Word Count: 2603
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 1st May 2011: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Summary: Everybody knows the story of doubting Thomas that there is little to add, but I have, and it is delivered in three separate parts: an Old Testament approach, an Old Testament approach with Jesus thrown in; and finally a New Testament approach.
Acts 2:14a,22-32 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 Psalm 16
Prayer: O Lord, we pray that you speak to us in this place; in the calming of our minds; in the longing of our hearts; and in the thoughts that we form. Amen.
Gospel reading
Our Gospel reading this morning is taken from John 20, verses 19-31: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name”.
Introduction:
In the past I have always been given the difficult reading from which to make a sermon. Today is different, because today’s gospel reading is a very very familiar passage to everyone; even to non Christians.
I am even sure that everybody here today knows the story of doubting Thomas so well, that it gave me a problem in preparing something new; something that you have never considered before.
Well I searched, and I think I have something for you, but I will need to deliver it in three separate parts. First by using an Old Testament approach, and secondly a more familiar Old Testament approach with Jesus thrown in; and finally a New Testament approach. Note, this will be the condensed version.
So let us begin in an Old Testament manner which makes Thomas a failure; because Thomas knew what Jesus was capable off; but stubbornly refused to believe it and many sermons have been delivered in this manner of condemnation.
I have heard other sermons saying we are to unkind to Thomas as he did want to believe Jesus had risen, but did not want to get his hopes up just in case it turned out to be false. This is however you look at it, is still doubt, and it is like winning say, the lottery, I presume, saying “I will not rest easy until I see the money in my hand, or my bank account”.
Regardless how you see Thomas the emphases is on him doubting the fact that Jesus had arisen from the grave, and I am sure there must have been many sermons delivered over the years with the minister or priests shouting down to his congregation, you bunch of sinners, you must believe or you will be sent to hell; and I can just imaging those sermons and asking “how exactly are you meant to believe, and what you are to believe”? And worse, how do you show others that you do believe? What are you meant to do? I still do not know the answer.
This is quite complex, but notice the emphasis is on you believing. The bible clearly says in Matthew 17:20 “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you”.
All you need is this tiny piece of mustard seed faith, to move mountains. So if you cannot believe; you cannot do it; and if you cannot do it, you must be a miserable sinner and therefore deserve to be sent to hell.
Let me tell you here and now, and before we go on any further, this passage does not refer to us because if you did not believe, you would not be here today, nor a member of this very church. So everyone here today can safely say that they are a believer, and I for one am not going to condemn you.
Anyway, this Old Testament approach says you, are to believe in God, but is God just to sit around waiting on you believing?
No, that approach is flawed because the bible says that “the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews”, the disciples were locked in because they were afraid for their lives from the mainstream Jews outside; and that no amount of believing would empower them otherwise.
This simple believing is basically New Age thinking, and there is a book called the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Now I read that book many years ago, and I agreed with most of it, but it lacked power. Without power or anointing you are wasting your time on anything you do or try.
So do not listen to somebody who tells you to simple believe.
So here endth the Old Testament version of events, but to stick to the same theme, let us try that approach it with Jesus thrown in.
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So returning to the same story, where Thomas missed Jesus that first Easter Sunday, many people link Thomas to the definitive everyman, for there is a little bit of Thomas in each of us, and what Thomas missed has much to teach us.
Firstly, Peace.
The first thing Jesus said when he appeared was "Peace be with you”. Jesus knew they were frightened, bewildered and powerless and he said “peace” to give them a bit of relief and comfort.
Now, they could also be in the very same room where they had the last supper a few days before; and by say “Peace” Jesus was reminding them of what he said to them before he was crucified: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid”; and Thomas missed that peace.
Secondly we move onto another “P”; pardon. After Jesus bestowed peace upon them he said “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Jesus had forgiven or pardoned the disciples sin after he bestowed peace upon them; but he gave a sort of condition to this pardon, that pardon which is still available to us, because God cannot fill our cup with forgiveness if it is already filled to the brim with bitterness.
In his cry of doubt, Thomas expected Jesus to come to him and show his most intimate wounds which were associated with the world’s greatest humiliation, and basically give nothing in return. So Thomas missed out on the pardon of Christ.
Thirdly, Presence.
Thomas missed out on the glorious presence of God himself and that must have hurt; especially for one so previously intimate with Jesus.
Peace, Pardon and Presence; Thomas missed them all and in their place he demanded a substitute for them, something which our cynical society constantly craves, and that is another “P”, and it is a “P” for Proof”. Thomas demanded proof.
