From Doubt to Praise
Based on John 20:19-31
Delivered on April 23, 2017 to CCH in Hudson WI
Hymns: 121 Just as I Am, 85 I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, 8
To God Be the Glory
John 20:19-31
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."
20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his
side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, so I send you."
20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to
them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
20:24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the
twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
20:25 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."
20:26 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."
20:27 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."
20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
20:29 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."
20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book.
20:31 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.
Good morning and happy second Sunday of Easter. I am Darci Strutt McQuiston, a lay speaker
from the United Methodist Church up on the hill. It’s my joy to be with you on this day. This Sunday is also nicknamed “Low Sunday”
because often it is not well attended.
Pastors often choose it as a vacation day because of all the commitments
over Holy Week. But here we are together
and I’ll attempt to make it anything but “low”.
The three ideas I am bringing forth from this scripture are to
move:
From fear and doubt
To belief
To praise
From fear and doubt
Thomas earned the nickname “Doubting Thomas” from this bit of
scripture. If you look at it carefully,
he only asked for what the other Disciples already had. Jesus came to them when Thomas wasn’t there
and wished them peace, then in verse 20:20 “After he said this, he showed them
his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the
Lord.”
Notice the “Then” in that final line. It was after they had seen his hands and side
that they believed. So, don’t be too
hard on Thomas in verses 20:24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the
twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
20:25 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."
The second encounter comes a week later. Of note to me is the fact the doors are still
shut, which I interpret to mean “locked”.
The fear remains for all of them, not just Thomas. The ten disciples had seen Jesus and yet
eight days had passed and they hadn’t done what he asked in verse 21, “As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” Is
it any wonder that Thomas hadn’t believed them?
Their lives hadn’t changed. Jesus
again says, “Peace be with you.” when he first comes. Peace can mean tranquility, calm, and
quietness. He was calming their
fears.
I feel comforted that Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas. He reached to meet his request. 20:27 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."
To believe
And Thomas does believe!
20:29 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."
20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book.
20:31 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.
It was important to the disciples to have it confirmed that
this was the same Jesus that had walked and talked with him. It is what our faith is born from. The fact that they believed. Their lives and their deaths became a
testimony to their belief. The Apostle
John was the only one of the twelve not to be martyred for his faith. The strength of their belief is an
encouragement to those of us who have not seen.
To praise
Thomas moved from doubt to praise. 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and
my God!" Thomas understands that Jesus
is not just a prophet. He is God. In the gospels, he is referred to as Jesus,
but more often after his resurrection he is referred to as “The Christ” which
is a title meaning Messiah. His
resurrection confirmed his title. After
the first visit by Jesus the ten disciples are filled with joy, but they did
not move to praise during that encounter.
It took this second visit to truly sink in.
Praise is a natural response when someone does something
amazing. We feel the strong desire to
say, “Well done! You did it!” God just completed his promise made to his
people from the beginning. When Adam and
Eve experience separation from God in the garden, God responded; Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring
and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” He also promised David that one of his
descendants would sit on his throne forever.
In the companion scripture of our lectionary, Acts 2:22-32
Peter talks about this promise. 2:31
“Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah saying, ‘He
was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ Our scripture today describes the witnesses
of the success. Christ is risen – risen
indeed.
We are all members of the group who have not seen and yet
have come to believe. We have the
witness of those who did see Jesus, and have given us their testimony. The disciples’ lives were changed in visible
ways by their encounter with Christ. We can
believe based on their testimony because it is a testimony of action not just
words. We also have the Holy Spirit within us and feel a stirring in our
hearts. This passage is a reminder that
those looking at our lives would be more moved by seeing our changed lives than
by our words alone.
I have one more gem I want to pull from this scripture. It involves moving from seeing our struggles
as negative to seeing them as precious parts of our history.
We all have times of struggle and suffering. The scriptures tell us this suffering can
increase our faith if we stand firm. 1
Peter 1:6-8 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to
suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – being more
precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be found to
result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him;
and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an
indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your
faith, the salvation of your souls.”
There is a Japanese art that involves repairing broken objects
with gold dust. They see the break as
part of the history of the object rather than something they need to
disguise. The object becomes more precious
after the break and repair. It struck me
as I read the scripture this week that when Jesus appeared to the disciples the
holes remained in his hands and in his side, yet instead of the pain and fear
of the crucifixion the wounds brought them joy because it gave evidence he had conquered
the cross. There are times I’d like to
forget about my history or disguise what I’ve been through, but given this
thought, I like the image of my times of struggle being transformed and seen as
more precious than gold. I pray that when
I get to the other side the wounds of my history will be transformed and result
in praise and joy. Jesus’ marks remained
as evidence of the power of God. This
can be true for us as well. If we stand
firm in our faith our own scars can act as evidence of God’s work in our lives.
On this second Sunday of Easter I pray the joy of
resurrection morning is still pulsing though you. Jesus is alive, God did what he promised, and
you and I can have faith in promises yet to come. We will have struggles but the victory is
won. See yourself as the repaired object
with the artists’ golden repair making it more beautiful than before. God’s love is the winner. Because of this our adoption is
confirmed. We are children of the fourth
day – resurrection day.
Amen.
