Easter 2
19 April 2020
John 20:19-31
“Thomas - The Eeyore Apostle”
Almighty God, grant that we, who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection, may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Apostle John begins this morning’s gospel with these words, “The disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear.” V. 19
Sound familiar?
The first Easter. All those years ago. Where the faithful followers of Jesus - Were hunkered down at home. And who could blame them? They had been on a week-long rollercoaster with Jesus.
They had come to Jerusalem with Jesus. For the biggest festival of the year. They were greeted with shouts of praise. As Jesus rode into town. Then. In a matter of days. Their friend and teacher had been arrested. Beaten. Tortured. And crucified.
The man for whom they had left everything behind to follow was gone. And their own lives were at risk for having followed Him. They were confused and afraid. So they did the safest thing they could. They stay at home. Quarantined for fear.
They were sheltered-in-place. And doing the safest thing they could. Staying home. Their whole world had been turned upside down in a matter of days. Life as they knew it was forever changed. And what once seemed unshakeable was suddenly uncertain.
Recent events were hard to believe. And even harder to watch. News of death was overwhelming. Their own lives were at risk. Confused and afraid. They sought refuge in the place where they felt safe.
A warm and welcoming home? Hardly! They were under lock and key. Kept in a place from which they could not escape. Prisoners in their own house. They were petrified. At home, hopeful to be protected from the chaos swirling on the other side of the door.
Suddenly Jesus appears. With His word of welcome. He stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!”
We have just celebrated the feast of the Resurrection. We rejoice with the Easter greeting, “Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!” And yet for some, the resurrection is almost too difficult to believe. We’ve heard the critic’s charges before, “Virgins do not conceive. And dead men do not rise!”
How do we respond to such criticisms? Especially within the backdrop and this context of hopelessness and fear in which all too many exhibit these days.
To help us stand up to such criticism and doubt we have Thomas to thank. Thomas is Easter’s version of a combination; a little bit Ebenezer Scrooge and a lot of Eeyore - that gloomy, depressed, old grey stuffed donkey who sighs and says, ““It’s all for naught.”
“I too must be a witness.”
The claim of Jesus’ resurrection alone isn’t enough.
1. It defies logic. By themselves the claims of Christ’s followers appear as idle words. In the vocabulary of our youth, “that’s bogus!”
A. Without the eye-witness testimony of the appearance of Jesus visibly from the dead the resurrection remains only a myth. Talk is cheap. Only a visitation of the resurrected Lord could convince Thomas. Without Jesus’ appearance to Thomas personally He could not be considered a legitimate apostle.
B. ‘Why Thomas?’ some could argue. ‘Why was he not granted such an audience with the risen Christ?’ The answer is simple. He wasn’t physically there. In that gated community. He wasn’t present. He had already checked out.
And who could blame him? At least he had the presence of mind to realize that the future outcome would not be good. [Remember, Thomas is the New Testament’s version of Eeyore – “Good Morning. If it is a good morning…which I doubt.”]
When the going got tough – Thomas was gone!
C. Could we really believe his word? Would you trust his word Thomas if he were to say to you, “I’ve never seen Jesus alive from the dead, others have, but not me.” We can almost hear that critical, cynical, response. “Ya, Right!”
If seeing is believing. Yet you have never seen – why believe? We do Thomas a disservice calling him “Doubting Thomas.” A better moniker would be “Demanding Thomas.”
"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 it.”
"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 it.”
If Thomas is to have this apostolic faith – he must be convinced as the rest. He must touch and see as the others had. If his faith is to be legitimate; let alone trustworthy, he must examine the same tangible proof as they or else his faith and testimony would be highly suspect.
Transition: Thomas needs to be a witness. He must examine the evidence with his own eyes.
II. “I must see His marks.”
A. There are plenty of false Christ’s in our world today. Solomon got it right. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:9
1. False guides which lead to false hopes are a dime a dozen these days. Each promises a better way to know and experience ‘God.’ Each is a creation of man’s own wild imagination and dream which says you can have it your way, under your own rules under your own guiding principles whatever you choose, ‘your truth.’ The tempter’s false hope still echoes centuries later, “You will be like God.” Geneses 3:5
2. These false Christ’s are not the Jesus of the Bible. Nor do they lead to salvation. Your Redeemer has promised, “I am the way, [the only way,] the truth [the only truth] and the life, [your only life is in Him]. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” John 14:6
B. Upon seeing Jesus’ hands, feet, and side Thomas became convinced of the resurrection. Thomas beheld, “the true and only Christ.” Which is one of many reasons why we continue to recite the words of the Te Deum though out the weeks of our current shelter-in-place.
This ancient hymn, The Te Deum, is not only the great Christian hymn of Thanksgiving. It has been sung for thousands of years (Yes, thousands of years by your sisters and brothers throughout time and in different cultures) after great victories or after delivery from catastrophe.1
You are the Lord’s. As such, your only response is to praise Him even in the midst of uncertainty and doubt.
