Thomas

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0:00 I want to start us out with our call to worship. For the next seven weeks, the church throughout time has set aside the next seven weeks as the season of Easter, and so that you stay in a celebration of the resurrection for seven weeks. And so for the Easter season, we're just going to stay with the electionary, the historic assigned readings of the church and really try and sit in that season of Easter together,

0:32 continuing to celebrate the resurrection. And so our call to worship is the Psalm that they assigned for the second Sunday of Easter, which is today. They assigned Psalm 23, which is a beautiful Psalm. You may remember or be familiar with some lines of it, but as I read it this morning, allow it to be a guide for your mind and your heart where you focus over the next hour.

1:09 And use it as a way to make yourself available to God, to put away the concerns, good news and bad, of the week gone by and the week coming. And let's be available to God in this time. Our call to worship is from Psalm 23. It says, it's a Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul.

1:39 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies and you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell

2:16 in the house of the Lord forever. Hey Lord, we want to be people who have goodness and mercy following along behind us for all the days of our life. We know that we will move through shadows of pain. We will move through valleys of fear. But we are comforted by the truth that you go with us into all those spaces.

2:47 Be with us this morning Lord. Indeed, you are the reason we've come. So come and love us and convict us as only you can. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. I'm glad to be here with you all. I don't know about you, but I have like, September will be nine years that we have been gathering as a church together. And Sunday morning is such a rhythm in my life.

3:22 It feels like the far end of a circle that then swings me back into the week and I almost need it in order to get into the week right and I can feel it when I miss it. And so it feels like a long time ago that we were together just last week. And so I'm glad to be here with you again. And the story that the church assigns for the second Sunday of Easter, the Gospel story, is in John's account of the Gospel. If you'd like to look there with me, it goes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Axram, verse and

3:56 second Corinthians in your New Testament of your, if you have a paper copy that you're looking at. And the story is shortly after the resurrection in John chapter 20. And it's interesting because, well, just one thing to note is that, you know, each of the four Gospel writers include different parts of the story, describe some parts of the story

4:31 differently than each other based on how they remember it. John's version, John's recollection of the crucifixion and resurrection is maybe most divergent of the three. And he goes into further detail about the, the, the, period between the resurrection and the ascension than any of the others do. And in John chapter 20, Jesus has already risen from the dead.

5:09 And he's appeared to Mary Magdalene. And then where they start to pick up the story is in John chapter 20 verse 19. And on the evening of that day, the day of the resurrection, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

5:42 John makes a special note to say that the doors were locked, which is kind of an interesting note. He must be wanting us to know that, that somehow Jesus didn't just walk through the door, right? Jesus got into that room where the disciples were. They were afraid of the Jews, it said, because they had just killed their teacher. So maybe they were coming to kill the disciples next. And Jesus comes into the room.

6:12 Sorry. Do you hear? Oh, it's a bus. Cool. I don't know why that stopped. Jesus comes into the room without needing the door or the window. He just comes in and John wants us to know that, which I think is kind of interesting. It's a detail that he remembers. It would be a startling detail, I mean, understandably. And it seems to be important. And there's a couple of things that he doesn't tell us how it happened.

6:44 That would be really interesting. If John said, we were all hiding out upstairs with the doors locked because we were afraid of the Jews and Jesus did this thing. I've heard two ideas of what happened here. One, I've heard, it is a description that the author, C.S. Lewis gives. And he says that like Jesus, as he's resurrected, he's in a glorified body, one that is no longer subject to decay or death, one that will endure forever.

7:19 And he talks about how the word glory in Hebrew has a connotation of weightiness. Like something is weighty and important, substantial. And so C.S. Lewis posits that Jesus walks through the door like your hand passes through air. Not that Jesus is like an apparition, like a vapor, like he fades through the wall.

7:50 But like he, his glorified body is more real and substantial than anything in this world, which is destined for death and recreation. And so when he wants to go in to see the disciples, his body moves the wall out of the way, like your hand moves air out of the way as it moves through it. I think that's a cool idea. But it doesn't fully explain how he just like pops in.

