Tuesday to be exact, I went through a horrible experience, one that really helped me to see the doubt that is within me: an IRS tax audit. Now, friends, yes, it might sound funny, but let me tell, for the past few weeks I have been dreading that date, March 25th, like if I was going in for surgery. In fact, did you know in a national poll, when asked whether they would rather go through an IRS tax audit or whether they’d rather have a root canal, well you can guess what the preferred answer was. But why is that? Why did I doubt? Why do I doubt? I mean, I knew I had a tax professional prepare my returns for years now. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong. I knew that as a Christian, God would be with me before, during and after this event, and yet I was petrified of having some stranger go through all of my financial papers and documents that I had collected throughout the years. I think down deep I was convinced that the auditor’s #1 goal was to strip me of every dime I had and put me into prison. I doubted! Now ironically, the tax auditor found a few errors that the accountant had made that were, in fact, in my favor, where they owed me more money. She also found a few that were against me. But ultimately, we settled the matter and now it’s behind me. But I doubted. What is it that makes me—or you—any different than Thomas?
As Jesus entered the room the first time, when Thomas wasn’t there, He makes a beautiful statement: “Peace be with you.” What a glorious statement because remember Jesus Christ is God in the flesh; Jesus is the great “I am” that Moses spoke with. And Jesus was there standing in their midst. So here, as Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” the word “peace” is not only referring to Jesus, who is our peace, but to the state of being we as believers have in ours hearts: peace. The second appearance, this time with Thomas present, contains a miracle because Jesus appears to them inside of a locked room. And how does the Lord first address them? “Peace be with you.” Jesus is saying, peace is standing among you because you know and believe in me. Thomas then gets his requested opportunity to touch the Lord, to see the marks that the crucifixion had left on Christ, the marks visible even on His glorified, resurrected body.
Now, at this point, in verse 28, Thomas—this doubting Thomas guy, who has been made fun of for thousands of years now, makes one of the most profound statements we find anywhere in Scripture, anywhere in either the Old or the New Testament. With peace standing before Him, Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas understood who it was that was standing before him. And Thomas understood what the great “I Am” of the Bible had done for him, for the other disciples in this locked room, for every Jew in the area, for every believer everywhere—in all times, past, present and future. You see, to really understand the relevance, the importance—the lesson for us, when we hear a Jew to make the statement “My Lord and my God!,” we can understand the amazing lesson that Thomas learned for Himself and for us. Friends, why did the Jews hate Jesus so? Why did they drag Him in front of Pilate to be crucified? Because Jesus claimed to be God. In their eyes, Jesus was not only breaking the First Commandment, but He was committing the most hideous form of blasphemy they knew of; in fact, they thought it was so bad that the High Priest literally tore his garment in reaction of Jesus’ words. There was no doubt in the minds of these doubting Jews who Jesus was claiming to be. And for that, they killed Him. So as doubting Thomas really understands Who Jesus is and what the Lord has done for him and for us, He makes this profound statement, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas was openly acknowledging the fact that the God the universe was standing before him, triumphant over sin and death. Thomas understood that God took upon Himself human flesh, lived among us, taught us, healed among us, ate with us, cried among us, laughed among us, and loves us, loves us so much that He died for us. You see my friends, who else— who else but God Himself could save us from our sins? In that moment, Thomas understood all of this. Instead of having Luther’s catechism or our New Testament or the words of a great preacher, Thomas learned his lesson by having lived through these events of 2,000 years ago, culminating in his own examination and conversation with the resurrected Lord Himself. In that moment, Thomas knew God Himself was standing before him and that God Himself had saved Him and all believers from sin, death and Satan.
As I opened the sermon tonight, I asked you to think about what it is that makes you and me any different than this “doubting” Thomas guy. You know, in light of what we just looked at, instead of looking down on this “doubting” Thomas, it really makes us appreciate the amazing lesson he learned and the even more profound statement that Thomas makes in that moment. Far from being a “doubting” Thomas, this disciple becomes one of amazing faith. So what’s different about you and me?
Well, for one thing, you and I have never seen Jesus Christ with our eyes. We’ve never touched the marks left by the nails or put our hand into Jesus’ side where He had been pierced by the sword. By the way, I saw a really profound bumper stick the other day. It said, “I believe in body piercing.” This bumper sticker wasn’t referring to getting a bolt put into your tongue or your eyebrow or something of that nature, but alongside of those words, “I believe in body piercing,” there was a picture of the cross and the nails that went through Jesus’ hands.
Friends, as believers, we believe in body piercing! It is our faith in Jesus that brings us the Grace and Peace that Jesus earned for us on the cross. Through our faith, we are pierced on that cross just as Jesus was. Through our faith, we die on that cross, just as Jesus died. We die to sin and are born again to new life, everlasting life. See the common theme here? It’s faith! “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed!” Friends, do you believe in body piercing? You see, we’re no different that Thomas. We are all doubting humans, doubting because we are corrupted by Satan and sin. We continue to doubt, just as I doubted Jesus as I went before the tax auditor. But Jesus Christ went to the cross for you and for me and as He completed His work, He also made a profound statement from that cross: “it is finished.” In that moment, as Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated. But we still doubt. Luther explains our doubting predicament like this: we are simultaneously both sinner and saint! No sermon is complete without a little foreign language…we are simul iustus et peccator…that’s the Latin term that Luther so often used to describe us and it means that we believers are simultaneously in a relationship of merciful justice with God through Christ Jesus, while at the same time, being human, prone to our sinful nature, prone to sin. So do we doubt? Are we at times “Doubting Thomas?” If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, my friends. Of course we do.
There is a wonderful new book out there by the famous Christian author Max Lucado entitled, Resurrection Morning. It’s a fictional story about the Roman guard named Claudius who actually drove those nails into Jesus’ hands. It’s a book you should go out and buy and read. In this story Claudius comes to understand Who Jesus is and through the book, Lucado teaches how each one of us is in part responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross and how each one of us really helped Claudius hammer those spikes through Jesus’ hands and feet. But friends, the glory of Easter is that the same hands that were pierced by our rebellion now reach out to us in compassion, forgiveness and love. Friends, our doubt, our rebellion and our sin in no way changes that completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
See, it is finished. And now Jesus has risen from the dead. He has risen indeed! And because Jesus lives, God claims us as His own. God continues to offer us grace and peace through His means of Grace…through reading Scripture, through YOUR baptism that marked you with the cross of Christ and sealed you to God forever, through the Lord’s Supper, where we literally eat that body and blood that Jesus so willingly gave for us. We are indeed simul iustus et peccator…we do stumble and fall, but my friends, “it is finished.
God loves you. He loves you so much that He did what needed to be done to save YOU. He loves YOU so much that He brings YOU the means of Grace to believe and to live. God the Holy Spirit comes to YOU and gives you the faith to believe. And then He never leaves you…even when you or I fall into doubt. So, my friends, how are we different than Thomas? We’re not. Thomas may have seen Jesus and believed and “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” but the common word here my friends is belief. God gives us the faith to believe and in that faith, we are saved believers. We are blessed, saved believers, who live in God’s amazing Grace, in the peace that surpasses all human understanding. “Peace be with you,” my friends. Amen. Let’s join in prayer…
Now may that true faith…
