TEXT: John 21:1
The capture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is over
The brutal treatment of him at the hands of Roman soldiers is over
The trial that found him guilty is over
The torturing and twisting of his body is over
The cruel fastening of his body to an old rugged cross is over
The bleeding wounds from his head, hands, feet and pierced side is over
The retrieval of his body from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is over
The burial of his body in a freshly dug grave is over is over
The search for his body by the women who visit the tomb is over
All that Jesus had gone through is over his earthly body has been resurrected his mission to redeem man has been completed. Easter has been instituted and the very foundation of the New Testament Church has been secured.
The question now is what’s next. It is the gospel writer John that provides for us the most complete and comprehensive picture of the next sequence of events.
While Matthew, Mark and Luke all report on what we now call the “post-resurrection” events of the master, it is John that is the most specific and the most detail in his account of how Jesus continued his earthly ministry for a season, after the cross.
According to John, Jesus convenes a family reunion of his disciples just one week after his resurrection. On the one hand the summons to return to the same upper room where he last broke bread with them was redundant and repetitive since John tells us that he had seen nearly all of his disciples during the course of the previous week. But I imagine that Jesus was not prepared to return to the right hand side of his father until all of the disciples that he had spent time with and invested in had been securely bonded to the reality of his resurrection. John tells us that what makes this meeting of the disciples different from the previous encounters of the week is that Thomas, also called Didymus, who had not been present earlier was there to see for himself that Jesus was alive.
Permit me to insert right here that it is the preference of Jesus that none be lost and all be saved. I am not talking about the doctrine of “inclusionism”, that teaches that everybody is going to be saved regardless of what they do, which is being so hotly debated across the country right now, but I am suggesting to you that Jesus loves you so much until his heart desire is that you spend eternity with him.
Now the choice is up to you, you can choose to receive him into your life or you can choose to reject him. But HIS intent is that you be saved that he refused to return to heaven without giving Thomas and opportunity to choose Jesus for himself. And the Bible goes on to tell us that he had delayed his second coming until the whole world has heard his gospel. Why? Because he wants all mankind to live with him in glory.
Secondly let me point out to you that Thomas stood on the risk of losing his ultimate blessing because he made the mistake of forsaking the fellowship of the saints. Saints, there is a blessing in coming to church. Now I know there are some who are quick to point out that you can’t get saved simply by coming to church and I agree, church attendance alone will not save you. But it will strengthen your walk with the Lord.
Listen I just started a new diet because I am determined to live until I am 100. Now, to accompany my decision to follow this new life-style, I do not want to be around people who are negative and pessimistic. Always telling me that stuff don’t work, you might as well give up. No I want to be around people who are going to encourage me in what I am trying to do. I want to talk to people who have lost weight themselves, have great stories themselves, and have compelling testimonies themselves. Because when I see what they have done, it further convinces me that I can do the same thing.
People will sometimes say that they don’t go to church because of the people. But let me remind you that you go to church with people not because of people. Those same people did not wake you up this morning or make a way out of no way for you. Some people want to say that there are liar’s cheaters and hypocrites in church and my response is yes there are. But there are liars on your job, cheaters in the neighborhood where you live and hypocrites in your family. I don’t see you quitting your job, hiring a moving van and moving to another section of town or disowning those whose same blood runs in your veins. I have decided that I would rather go to church with a few liars, a few cheaters and a few hypocrites down here rather than die and go to hell and live with liars, cheaters and hypocrites for eternity.
When I look at this passage that details the reaction and response of Thomas, I am actually impressed and understand his response.
Picture this, the other disciples come and find Thomas and tell him that Jesus the messiah has returned from the dead, resurrected and lives again. What Thomas says, on the surface, sounds like the height of suspicion and doubt “Until I see the nail-print in his hand and the wound in his side, I will not believe”. Actually, Thomas makes an incredible point and that is you are telling me what you are telling me because you have seen Jesus for yourself. You are not telling me this because somebody told you, you are telling me this because of what you have seen. In other words, Thomas is saying am I not entitled to have the benefit of the same experience as you. Am I not a disciple?
I was there when he fed the hungry just like you
I was there when he healed the sick just like you
I was there when he gave sight to the blind just like you
I was there when he cleansed the lepers just like you
I was there when he called Lazarus from the grave just like you
If you are going to expect me to have the same excitement and enthusiasm that you are showing me, if you expect me to risk life and limb going around preaching this story, if you expect me to travel the world and convince others to follow Jesus, then I want to have the same experience that you have had.
Because while I am preaching and traveling somebody just might ask me how do I really know that Jesus is alive and do not want to have to say because Peter told me or because James told me or because John told me. I want to be able to say I know that he lives because I have seen him for myself. I do not want a “they said so” gospel, I want my own story.
Saints, you have to have your own story. If I stand here and say that God will be a mother to the mother-less and a father to the father-less, for me, that’s a “they said so” testimony because I am blessed not be mother-less or father-less. I can at best only tell you what I heard somebody who has lost a mother or has lost a father has said. But when I tell you the Lord will make a way out of now way and make your enemies leave you alone, for me, that’s not a they said so testimony I am telling you what I have seen God do myself. Somebody here today has seen God:
Turn their lives around
Pick them up out of the gutter
Liberate them from drugs
Give them job
Put them in a house
Place a car in their driveway
And when they speak, they are not talking about what somebody told them; they are talking about what they have seen God do themselves.
