What Will It Take?
Luke 24:13-49
Easter 3B
“Forget what you learned in elementary school--the earth is flat as a pancake. All that stuff about the earth being round and the sun being the center of the universe is a big joke,” insisted C.K. Johnson in a 1979 interview. Mr. Johnson was president of the International Flat Earth Research Society from 1971 until his death in 2001. The Flat Earthers dismiss modern science as a club for sun worshippers and write off all space programs as multi-billion dollar hoaxes. "The moon walk was done in a Hollywood set. All faked," said Johnson, a former airplane mechanic. Furthermore, he and other Flat Earthers insist the sun is a gigantic spotlight, 32 miles across, that moves in an ellipse just 3000 miles above the center of the earth. The stars are just a lot of tiny holes poked in a huge canopy covering this planet. When asked in an interview, “Do Flat Earthers believe in anything?”
Johnson replied, "We believe the Earth is flat. Everything else is pure conjecture.”
Kind of makes you wonder what basis the International Flat Earth Research Society has for their beliefs. All they really believe is that the earth is flat. Everything else is up for debate. Even hard and factual evidence to refute their flat earth claims are disregarded so that they can hold on to their one belief - the earth is a flat disc floating through space. No matter what scientific proof, no matter what visual proof, no matter how much research to the contrary, the Flat Earth Society is going to believe one thing – the earth is flat.
On the evening of the resurrection, the disciples were gathered together. Huddled together in the locked room, they shared one belief – Christ had died. For three days they had hidden from the Jews, they had stayed out of the public eye as much as possible, they had mourned and then on this morning, the women who had gone to the tomb returned with astonishing news: He was not there. An angel (of all things) rolled away the stone from the entrance and he showed them the place where Christ’s body had been laid. Then he assured them that Christ, the one they were looking for had been raised from the dead and that he was going ahead of them to Galilee. Though this message from the angel sounded eerily familiar to the strange predictions Jesus himself made, it was just too difficult to believe. They had seen him die. They had seen him be buried. That was the end of the story! No account from the women, no words from an angel, no report from Peter who himself went to see the empty tomb, was going to change their minds and what they believed – Christ was dead. Hope was dead. There was nothing that could change their views… or was there?
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. In entered two fellow followers of Christ - excited and telling the eleven gathered there of an encounter with the risen Lord. “It is true!” they exclaimed. “The Lord has risen! We have seen him!” Then they told of the way this man had traveled with them, set their hearts aflame, had opened their minds to understand the scripture and then how he had taken bread and blessed it and broke it and shared it with them. And suddenly there was no doubting. They recognized him for who he was – the risen Lord! And he disappeared from their presence and they were compelled to return to Jerusalem to tell the disciples what they had heard, seen and experienced.
Yet, the disciples continued to believe Christ was dead. All proof otherwise was pure conjecture.
Then as they were discussing the news from these friends from Emmaus, suddenly there was a man among them. “Peace be with you!” he said. The disciples were frightened.
“Do not be afraid,” he said. “Here are my hands and my feet. Touch me, I am not a ghost!”
Now, if you remember John’s resurrection account that we read last week, when Christ had said this to the disciples and showed them his hands and feet, the disciples believed. But Luke’s gospel differs. After Christ shows the disciples his hands and feet, Luke writes this curious verse: they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement. What does that mean? How could they be filled with joy and amazement and still NOT believe that this person in their midst is indeed the risen Lord? How could they still believe that Christ was dead? All the stories and reports were falling into place – the women at the empty tomb, Peter’s witness of the tomb, the disciples from Emmaus, now this man who entered the room through locked doors and had wounds precisely where the nails had been driven, all this proof was contrary to their belief. All this proof filled them with joy and amazement, but they still didn’t believe. They believed Christ to be dead – in spite of mounting proof to the contrary! Christ was dead – all other proof was conjecture. Christ was dead – and though the prospect of him being raised from the dead was exciting – it wasn’t possible. They had seen him die! It’s not possible for him to be alive! Joy and amazement aside, it just didn’t make sense to them.
Every so often as I read the scriptures to prepare for Sunday’s message I am struck immediately by a verse or a phrase. This week the whole idea of they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement jumped out at me and the phrase ran constantly through my head. I don’t know that I have ever even noticed this verse before this week – how can one be so filled with joy and amazement at what they see and experience and yet not believe that it is happening? I wondered this disbelief was a form of “it’s too good to be true”? Or was it just utter shock? And then I began to think about our world. How many people are filled with joy and amazement at the prospect of the empty tomb, at the prospect of a risen and living Savior, at the prospect of forgiveness, at the prospect of eternal life… but as much as they are filled with joy and amazed at what might be - at their core, they don’t believe it’s possible.
