NRS John 20:19 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." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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." 26 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." 27 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." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 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." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 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.
 
 

Today's Gospel lesson from John tells us about the first appearances of Jesus after His death.  Jesus chose to appear to His disciples. . .He came to them when they were huddled together in fear, and He greeted them not with words of condemnation for their fear but with assurances of peace!  And then, so that they would believe what their eyes and ears were telling them, he showed them proof that it was really He.  He showed them the wounds in His hands and in His side.

Jesus comes to us in much the same way in our life situations.  When we are consumed with the stresses of this world, when we are almost overcome by grief or by the uncertainties that press in on us, Jesus arrives on the scene.
He does not condemn us for our questions or our fears.  Instead, He shows us proofs of His great love for us and breathes into us the hope of peace.  He challenges us to renewed action, certainly;  but He does so only after He has reassured us of the reality of His presence in every situation.  What situation do you find yourself in this morning?  What answers do you need?  How do you need to be strengthened?  The Lord will not leave you alone to meet these challenges without hope.  Just as He gave the disciples what they needed in order to strengthen their hope and to give them peace, so He will give you whatever you need in order to walk strong in faith.

Jesus did something else that proved how much He loved His disciples.  On that first resurrection night, He gave them His Spirit and the authority to go out and to forgive the sins of people around them. . .the authority to take away the weights that prevent them from living a whole and fruitful life.

Do realize how exciting your faith is designed to be?  That not only does your faith in Christ bring you eternal life, and the good things that go with it (love, joy, peace, patience. . .) but your faith was designed to bless others as well!  When the disciples were strengthened in their faith by Jesus' appearance, they were moved to action.  They weren't a group that stayed only within themselves, but they went out to show others how they could have a life with meaning.  They forgave!  Can you imagine what a revolutionary idea that was in a society that was formed on: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"!?  Can you imagine how freeing it would be for those who have hurt you and who carry around the baggage of that with them every day of their life, if you were to come to them and say "You know, what you did really hurt.  Maybe you knew that it would hurt me, and perhaps it was just a mistake on your part, but it has caused a rift between us.  And I just want you to know that I don't like what has happened.  I forgive you and I'd like to work on seeing our relationship become healthy again."   That would really be a freeing concept to a lot of people, wouldn't it?  Does that mean that we have to set ourselves up to be hurt again?  No, of course it doesn't.  God expects us to be wise.  But God has also called us to breathe peace and forgiveness into situations, to follow Christ's example.  Jesus came to the disciples who had run away from Him in His hour of trial.  Only the "beloved disciple" was at the cross.  Everybody else had scattered.  Jesus could have held a grudge, refused to forgive.  Instead, He chose to set the disciples free from the weight of their sin.  You and I have a choice too, don't we?  We can choose to hold onto to the resentment, or we can choose to forgive and walk in the freedom that puts into OUR spirits.  And sometimes our release of the situation brings peace.

There was one disciple, Thomas, who was not there that first night.  But Scripture tells us that the other 10 told him about how Jesus had come to them and how they had seen him and heard him.  And Thomas was excited and ran to tell the world about this wonderful news, right?  Wrong!  The Bible says that Thomas said: Unless I see the scars of the nails in His hands and put my finger on those scars and my hands in His side, I. . .will. . .NOT. . .believe!

A normal kind of reaction for a normal type of guy.  Give me proof!  You give me something that I can touch and see -- and then I'll believe.

And the Bible goes on to record that Thomas' demand for proof was satisfied.  Jesus appeared again, a week later.  This time He came to the disciples in the upper room, and this time Thomas was there.  Jesus greeted them with words of peace, just as He had before, just as He always will to each of us when we are in the midst of crisis (because He IS peace and desires that we BE at peace).  And then He called Thomas to His side.

That's the way the Lord is, you know.  He loves us and gives us every chance in the world to come to faith and to understand what He is doing in our lives.  But He also calls us to be accountable.  He will call each one of us individually to stand by Him -- face to face -- and, as He told Thomas to look at Him and to touch Him and to believe, so He calls each one of us to be touched by His Spirit and to touch the Word which has been presented to us and to believe.

Thomas looked.  And he touched the Lord, he had a personal encounter with Jesus.  He believed what he saw.  And when he believed, he acknowledged.  "My LORD!  And my GOD!"

There is a difference in meaning between the titles "Lord" and "God" isn't there?  "God" means One who is deity, above all else, usually has the connotations of being the creator of life.  But "Lord" means One who is above all else IN MY LIFE.  I could believe in God without having God be #1 in my life, to be the One whose priorities are to be followed even over and above my own!  Thomas had a life changing experience.  He acknowledged that Jesus was not only Deity but also the Supreme Authority in his life.  Who is the Lord of your life?  God?  Your checkbook?  The TV?  (Ouch!)

Sometimes I think that the disciples had it easier than we do.  How much easier it is to believe when you can see and touch Jesus, like all of them did in one way or another.

But then I think of Jesus' words to the disciples, and to Thomas in particular:  Do you believe because you see me?  Blessed are those who believe WITHOUT seeing me?

Blessed are those who believe without seeing!  Why is that?  Why is it more blessed to believe without seeing?  Or without touching?  Why is it more blessed to believe without hearing directly from the mouth of Jesus?

Maybe the answer lies in the very nature in seeing and in the nature of
faith.