8:24 Like he didn't like walk from Calvary to the house, greet the master of the home, walk up the stairs, and then through the door, he like appeared in the room. And so the next best answer that I've been given is like Jesus in his resurrected body, having defeated death is like somehow outside of our notion of space and time.

8:58 And can step into reality when he needs to, say on the Damascus road or in the upper room and then step out of our space, time and reality when he can't be bothered with us anymore. And so he comes into the reality of the room with the 12 disciples, 11 now I suppose, well 10, right?

9:28 And he says, peace be with you. He says, peace be with you because it's terrifying to have your friend who you know is dead appear in the room with you, right? And he says this almost every time he appears because one it would be terrifying. But also Jesus is at this point the like king elect of the universe. He's resurrected from the dead and is on his way to ascension to take his seat at the

9:59 right hand of God. He all authority in heaven and on earth is gathering up unto him. When he was on earth, if he spoke and said, hey, Lazarus come up out of the grave, death leaves at the command of this guy and life reenters his body and he walks out of the tomb. If he tells to someone, hey, eyes be opened, they're open tongue be loose. They are loose sins forgiven. They are forgiven. He speaks reality into existence. So I would, I just, I think it would be so satisfying to have the resurrected king of

10:39 the universe say something as simple as, hey, peace be with you. Because when the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth says, hey, have some peace, like can you imagine what kind of peace comes at the command of the resurrected king of the universe? Man, how do we be nice? It's for a moment like I'd gum it up after a while, but it would be nice to feel the

11:10 peace of God run right over you. I hope he still has that practice of saying peace be with you when he greets people for the first time. Because when I get to meet him, I want him to say it to me. I want to feel what it feels like to have Jesus, the resurrected king, announce peace. I want to feel all of my anxiety and concern, not just go away for a moment, but be fully

11:49 resolved. Not just forget about my problems, but have them actually be okay. I want to feel the peace that comes at the command of Jesus. He walks into the room and says, hey, peace be with you. And he had said that he showed them his hands and his side and the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Much is made of this and much ought to be made. Jesus has the glorified body and it bears the marks of the cross on it.

12:26 This is the body he'll live with forever, right? And it carries the marks of the cross. We could talk about the significance of that for a long time. So briefly, what you can take from that is one, who you are becoming now affects who you will be forever. That your life and learning here affect your eternity forever.

12:58 It is not just wiped away and started over. Two, things that look like only pain and failure here can be transformed into marks of victory in what's coming. I think that there's a lot to think about in the reality that Jesus resurrected body carries the marks of the cross, but it does. And the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord and Jesus said to them again, peace

13:29 be with you because they're still freaking out. And as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven, if you withhold the forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. Jesus is starting things over again. As the Father has sent me, God sent Jesus down into the world to inaugurate a new reign

14:03 of God in the world that came into existence like it hadn't been since we left the garden, where people have the capacity to let God be God. And then to be his image bearers in the world, to carry his authority out into the world, to announce God's solutions to problems, to represent his reign and authority where there is brokenness and pain.

14:33 Jesus says, as the Father sent me, he sent me down into the world to inaugurate his reign again outside of the garden. Now I also send you to do the same thing. And as we did at the beginning where we formed you out of the dust and breathed into you the breath of life, receive again the breath, the great Spirit, the animating Spirit of God so that your words carry weight and authority. Indeed, you are the image bearers of God in the world.

15:04 You do wield the authority of the maker of the universe. When you speak that someone is forgiven, in fact they are forgiven. Your words carry weight and authority. As the Father has sent me down in the world to do a thing, now I send you to continue doing a thing. Take the Spirit of God with you. That's like one, cool.