Let’s be honest for a moment… the resurrection doesn’t make sense to us. Death, on the other hand, DOES make sense. We understand that when a person dies, they are physically gone from us. We understand that when we put a corpse in a grave, we will no longer see that person in bodily form. We understand that once a person is dead, they do not come back to life. Death makes sense. As excited as we might be to see a loved one who has died, it might be too much for us to believe. Perhaps it would even be too scary for us to believe.
Christ could see the confusion on their faces. He could see their minds trying to rationalize what their eyes were seeing and their hearts were feeling. Even though he has assured them that he is not a ghost, that seems to be the best explanation of what’s happening. So he does something even more remarkable than entering through locked doors or showing his hands and feet. Christ says, “do you have anything to eat?” The disciples gave him some fish. And there before their eyes this “ghost” eats the fish. There is no other explanation. This man is not a ghost. This man is indeed the risen Savior! Joy and amazement at what is happening girds their belief, rather than disbelief. The reports and stories from the women and Peter and the disciples in Emmaus all make sense. No longer are they merely conjecture – they are the truth that point to the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.
For the women the message from the angel was enough for them to believe.
For the disciples in Emmaus, the breaking and sharing of bread revealed the truth of the risen Lord.
For the disciples in John’s gospel account, the seeing of Christ’s hands and feet were proof enough of the resurrection.
For the disciples in Luke’s account, the resurrected Christ eating fish turned their disbelief into belief.
What will it take for you? What proof do you need that Christ is alive? Christ is not dead. Christ is risen. The empty tomb isn’t some feel good tale that we tell – it is the reality of God’s love for us. The empty tomb isn’t too good to be true – it is the TRUTH. Too many Christians are filled with joy and amazement at all that God has done for them, and yet at the core of their being they don’t believe that God has truly done it. Filled with joy and amazement and still not believing…
Doubt is a powerful weapon used by the adversary to keep us from true and fulfilling faith. Doubt keeps us from living in the freedom secured for us through the blood of Christ. Doubt nags at us, planting seeds of uncertainty, that draw us away from fully immersing ourselves in the grace of Christ. And yet doubt is a natural part of our faith journey for in our doubt, God reveals God’s self to us.
One of the promises I find in the resurrection accounts of Christ, is that Christ is going to come to each of us and reveal himself unto us in a way that leaves no room for disbelief.
To those who needed a message from the angels – he sent an angel.
To those who would believe through the sharing of food – he broke bread.
To those who would believe by seeing and touching his wounds – he held out his hands.
To those who needed proof that he wasn’t a ghost – he ate in their presence.
Perhaps if we could see and touch the risen Savior - maybe then we would believe! Imagine the change in your life and in our church family if at this very moment Christ (in bodily form) descended through the ceiling of this sanctuary, stood among us, showed us his wounds and then breathed his spirit into our lives. Imagine the joy, the amazement, the irrefutable proof that Christ is alive! I bet after that experience, every one of us on our way home would be on our cell phones calling everyone we know saying that we have seen the risen Lord. Telling our family and friends that it is true He is risen! That he lives! We would be so filled with the assurance of our risen Savior that we would proclaim our faith from morning until night. There would be no stopping us. There would be no question that we couldn’t answer. We would know that Christ is alive! Our hearts would be aflame with his message of love, our words would be spoken with assurance and passion, our living would be transformed. We would no longer be people who are filled with joy but nagged by doubt. Seeing the risen Savior would wipe away our doubts and fears and the proof of the resurrection would become irrefutable.
Wouldn’t that be awesome! Wouldn’t you love it if Christ made himself so known to you that there would be no hesitance in being his witness to the world?
Friends, it is possible. When we stop trying to refute all the proof, when we open our hearts to the truth, when we allow Christ to come into our lives, doubt is slowly replaced by faith and belief. Faith and belief will in return keep all our doubts and fears in check. Someone once said, “Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.”
What do you believe?
Do believe Christ is risen Lord who died and was raised again to life so that we may have life everlasting? Then believe it. Look for the proof of that belief in the scriptures, in the world and in your own life. Live according to the belief that Christ is risen. Let all proof contrary to your belief in the resurrection be conjecture. Weigh the claims of a dead Savior against the proof of a living Lord. Let your life be guided and transformed by your belief.
I started the message this morning by relating to you some ideas held in common by members of the Flat Earth Research Society. I do not agree with their stance on the shape of the earth, but I admire their conviction and their dedication to their belief! They stand up against the common assumptions of the world. They believe what they believe and everything else is speculation and debatable.
I pray that we may have the same attitude in our faith. Let us believe that which we know to be the truth: Christ is alive! And let us treat as conjecture anything that is the contrary to our belief.
Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.
Amen.
