2011 05 01 Not By Sight

2011 05 01 Not By Sight

Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

This weekend has been a fairly exacting one.  And if you are not sure why I am saying this, it means that you have either been abducted by aliens or trapped in a bank vault for the last week.  The hype has been going on for weeks, but the world’s excitement over the British Monarchy reached a fever pitch this past Friday when Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey.

It is believed that as many as 2 billion people either watched the royal wedding on TV early Friday morning, or watched one of the repeated airings that seemed to be on virtually every channel throughout the weekend.  I know of many people who set their alarms and even woke their children up in the wee hours of the morning, just so they could say that they watched it live.

Let’s just say that everyone in our family was sleeping soundly that morning as the wedding took place.  The royal wedding may very well have been the most watched event in our history, and ti seems as if everyone has an opinion or comment about it.  Kate’s dress, William’s Irish Guard uniform, the flowers, carriage ride, and even the couple’s first married kiss have all been planned, organized, scrutinized and commented upon again and  again.

A good number of my Methodist pastor friends were excited over the fact that William and Kate chose they hymn, “Love Divine, All Love Excelling” for their service.  They were being married at Westminster Abbey by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.  This is somewhat ironic, seeing as how  that hymn was written by the renegade Anglican clergyman, and Methodism co-founder, Charles Wesley.  When John and Charles Wesley were alive, they probably wouldn’t even be allowed into Westminster Abbey, let alone have their hymns sung there.

Although it seemed as if the eyes of the world were focused on this historic event, I didn’t watch it.  Any of it.  Now, I have nothing against the British monarchy, William and Kate, or how they were married.  As a pastor, after all, I am a big fan of marriage and weddings should be a great and wonderful ceremony of the joining of husband, wife, and God.  I just didn’t get into it.

You see, my heart is still back at Easter.  The resurrection.  Every Easter we celebrate Jesus’ return from the dead, the miraculous working of God’s power that took Jesus from life to death, and back again.  One of the things about Easter and the scriptures that are read every year on that day…is that they’re incomplete.  That is…the story isn’t over.

When we left church last Sunday, Jesus had only appeared to the women who had gone to his grave.  The disciples did not believe the women.  In two of the gospel accounts, we know that Peter and probably John did go to the grave and find it empty. But that first resurrection morning left as many question for the disciples as it did answers.  Where is he?  Where did Jesus go? How, when…why?  The answers would come to them that same evening as the disciples had  gathered together.

John 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

“He showed them his hands and side.”  Jesus had spent years with these men.  All this time, Jesus ate, drank, laughed, and cried with these ten men. For three years, he poured his teachings, his knowledge…his life into them.  You might think that they would immediately recognize their teacher and friend.  But still, “he showed them his hands and side.”

Jesus wanted their time of question, grief, doubt, and death to be over.  When Jesus died on the cross, they too had died.  Their entire future was wrapped up in the life and teachings Jesus had shared with them.  With Jesus’ last breath at Golgotha, their futures died as well.  They would be outcasts, scorned and persecuted, and without Jesus this was not a life that they could endure.

But when Jesus appeared to the disciples, that burden was gone.  The wounds and scars be showed to them proved that Jesus had overcome death.  Nothing would be impossible for them now. In this passage from John, we read that Jesus commissioned them to go into the world as witnesses of what they know about Jesus, and they were given the Holy Spirit to empower them to these ends.Before he left, Jesus told them that unless they forgive the sins of others.  If they do not, they will not be forgiven their sins.

Thomas.  Remember how I mentioned ten disciples a few moments ago?  There was a reason for that.  Somehow Thomas wasn’t there.  He missed out.  Later, when he came across the disciples and they told him what they saw, he didn’t believe.  He needed to see it himself.  The second half of verse 25, “But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’"  A week later, that would change.

26b Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 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." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Thomas got a second chance at faith.  His hardened heart was broken when he saw Jesus standing there.  For a moment, put yourself in Thomas’ shoes.  Imagine his shame.  He doubted the message the women gave.  He doubted his closest friends…his fellow disciples and what they saw. He doubted when Jesus first told him that he was rise from the dead.  Imagine his shame when Jesus told him to touch his hands and side.  It is hard to face the facts that you’re wrong.  I’m sure that we have all been down that path before.  But Jesus forgave Thomas.  Just a week earlier Jesus told the disciples to forgive others, as they have been forgiven.  I sure that this would include Thomas as well.

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

The accounts of historians vary.  Thomas is believed to have taken the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman Empire and even across India.  Not bad for a guy who didn’t believe.  Paul, the persecutor of Christians, took this same message to the people of Greece and Rome.  And Peter, who denied knowing Christ three times, preached throughout Israel and the rest of the known world.

If you stop and think about it, it really is kind of strange the way God has gone about things.  When Jesus was born, the announcement of his birth was shared with shepherds and pagan wisemen. When he rose from the dead, he first appeared to faithful women and doubting men.  That might be a good subject for another sermon.

Again, it is strange how God has gone about this.  Jesus reappeared to only a handful of people.  William and Kate get married and 2 billion people see it.  For all of its grandeur and beauty, William and Kate’s wedding is relatively meaningless.  Although he will sit on the British throne as king, he has little power.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know that they are kind and charitable people.  Instead of receiving wedding gifts, they are requesting that people donate money to charity.  They appear to be some very wonderful people…but to what end?

Time will come, and time will go.  Someday, there will be another royal wedding.  There will be another king and queen, and perhaps their wedding will be broadcast to 3, 4, or 5 billion people.  I don’t know.  And the benevolence of that king may even outshine William’s.  But Jesus did not come to the earth to bring only benevolence and kindness.  Jesus came to bring salvation to the people of the world.

In 1 Peter 1, Peter praises God for the mercy he has shown humanity.  In Christ, God has given us a new hope...an inheritance n eternity…a coming salvation.  He tells us that there will good times and bad, happy and sad.  But he also reminds us that these trials and temptations will refine and strengthen our faith, showing it as genuine and real to all who see..  

8Though 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, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

It was not broadcast far and near on televisions.  It was not shared around the world through an internet blog or webcast.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ was witnessed only by a small group of women and men, and through their genuine faith, has salvation come to the world.  None of us here have seen Jesus with our eyes, but we know him in our hearts.  We believe in him and love him.  This faith and love that we have is the witness that we bear to the world.

How is it with your soul today?  Are you Thomas before he saw Jesus, or after he saw Jesus?  Are you willing to live by faith and not by sight?   Or are you waiting for Jesus to materialize like something out of an old episode of Star Trek?  Are you willing to put your doubts behind you and live in the power of the resurrected Jesus?  Trust in him.  Put our faith in him and keep him there.  If you are already a believer, what are you doing to help the doubting Thomases of the world?  Although they will never see Jesus in the flesh, can they see Jesus in you?

8 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, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.