"That You May Believe" based on John
The
Second Sunday of Easter
-
Pastor
Troy Slater - Our
I must confess that occasionally as
I'm sitting down to determine what to preach on for the next Sunday, sometimes
I look at the readings and at least at first glance, there seems to be very
little to build a sermon upon.
"What in the world am I supposed to do with this?" has been
uttered more than once from the pastor's study.
But that was certainly not the case this week. For our reading today - our Gospel reading -
it's packed full of things - big things, important things. For starters it speaks about the Easter evening
appearance of a risen Jesus to His disciples behind closed doors. It tells
us of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Office of the Keys whereby Jesus
authorizes His church to forgive and to retain sins. It tells us of Doubting Thomas - his journey
from unbelief to belief - and it even instructs us of the purpose of the Scriptures
themselves. Yes today's Gospel reading is packed full of material.
But this of
course brings another problem. And that
is, where to begin? What to set our
focus upon? Well, today we are going to
begin at the end. For it's always easier
to reach a goal if you know where you're going, right? It's much easier to keep from getting lost if
you start by focusing on where you want to end up. And so we're going to do that. We're going to begin at the end - begin with the
last two verses of our Gospel reading. "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."
"Life in His name." That's God's goal - His desire for each and
every one of His fallen creatures - that you, that I, that we might have life -
eternal life. And of course God has
chosen to grant that gift of eternal life to us fallen creatures through the gift
of His Son and His death and resurrection.
It's as John recorded Jesus saying earlier in the Gospel: "God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son, so that (with the purpose that - with the goal or
desire that) whoever believes in Him shall
not perish but have eternal life."
That is God our Father's goal - "life
in Jesus' name."
And
to achieve that goal, John says, the Lord God has given us the Holy
Scriptures. The Holy Spirit inspired
John, He inspired Matthew, Mark, and Luke; He inspired Paul, He inspired Moses,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, He inspired Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi, He inspired all the writers of the Holy Scriptures for the purpose
that you might have faith in Christ Jesus.
After all, we weren't there, we were not priviledged to witness Jesus'
death on the cross nor see His risen body on Easter day. You and I cannot know the mind and the will
of God unless we are told it by God Himself.
It's as St. Paul writes, "how
can one believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" Without God's sacred Word to us we're still
lost in our sin and ignorance. And so
God gave His Word to us, His "means of grace" - His means of
declaring to us the wonders of Christ Jesus crucified and risen. Yes "these
things are written" - and "these
things" not just being John's account of the resurrection or even just
of John's whole Gospel account, but all of Holy Scripture - Old Testament and
New Testament - "these things 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."
For again, that's God's goal; that
all would believe and thus have eternal life in Christ; that you would believe,
that I would believe, that the disciples would believe, that Thomas would
believe. That is the Lord's goal.
But poor Thomas, poor Doubting Thomas
as he is often called. He has borne the brunt of almost 2,000 years of
bad press because of his skepticism about the resurrection and Jesus'
appearance to the other disciples. But think about it. What did Thomas ask for that the others had
not already received? They had already seen Jesus. They had already touched His wounds. And
so why is Thomas ridiculed for his skepticism?
Really what Thomas does is demonstrate for
us that the faith of the first Christians was not just some wishful thinking. They weren't just some Galilean hicks,
gullible, who could easily be led astray.
These were not people who were going to believe something like a resurrection
from the grave without some hard evidence.
That's all Thomas wanted. People
don't just come back from the dead and so Thomas just wanted some evidence. And
so like an empirical scientist he constructed an experiment to prove false this
notion of a resurrection. "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into
the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe," Thomas
asserted. And just as though it were an experiment,
Jesus appeared and compelled Thomas to examine the evidence. "Put your finger here and see my
hands; put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not doubt, but
believe." And he
did. With undeniable proof of the
resurrection, he believed. And today we
have recorded for us Thomas's analysis - the eyewitness report of his
experiment. "My Lord and My God!", he exclaimed. "My
Lord and my God," Thomas responded to his undeniably risen Savior. …
You see the
Christian faith is founded upon facts - a real man who was also the real Son of
the real Most High who really died and who really rose back to life on the
third day. Christ is risen! He is risen
indeed! Thomas tested those facts and Thomas
attested to their truth and we have his report today. … Christ is risen. …
Of course Jesus went on to warn Thomas,
and us, that He would not be fulfilling this test over and over again, saying "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Of
course Jesus isn't saying here that Thomas was not blessed, for he was,
for he believed. But rather, Jesus warned that faith would not be founded
upon seeing, but rather upon hearing and believing the truth of God's Holy and
inspired Word. None of us has yet been able to see, as Thomas did, the
wounds of Christ. I say "yet"
because one day we all will. But none of
us has yet been able to touch the wounds that were inflicted upon Jesus as He
won our forgiveness and eternal life.
But we believe - through that gift of faith. We believe that Word of God that has been
declared to us. We believe that Word of
God that has been poured over us by a Living God through the waters of Holy
Baptism. We believe, through that gift
of faith, that Word of God that is given into our mouths to eat and to drink by
a Risen Lord. Yes "these things are written - these things are declared to you -
that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God."
Thomas's encounter with a risen Jesus and the rest of the Holy
Scriptures were written down that you might believe and have life in the name
of Jesus! …
Of course the sad truth is that many
do not believe. Christianity is often
accused of being founded on some writings by a bunch of power-hungry,
homophobic, male-chauvinists who twisted and added to the words of a mortal man
- a good honorable man - but a mortal
man nonetheless named Jesus of Nazareth. Many do not believe that there is even
an all-knowing and all-powerful God, let alone one who would send His
only-begotten Son to live among us and to die for us. Many do not believe. Of course it is for them that we must
continually pray and, as we have opportunity; we must share the good news of
God's holy Word with them. For none of
us is anymore deserving of the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection than
anyone else. We all fall short of the glory of God. And so we humbly share that Word written for us,
and written for all people.
These
things are written that you might believe - that all the world might believe -
that sinners everywhere might believe. These things are written that you might know the truth
of the resurrection and the power of the resurrection and the meaning of the resurrection, and
that believing you might have everlasting life in His name.
For it truly is life-changing. It truly brings a whole new perspective on
matters of life and of death. For the
truth of God's Word, the truth of the resurrection of Christ means that your
sins have been fully atoned for - paid for, forever left in Jesus' grave. The truth of the resurrection means that
though you may someday rest in your grave, you will also rise. The truth
of the resurrection means that God loves you, and that your life is always in
His care and under His guidance - no matter what it may feel like at this
moment or the next. The truth of the resurrection means life and
salvation for all that believe in Christ crucified and risen. The truth of the resurrection means we have
the most incredible gift of God - the gift of Himself, of His Son and of all of
His promises. And these things are written - the Holy Scriptures have been given - that
you might believe in Christ crucified and risen, and that by believing you may
have life in His name. Yes that is God's goal. And so may God grant that it may indeed be so
for you, for Jesus' sake! Amen.