Many people are like Thomas.  They say that seeing is believing. . .how many times have we heard that, or even said it ourselves?!  But that is so far from being true.  In fact, the truth is more often exactly the opposite!. . .that it is when you believe first that you will truly see!  Believing something opens up to us the possibility of experiencing it, of seeing it come to pass in our own lives.  It opens us up to the possibility of having that which we believe produce blessings in our lives.  Please don't let that last statement get past you;  it's so important!  Believing something. . .really believing it. . .opens us up to the possibility of it producing blessing in our lives!

Now, I'm not talking about some kind of New Age hocus-pocus that says we are entirely the masters of our own fate and that if we are to be blessed, it is entirely up to us.  As Christians, we have given our lives over to the Lordship of another master, and His name is Jesus Christ!  But, Jesus does tell us that we have the responsibility of making use of the wisdom and knowledge and talents that He gives us.  When we believe Him enough to put them into action, THAT is true faith and it will produce blessing!

If you wait to see something before you will believe in it -- then you may never see what you want to see come to pass!

I remember, a few years ago, watching a TV interview with H. Ross Perot.  Do you remember him?  For the sake of the youth who were too young to remember:  H. Ross Perot is a wealthy Texan who came (it seemed) from nowhere to become a candidate for President of the United States.  He was a candidate without a party, and without any party support.  If he was to be elected, people in every state of the Union would literally have had to write his name on the ballot.

What was so fascinating about all this was that Mr. Perot believed that he could be elected.  That he, with the support of the American people, not only could get elected without any support whatsoever from the party machine but that he could successfully pull the U.S. back from the brink of ruin by stressing personal responsibility and ethical behavior.

Whether you liked Mr. Perot as a politician or not, almost everyone acknowledged that his belief in these things turned the American election into
something very interesting that year.  Every day, as Mr. Perot talked, he gained more and more support.  But the key here is that if it were not for HIS belief, it would have been an impossible dream.

His belief brought into being something that no one alive had ever seen before -- and for a long time, it seemed that it might truly lead to a new kind of presidency.

Mr. Perot's belief -- his CONVICTION about things that no one alive had ever seen and, by the way, that HE had never seen but still was convinced could be -- produced a new political situation in the United States.
It made it possible for him, and many others, to see as possible what everyone before had thought was totally impossible:  a truly independent Presidential candidate whose debt would be only to the American people rather than to any special interest groups.

And, no, Mr. Perot was not elected.  That part of his dream did not come to pass.  But his conviction -- his faith in action, so to speak -- did effect some major changes in political management.

I do envy the disciples their experiences with Jesus right after the resurrection. . .of being able to look into his eyes, and hearing him speak peace into the very depths of their beings.  But while I might wish I also had that particular experience, I do not require that experience -- and neither do you require that experience -- in order to have faith in Christ and in His resurrection, and to receive from Him the blessing and power of that resurrection.  All we require is a decision to believe the reports that we have heard. . .and to commit our lives to Jesus as our Lord and as our God.  All the rest will come from that.

Paul writes:  If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  He also writes:  WHOEVER believes in Him SHALL NOT be disappointed.

And we. . .like so many others. . .have believed in Jesus without having ever seen or heard Him.  We have felt His presence in our lives.  We have seen prayers answered.  We have been helped through hard times.  We have been blessed!

Not so very long ago it was said that a ship could not be built out of iron, because iron is heavier than water and such a ship would sink.  Yet, some believed that it could happen even though they had never seen it work.  And now, iron and steel ships abound!

It was said that if man was meant to fly, God would have given us wings, and that no machine could every carry a human in the air.  And yet, airplanes cross our skies every day.

God has not given these principles of faith only to the secular world.  I wonder what would happen if you and I took faith in what looked to be impossible and believed that IN CHRIST it IS possible!  I wonder what would happen if we believed. . .really believed. . .that Christ still is willing to heal and set people free.  I wonder how that would change the way we pray and hold our worship services.

Happy are those who believe without seeing.  Happy are those who have made a decision to assert that life is stronger than death. . .that goodness is stronger than evil. . .that love is still stronger than hate, despite of all that they have seen that might suggest the opposite.

Paul says this also:  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the CONVICTION of things not seen.

When the disciples finally believed in Jesus, when they finally were convinced that He was truly raised from the dead, what happened?  They went from being people who hid in fear. . .fear of the authorities who had crucified their Teacher. . .to being just like that Teacher:  that, just like Him, they healed the sick and did mighty works and actually were able to stand up and declare that Jesus was Lord even before the officials who imprisoned them.

Their faith gave them courage and peace.  It gave them the power to help people who were drowning in their own hurt and despair.  And it made them invulnerable to the criticism of those who would not believe in their dream. . .the dream of spreading the Gospel to all the world.

The Gospel message is very clear.  Belief comes first and then sight will follow.  When you believe, you BECOME, and you LIVE (the way you were designed to be and to live).

This is how it works in the worlds of science and invention, and this is how it works in the realm of the Spirit of the One who created science in the first place!  Faith in God. . .and God's ability to make that thing which He has placed in you a reality.

May God plant in you a vision, and water it by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And, as you believe, may you be blessed by the ability to act under the direction of God. . .even as you are blessed by God.  Amen.

I am indebted to Rev. Richard J. Fairchild for several ideas used in this sermon.  This sermon was delivered at the Hanover United Presbyterian Church on April 22, 2001 by Pastor Lynne Matthews.