Video to come.
Morning Message Text: John 20: 19-29
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, 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.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” 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.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. 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.”
Morning Message:
Most of you have come here this morning to hear that wonderful old story of that first Easter morning. I skipped ahead today and I know that might be upsetting to some. So let me at least tell you the old familiar story as we begin. If it were a news headline it might read like this, “Women shocked at empty tomb.” Or “Reports of grave robbers near Golgotha.” There was a great earthquake. Everyone assumed that the body of Jesus had been stolen, but how, how could anyone move the great stone from the entrance of the tomb? Mary is crying, the angels ask why and then Jesus appears. He is risen! Go and tell my brothers. Go and tell everyone. We have heard these facts so many times through the years and if we believe this to be true there is only one response. Go and tell everyone, He is risen!
Before you can do that, you must truly believe. That is why the experience of Thomas is vital to our faith. Jesus appears to the disciples out of thin air. The first words that Jesus says to them are, “Peace be with you.” Think about this for a moment. They must have been terrified. First, for fear of the Jewish leaders who had just arranged for their Lord to be executed, and then they have what they must have perceived to be a ghost. I am sure that they did not know what to do. They couldn’t go outside for fear of the Jewish leaders and now there was a ghost in the house. Jesus calms them with a familiar phrase, “Peace be with you.” I am reminded of the time when the disciples were in the boat, Jesus was sleeping and the storm was raging all around them. How did Jesus handle the storm? “Peace be still.” I’m sure that this must have clicked in the minds of the disciples. Remember what they said after the storm subsided, “Who is this that even the storm obeys his voice?”
He shows them his hands and side to further prove who He is, and then once again these words, “Peace be with you.” Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit. Just as God created humanity with His breath, He gave the Holy Spirit to His disciples by breathing on them. God was recreating humanity in Christ. This was a temporary giving of the Spirit; they would receive it permanently at Pentecost. Jesus has instructions for them and they need the Holy Spirit in order to comprehend what He is saying to them. Without the Holy Spirit you can not understand God’s ways. We need to understand and come to terms with this fact. Unless you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you can not have the Holy Spirit in you. And without the Holy Spirit in you the things of God will be impossible for you to grasp. That doesn’t prohibit God from using you for His purposes, but you will not understand what God is doing.
This is the last reading from your Lenten devotional. C.S. Lewis says, in his writing Mere Christianity. “Either this man, Jesus, was, and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. Lewis entitled what became his most famous chapter in that book “The Shocking Alternative.” The shock Lewis mentions in this chapter is not that Jesus rose from the dead, even though He did. The shock is in considering the alternative options if the resurrection is denied. For Lewis, the shock is especially in the realization that this Jesus claimed to have the authority to forgive sins. That ability to forgive sins is what leads Lewis to offer three alternatives: Son of God, madman, or worse. Lord, liar, or lunatic.
Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his questions; He simply answered them. While we may not receive answers from God as quickly, a sincere and loving relationship with Jesus allows His followers to seek Him out with their questions. Thomas went on to serve God. He preached Jesus in India and was killed by a spear in the back. The church is there today because of this man who asked a question. Thomas got it right: “My Lord and my God.” He never considered “liar” or “lunatic” as options because he knew Jesus too well to give those options any credence. We get it right when we join Thomas in worshiping the risen Lord Jesus and saying, whether in our hearts or with our lips, “My Lord and my God.”
It is a fair question to consider this Easter Sunday. Do we see this Jesus as our Lord and God? Not just Lord, there are many who try to take the title of Lord. He must be Lord and God. The world will not disagree so much with you calling Him Lord, but they will attack us when we confess that Jesus is God. The questions are the beginning of the journey, but the answers come finally in experience—in reaching out to touch, and to be touched ourselves, by those nail-scarred hands. Jesus meets His followers where they are. He is risen! Who is He? My Lord and my God!
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
Views: 0
