St. John 20:19-31
Dearly beloved,
Believing is difficult. Trusting is even more difficult. The
gospel highlights for us a strange irony associated with the resurrection of
Jesus. The irony is this: what Jesus said came true. Jesus told the
disciples that he would be betrayed, that He would die, and rise again on
the third day. It happened. The disciples were far from rejoicing, though.
This is the irony.
The Bible doesn’t always show us examples of what we are to
do. Often times we see examples of what not to do. If we look at the New
Testament alone we see Peter rebuking Jesus because Jesus prophesies of His
death. We see Peter, James and John sleeping when they are supposed to keep
watch while Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.
We see the mother of James and John asking Jesus to let her
sons sit on his right hand and left hand in heaven. Peter falls back into
the Jewish ways by requiring circumcision for salvation. There are actually
a lot of things we find that we should not do. These kinds of examples only
serve to remind us that faith is not easy. When you think you have it all
together, when you think that you are unshakeable in the faith is when your
faith will be challenged and you will be found as not having as strong a
faith as you think.
This is exactly the situation with the disciples as they
lock themselves in a room for fear of the Jews. They weren’t sure what to
do next, but they were obsessed with the thought that the Jewish authorities
were going to get them, since they followed Jesus. Then we see the
blessings ensue. Jesus appears in the locked room and Thomas sees
Jesus--Thomas, the one who doubted the report that the other disciples had
previously seen Jesus.
Some people would think that this was a virtue in Thomas. It
wasn’t. It was Thomas’ failure to trust in the preaching of those who saw
it. The content of the preaching is that Jesus lives and witnesses saw this
with their own eyes. For Thomas, believing was wrapped up in his own
interpretation of what he saw. This is why Jesus lets Thomas touch his
wounds. This is also why Jesus follows it all by saying, “Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed.”
What makes faith and believing difficult is that it is out
of our control. We have to come to grips with the reality of something
without seeing it. It would be great if Jesus could just make a cameo
appearance right here just once. Then we could all walk away and say that
we know for sure that what is said of Jesus is true, beyond any doubt. Because
we talk so much about faith and believing, we don’t like to think that our
faith may not be as strong as we need it to be.
Let’s face it. We human being are made in such a way that
we need to see things, touch things, smell things, and taste things in order
to understand it. The Christian faith leaves us having to believe in
someone we cannot see. None of us wants to stand up in this assembly and
brag about how we question the faith. We would like to think that we are
stronger than Thomas. But we are not. Anyone who thinks that he is is
fooling himself. This is what makes the Christian faith so awe-inspiring.
We come back to the Lord’s altar seeking blessings from God
trusting in the apostolic witness. The apostolic witness is the written
record by the apostles who have seen Jesus. St. John gives us some insight.
John begins his first epistle with words that are meant to encourage a
people who need to see, touch, smell and handle things in order to
understand. John says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have
touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made
manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the
eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us”.....(1
John 1:1-2).
John is saying that we can trust his witness and his
account. He says it is true and he has seen it. John also alludes to this
in the gospel for today. The gospel ends with John adding his note, “Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not
written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in
his name”(St. John 20:30-31).
Therein lies the reason for the Gospels. It is true that
Jesus, the eternal God, lived, breathed, walked, preached, healed, suffered,
died, and rose from the dead for the sins of the world. What does this mean
for you? What does this have to do with the whole discussion of faith,
belief, and the struggle to believe? What it means is that these apostles
were just like you and me. It was difficult for them to believe what had
been told them, but they write the apostolic scriptures to tell you that it
is true and their eyes have seen it.
All of this talk about questioning the faith, believing the
faith and listening to the apostolic witness leads to something for your
life. Here is what all of this means for you--you don’t cling to faith for
salvation. You cling to Jesus. You don’t trust in your own understanding.
You trust in the apostolic witness of the Holy Scriptures. When you find
yourself doubting, when you are struggling with faith, you must go back to
the apostolic scriptures for they are written that you may be believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
This is one of the reasons we stand for the reading of the
holy gospel and sing our alleluias. The church rejoices in the apostolic
witness proclaimed in our midst. God has given the apostolic witness in
order to strengthen our faith and our trust that Jesus died and rose from
the dead defeating sin and death, all the while the Holy Spirit coming to us
in a miraculous way through the proclamation of those same scriptures.
So, as you go forth back out to the world today as you exit
church, remember that you have just heard a timeless witness that proclaims
eternal things. You have been the recipient of God’s word reminding you
that Jesus is real, your sins are forgiven, even the sin of not believing as
strongly as you should. Jesus has defeated the grave, and proclaims you
holy. Jesus is our resurrection! And so we exit the church with the gospel
of the apostolic witnesses ringing in our ears and in our hearts the words
of life. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