You see friends, Thomas was really saying I am not doubting Jesus; I am just doubting those of you who are telling me the story. I have been around you boys long enough to know that there are some defects in your character and I am not prepared to commit my life to a proposition based upon what you say.
Nathaniel, you are prejudicial and biased-can anything good come out of Nazareth
Phillip, you have been guilty of mistaken identity, show us the father
James and John, you are backstabbing wanting Jesus to put you on his right and left
Peter, you denied him three time
Matthew, despite being my twin brother, you have stolen tax money
No if I am going to preach a gospel of a risen savior, I do not want to base my sermons on what you say, I would rather base my sermons on what I know for myself.
So the Bible says that a week later Jesus joins Thomas and the other disciples in the upper room. Now consider this. John the gospel writer is particular and precise on his description of Jesus’ arrival. Note that he says that that Jesus enters the room with the doors being closed and the windows being shut. Now I ask you, how does Jesus get in a room where the doors are closed and the windows are shut. But before you become a naysayer let me remind you that there are some things that a closed door and a shut window cannot keep out. A closed door and a shut window cannot keep out:
Cold
Misery
Sickness
Depression
Broken heart
Death
If a closed door and a shut window cannot keep those things out then might I suggest to you that a closed door and a shut window cannot keep Jesus out. After all, Jesus is the master of the door. Did he not say that I am the door, no man cometh to the father but by me? Did he not also say “verily verily, I stand at the door and knock, if any man opens the door I will abide with him and he with me.
Notice in the scripture that Jesus walks directly to Thomas and says, in so many words, Thomas I am here for you and since you said that you needed to see my hands and see my side, here they are take your own look so that you won’t be without faith but like the other disciples here you can have your own testimony.
Now it is this next moment that is most impressive to me. Thomas responds by saying, “My Lord and my God”. Notice, Thomas never does what he previously stated he had to do in order to believe. He rejects his own criteria. He never does put his finger in print of the nail. He never does put his hand in the gapping wound of his side. He takes just one look at Jesus and says My Lord and My God. Now the term My Lord and My God is a two-fold term. My Lord means that you have dominion over my life here on earth:
I can trust you,
I can follow you,
I can subordinate myself to you,
I believe in you,
I can stand on you,
I can depend on you
I was not willing to do that to the other disciples, but I can do that with you because you are my Lord. Saints you can trust Jesus, you can lean upon his everlasting arms, you can depend upon him to make a way out of no way for you because he is your Lord here on earth:
He is your way-maker here on earth,
He is your provider here on earth,
He is your sustainer here on earth,
He is your protector here on earth,
He is your guide here on earth; he is your insurance here on earth
Next he says My God, My God refers to his eternity, to his supreme power and authority. When Thomas says my God he is acknowledging that even when life on earth down here is no more he still with a have a relationship with God. God is not bound by time and space but eternity is his address, which means that if he is my Lord here on earth he will be my God for all eternity.
Yes I am thankful for all that God does for me here on earth. But friends all that he does for me here on earth cannot compare what he will do with me in eternity:
When my body weakens and succumbs to death, he will be with me on the other side
When I can no longer preach and close my eyes, he will be with me on the other side
When my body returns to the dust, he will be with me on the other side
When they write my name on my gravestone, he will be with me on the other side
When my name becomes but a memory, he will be with me on the other side
When somebody else occupies my office and pulpit, he will be with me on the other side
When all that is left are the sermons I have preached he will be with me on the other side
When others look at the books that I have written, he will be with me on the other side
When I give up the ghost on this side of death he will meet me on the other side
That’s because not only is he my lord here on earth, he is my God for all eternity.
So Thomas says to Jesus I thought I needed to put my finger in your hand and my hand in your side, but just one look at your face has convinced me that you are who you say you are worthy of my worship. Just one look will:
Put faith in your heart
Make you put down the bottle
Make you throw away your needle
Make you clean up your life
Make you love your enemies
Make you cease your lying
Make you backup on your backbiting
Make you stop your stealing
Make you turn from your wicked ways
Just one look from Jesus will make your life brand new.
But saints I can’t close there because if I close there I will leave you and I out. Thomas believed because he had the opportunity to see him. But Jesus anticipated that everybody would not sit in the chair that Thomas sat in so he established:
A new blessing for those who could not fit in that upper room that day.
A new blessing for those who were not available with Thomas and the other disciples.
A new blessing for those who had not been born yet.
Jesus says Thomas, you believe because you have seen me, but blessed are those who believe and have seen not. Friends Jesus says that Thomas was a believer, but Jesus goes on to say that you and I are blessed. I know that some religious traditions call Thomas a saint but Jesus never said he was blessed the way you and I are blessed. He said Thomas was a believer but that you and I are blessed:
We were not there in the upper room
We were not there at the foot of the cross
We were not to watch him disappear in the heavens
We were not there to see him eat bread and fish
We were not there see his hands, side and feet
But Jesus said that we are blessed because we believe and have not seen. And when Jesus says that you are blessed can’t no imp in hell take it
When Jesus says you are blessed no demon can steal it
When Jesus says that you are blessed no enemy can take it
When Jesus says that you are blessed no complainer can erase it
When Jesus says that you are blessed no gossiper can change it
When Jesus says that you are blessed no liar can alter it
This joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me and the world can’t take it away.
(Close)