Illustration: Have you any scars on your body? They tell a story. A hand that went through a storm door, a shin that got scrapped reminds us of past events.
Jesus’ scars tell the story of your redemption.
Jesus’ scars tell the story of your redemption.
1. Thomas could now know that the same Jesus who suffered and died is the same Jesus who rose from the dead. He could see the scars. “Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” John 19:27
2. The scars on Jesus’ body which Thomas saw with his own eyes are comforting for you. This guarantees complete redemption! His wounds guarantee that He suffered for you. That He took your sins as His own in His own body. His resurrection guarantees that your sins, though they are many, are gone. The resurrection proves that forgiveness is granted. The resurrection assures us that eternal life is your destiny and reality.
Transition: Thomas needs to be a witness. He must examine the evidence with his own eyes. Hearing his testimony these words are joy and bliss for you.
III. These words are for you.
A. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.”
1. Seeing is believing. This has been the testimony of the early Church “for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20;
“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, — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you,” 1 John 1:1-3
a. This was necessary for the 1st Century disciples and believers. They would simply testify to what they had experienced first-hand.
b. If they saw Him dead they would have to see Him alive visibly.
2. So convinced where they that each disciple, (with the exception of John,) would die for only one claim; “we have seen the Christ and we are witnesses of these things!”
B. The Savior still speaks. He speaks of you. And to your circumstance. “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
1. We don’t have the “advantage” of being 1st Century eye-witnesses. Where you there? No you weren’t. But this should not bother you. You weren’t there at Valley Forge.
Nor were you there at Ford’s Theater on Good Friday 1865 or during the last Pandemic of 1918. Your great-grandparents lived through that scourge. This parish experienced it. They suffered greatly because of it. 2 And by the grace of God they endured.
These events happened. Even though you were not physically there. Your truth goes far beyond what you experience in the here and now. There is convincing and tangible truth which goes beyond your limited understanding.
These events happened. Even though you were not physically there. Your truth goes far beyond what you experience in the here and now. There is convincing and tangible truth which goes beyond your limited understanding.
2. Place your trust in the Gospel which presents facts provided in Sacred Scripture by those who were eye-witnesses of those Easter events. They were witnesses. They wrote down their first hand experiences for you to witness and gain knowledge of what they lived through.
C. This is why Jesus walked the earth for 40 days after the resurrection.
1. 40 is the number for completion –
a. 40 days/nights it rained at the time of Noah
b. 40 years the Israelites were in the desert
c. 40 years David reigned as King over Israel
d. 40 days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness
e. The appearance of Jesus alive visibly for a period of 40 days is enough for you to trust in Him.
The evidence is overwhelming.
John begins His Gospel with Jesus’ first miracle. Changing water into wine performed in Cana of Galilee. John remarks that Jesus performed these miracles “so that His disciple put their faith in Him.” (John 2:11)
Notice how John concludes His gospel, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded 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.” {John 20:30-31}
Where you there? That’s quite a silly question. Of course not! Jesus died and rose 2,000 years ago. And yet, by the testimony of those early eye-witnesses and by faith produced by this gospel you now know and believe this truth to be sufficient. To give forgiveness and life.
Those early Christ followers found themselves tucked away in a safe house. Hoping against hope no one would find them. Jesus entered and stood in their midst. Thomas beheld and believed. Through their eye-witness testimony – Jesus asked of Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?” To you He says in confidence, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
1. The "Te Deum" was written by the early fifth century bishop of Remesiana (now in Romania), Nicetas (335-414), a Greek bishop, theologian and composer of hymns
2. From the perspective of our own history - We had six funerals in December 1918 in the course of one week. The Pandemic returned,with a vengeance; in March of 1919. More perished. Pr. Prues’ personal experience – while ministering to parishioners his own daughter perished; the result of the influenza virus.
2. From the perspective of our own history - We had six funerals in December 1918 in the course of one week. The Pandemic returned,with a vengeance; in March of 1919. More perished. Pr. Prues’ personal experience – while ministering to parishioners his own daughter perished; the result of the influenza virus.
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Words – 2.065
Passive Sentences – 4%
Readability – 77%
Reading Level –4.9
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i.Sara Beth Pannell sets the context for this morning’s homily – https://www.chathamnewsrecord.com/stories/the-disciples-were-together-with-the-doors-locked-for-fear,5132?
ii Thanks you Pr. Peter Brock for this excellent title and insight!
iii The Appearance of Christ to Thomas copyright © Google Images
iv Illustration for Easter 2 Series A, Pr. James Wetzsein, copyright © www.Agnusday.org
iv Illustration for Easter 2 Series A, Pr. James Wetzsein, copyright © www.Agnusday.org
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