15:35 Enduring. That act of God is enduring. It goes on, which means it is given to you as well. Here's a whole not man. We could follow the arc of the Spirit through from creation and the garden, through to the person of Christ out into the upper room and down into the church so that one of the key aspects of the followers of Jesus, one of the things that the church never disagrees

16:09 upon and always makes sure happens is that the followers of Jesus get the Spirit of Jesus because you need it. For life and for your work, we are sure that upon your baptism, as he has for generations, the Spirit of God came down and conferred on you his image and authority to speak forgiveness

16:43 and to bear his image out into the world. And verse 24, now Thomas, one of the twelve called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. And so the other disciples told him. Thomas wasn't there. I don't know why not. He was too afraid. He was at his house. Maybe he wasn't afraid. Maybe the other guys were more afraid. That's where they were hiding. Thomas was out taking care of somebody.

17:14 But whatever happened, Thomas wasn't there the first time. And so they found him and they told him, oh, hey, Thomas, we saw the Lord. He said to them, amen, unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails and place my fingers into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. I mean, he just wants the same experience that the other guys had, right?

17:48 He wants the same experience that the other guys had. Hey, you guys got to see it. Cool. You might be lying to me or like, I just can't believe it. It's too miraculous to believe. But if I put my hands in it and I can touch it, if I can see him with my own eyes, then I can believe him.

18:19 And then eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Here's the first thing that occurred to me about the story, knew this time that I read it. I mean, I've talked about and thought a lot about whether or not Thomas is actually doubting Thomas and what it means that he's out in the permission to doubt. But here's something that's interesting. He says, I don't believe you guys. And there is nothing you can say that will ever talk me into believing you guys.

18:52 You guys believe this thing. I will never believe this thing. You guys have had this experience. I have not had this experience and I do not believe you. In the very next sentence, oh, they were all together again. What holds them together? This is important. They are like brothers.

19:25 Thomas is one of them. He belongs to them even though he doesn't believe the things they believe. He is one of them. Do you see? They wouldn't exclude him. He said, I will never believe the things you believe. Cool, Thomas. Hey, man, we're getting together for dinner and like you should come because you're like

19:57 you're one of us. Like come and share a meal and like. And then the next eight days later his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them and although the doors were locked, Jesus did that thing again. And he came and stood among them and said what? Hey guys, had some peace. Thank you, Jesus. Then he said to Thomas, hey Thomas, come over here.

20:32 Put your finger here. See my hands? Put your hand and place it on my side. Do not disbelieve but believe. This is the next thing that occurred to me new this time when I read this story. That kind of patience. Jesus has been telling them like four weeks at least but longer that this thing was going

21:06 to happen. They were going to kill him. He was going to rise from the dead. This is how it had to be. And this one dude who knows him. He's one of them. He belongs to the crew. When someone says hey what Jesus said was going to happen actually happened. Jesus has gone through the trouble of the pain, agony, humiliation of the crucifixion. Born on his shoulders in his heart and psyche, the guilt and condemnation of the whole world

21:41 heaped upon him at one time. Just a separation from God that is the definition of the word damnation. This is why he cries out and says my God, why have you forsaken me? And then in the bellows, the gallows of death still holds to life. Comes up out of the grave of his own power and accord animated by the spirit, fills in

22:17 his glorified body. Like he has singularly killed and restarted humanity. And now he's got to walk Thomas through it. He's got the ten who get it.

22:47 He's got the women who believed it at the word of the angels. He does not need Thomas. In his obstinants. He does not need Thomas. But Jesus came to gather his own.

23:21 I don't know if you remember there's one key point in John's gospel where he records a prayer of Jesus. He's referred to as Jesus high priestly prayer. He's praying it before he goes through everything. And one of the things Jesus says there is, hey Lord I retained all the ones you gave to me. I did not lose one. And the care and concern of the cosmic king of the universe for Thomas won.

24:04 Why? Because he belonged. He was one of them. And Jesus wouldn't leave him behind. Do not disbelieve but believe. And so Thomas answered him. Oh, cool.

24:34 My Lord and my God Jesus said to him. Done. Thomas believes. I want you to see it. He belonged to the people of God without belief. He was one of the Christ's though he did not believe in the Christ. It was the belonging that called belief out of him.