And this is why I must conclude that Thomas must be the definitive everyman, because although graced with apostolic sainthood, he is all like us all. In our struggle to maintain the Christian life, we too miss out on Peace, Pardon and the Presence of Christ, and in return we torture ourselves over Proof.
Thomas craved certainty, clarity, and proof: an empty tomb and the reports of his colleagues are simply not enough. And these things have not changed: the quest for proof to bridge the gap between us and the living Godhead has remains constant through the ages.
So, we must ask, was Thomas just going through the motions of discipleship? Well no, because we read later in the passage that Jesus appeared to him on another day.
And from the other passages this morning, there is another “P” that I should mention and is of Permanence; because the resurrection of Jesus has demonstrated the undisputable permanence of God: Jesus was more than a prophet, and more than a teacher; He was more than a King even. He is the permanent son of God; and Thomas did eventually get the final word by saying Jesus is “My Lord and My God”.
Now that is all very good; but the emphasis is still on you, or on us. All the work has to be done by us.
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Now for a New Testament version of the story, and I am going to begin with a great saying I learning many years ago and I love it.
“Religion is about mans relationship with God; Christianity is about God’s relationship with man.”
“Religion is about mans relationship with God; Christianity is about God’s relationship with man.”
The two homilies above are good, but they are all about what we do, or we try to do for God; and in this case we are simply asked to believe; but that is not enough.
Those terrified disciples in that locked room did believe, but they were powerless to do anything. They did not know what to do next.
Now skip ahead a few years and consider the fact that the first generation Christians did not hesitate to preach the good news of Christ's resurrection, and they did so with verve, and conviction, so much so, that they converted hundred of thousands of people to the new Christian faith.
So you must conclude that something somewhere had changed.
How did these disciples suddenly become empowered? By simply believing, no way, they were afraid that what had happened to Jesus might happen to them.
Over the previous years, they had witnessed many great miracles performed by Jesus; Peter had walked on water with the help of Jesus; and everyone of the 12 disciples had brought healing to the sick in his name; each one had commanded demons to come forth from the possessed, and many more had eaten of the bread that seemed to never end, the bread and the fish brought to Jesus by a small boy to help feed the crowd of thousands.
The disciples had witnessed much and taken part in much, and had been commanded by Jesus to do much more. They were expected to preach the gospel; but after Good Friday they powerless. They could not look after themselves, let alone do what the Lord had commanded;
However Jesus knew what kind of state they were in, and catered for it accordingly. He appeared to them, he blessed them and forgave there sin.
And notice Verse 20 of John 20 which says “When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit”.
He breathed on them. Think about it, this man who had just risen from the dead breathing on you; it is kind of scary.
But this is very important as it is mentioned all over the bible that where God breathes on something, that whatever he breathes on, is truly blessed and empowered. Every occurrence of God’s breath is a reference to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is power.
This very first mention of God breathing on someone was when he made Adam from clay in the book of Genesis, and once he had carved him, “he breathed life into him and was pleased”.
Jesus breathed the power of the Holy Spirit", onto his disciples and with this power he said go and preach the Gospel, the good news to the world. As one commentator put it, “he gave power to the powerless”; he empowered them with courage to do his will.
We today, including myself, desperately need some of that power, but it is power only to do God’s will through us. It is not power for us to use for ourselves although we do grow healthily from it; for whatever is ailing us, will disappear as it is holding us back.
We all this morning need to ask Jesus to breathe on us, and empowered us to do His will. So are you prepared to work for him; are you prepared to meet his conditions?
I end now with a quick quote from James Hudson Taylor; the famous Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission; He said, 'I used to ask God to help me.
Then I asked God if I could help Him. Finally I ended up asking God to do His work through me.'
He went on, “when you come to believe, really believe, that the service is “God working through you”, you will understand that serving others is the highest calling of all.
The truth is not a place where others serve you, but a place where you with gladness, are empowered to serve others. Now that is a place where I would like to be. Amen.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he took our sin and convictions to that cross and we thank you that You are now able to communicate with us.
Father it is obvious this morning that we all want to serve you, but we are being held back by various ailments and affliction.
Father we do want to serve You, and we do want You to serve others through us: so we simply ask that you breathe on us this morning; let us know what you want us to do, and empower us to do your will with that gladness and a cheery heart.
We ask for your power to flow through us this morning so that others maybe blessed with your presence.
We ask in Jesus name,
Amen
PS Could I make a special mention to Simon Rundell who helped me put this sermon together by his inspiration? God bless him and his ministry.