25:12 It was the action of God moving towards the unbelieving Thomas that conjured belief inside of him. He belonged to the people of God first. And then he believed. Do you see? Thomas we know you'll never believe come and have dinner with us anyway man. You're one of us. You're a brother.

25:43 We wouldn't have dinner without you. And so he comes. Even though all of them are crazy. Even though all of them are crazy. He comes. Why? Because we need to belong to people. We were made for you need to belong. You all are here on low Sunday.

26:16 You belong to each other. I don't care what you believe. You belong to each other in spite of it. Matthew records a story of the resurrection. Jesus comes up and tells the women, hey Mary, tell the guys to go meet me in Galilee. They'll know where. The guys all walk up to the hill in Galilee where Jesus fed thousands where he walked

26:47 across water at the sea of Galilee. On the way they're passing Jericho where he raised Lazarus or where he healed blind Bartimaeus and then they go back through Capernaum and where they grew up and met him the first time and they go up to the hill in Galilee and there at the hill of Galilee. Just as Jesus told them he would and the women told them to expect him. They see the resurrected Jesus. The one whom they love who said this would happen the whole time. Matthew says that they walked up and the disciples saw Jesus and some believed he said

27:24 and some doubted. And what is his response in Matthew? The resurrected Jesus. Hey, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore as God is sending me, I'm sending you believing and unbelieving out. So do the work, make disciples of all nations by means of teaching and baptizing. Go do it. He's not scared or intimidated by your wavering mental capacity, by the fickleness of your

27:57 heart, by the pervasiveness of your sin. He's not afraid or intimidated. You belong to him. And in the end his truth will win out over you. Take rest. Be at peace. The resurrection of Christ will call you home one day. Someday you'll believe it and some days you won't celebrate the days that you do.

28:30 Don't carry fear or anxiety about the days and places when you don't. You still belong to us. Here's the last part of this story. Thomas, man, thank you. All right. And then, got it. Eight days later, disciples were inside. Put your finger.

29:01 Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God, he said. Okay. Then Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Cool. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. It will not take sight for people throughout time and generations to believe.

29:31 Jesus is Lord and God. You see, the statement of faith from Thomas is not, okay, now I believe you're resurrected. It's now because I see that you have resurrected, I believe that you are the one in charge. I believe that you are the master and the God of all the things. And Jesus says, cool, I'm glad you do, Thomas. Blessed are those who will believe I am Lord and God, though they never saw me resurrected.

30:06 I mean, that's us. And then John goes on, one last thing. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. The son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. Here's the final point. If it doesn't matter what we believe, why bother to believe?

30:38 Oh, because life is better when Jesus is God and you are not. These miracles are written in order that you may believe and by believing you may have life. Listen, your life gets markedly better when you let God be God.

31:09 When you trust and believe that Jesus the Christ knows what's best for you. More than that, that you belong to him. Thomas may have been starting his life post-crucifixion of Jesus when he missed that first appearance. Getting a career back together, right?

31:42 Getting into a place of power and status, like setting a trajectory and course for his life post-crucifixion. And he had another lunch with the guys he belongs to and something changed. He said, oh, I am no longer master of my own domain. I don't have to secure my own provision or demonstrate my own value. I don't have to manufacture my own love or substance in the universe. Jesus is Lord and God. I'll live the rest of my life animated by this truth that he has set up a kingdom that

32:15 I get to live in forever. And believing this, Thomas found life. You have the opportunity. You belong. You cannot change it. You belong to the resurrected Christ, the Lord and God of the universe. The invitation of Easter season is to believe it. And in believing it, to get to live.

32:49 I pray that we would be a little congregation of people who know where we belong and because we belong, we have the capacity to believe. Because we believe, oh, we get to live with love and joy and peace. Let me pray.

33:21 Hey, Lord, make us people who live. Give us a little foretaste today of that final piece that you will announce over us. That means problems are not merely forgotten. They are resolved. The pain is turned to victory. Hardship has been fruitful in our lives.

33:56 Give us a foretaste of that reality and the capacity today to believe that you are Lord and God. In Jesus' name we pray.