Our scripture reading from today comes from the Gospel of John
chapter 20, verses 19 through 13, 31 rather 19 through 31.
Thank you. On the evening of that day, the
first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples
were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and
said to them, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed
them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad
when they saw the Lord Jesus said to them again, Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me, Even
so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with them when
Jesus came. So the other disciples told him,
We have seen the Lord, but he said to them, 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. 8 days later his disciples were inside again and
Thomas was with him. Although the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands,
and put out your hands and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and
my God, Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed. Now 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.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God you may be
seated. Last week, Robbie brought to us
a sermon about the resurrection itself, the the the place and
time, the event that took just before our verses from today.
And I think we're meant to actually understand this
particular passage by understanding where it sits in
the narrative of the Gospel of John.
I was reminded of my elementary education where we're learned or
taught to see how a narrative forms, right.
You have kind of the introduction with the prologue
in the Gospel of John. And you're, that's where you're
introduced into a story and what's happening and perhaps
even the, the tension, that great idea of that, what the,
what is the big problem that's meant to be solved as introduced
there. And then as the narrative climbs
along, you see this rising tension that's building up and
building up and building up until that moment of release
when the problem is solved, the climax of the story.
And then everything that happens after that is just sort of the
falling action of that story. We are at the climax of the
Gospel of John and yes, the resurrection is certainly that
point because we are very, it's very clear as the gospel of the
Gospel writer, John is writing this narrative that he is
pointing us to the resurrection, that time just slows down and
that holy we can like it does in any of the other gospels.
And yet many have actually argued that the tension is
actually still rising here until this moment of this encounter
with Jesus and Thomas in our passage today.
And then, you know, we had those verses that I come after that,
that sort of begin to resolve that tension.
And we'll go into the chapter 21 next week too, and we'll see
more of that resolution of that tension.
But why is it that this, the, the John would kind of write all
of this, this rising tension up to this point of this moment of
this interaction with Thomas? He even begins this portion of
talking about fear with the disciples.
And I think it's to point us to the fact that the, the height,
the climax of the story is God meeting us as his disciples in
our fear, in our doubts. It's that blessed belief of
eternal peace. So we're going to look at this
this this passage in three movements, fear, doubt, and
eternal peace picking up in verse 19.
This is the Sunday after the resurrection, verse 18, just
before Mary Magdalene had just seen Jesus after going to him,
running to the tomb. Remember, as Robbie showed us,
Peter and John were there as well.
They ran to the tomb, but they actually never saw the risen
Christ. They saw the evidences of his
resurrection. And the text just tells us from
that point on, they believed, even says that they, they, they
believed this new evidences and they, they actually the stone
being rolled away, the burial cloth folded, they believed they
went back to their homes. But see here we have from the
beginning of Jesus's coming to the disciples, Jesus did not
just leave them with belief. He pursued them with who he was.
He wanted to leave them not just with head knowledge of who he
was and the power of his resurrection.
He wanted to leave them with a transforming presence of
himself, the transforming presence himself, as he said to
Mary in that previous passage, not to cling to him, but be to
be commissioned by him. He said told Mary, right, He is
ascending. That was the word, the phrase he
used. He is ascending.
It's this period of time that we're waiting for his ascension,
but that he has work to do before his ascension is
complete. He actually commissioned Mary to
tell this to his disciples. Don't cling to me, for I am
ascending. Even though Peter and John
believe they had not yet seen Jesus in his person risen from
the dead, this is actually a very important facets of
apostleship. We're going to go inside a
little bit later when we talk about Thomas and his doubt.
But the apostles had to see the physical presence of our Lord
Jesus risen, and that's what they were commissioned to do as
apostle. That's the defining principle of
being an apostle that they saw the risen Christ face to face.
It's an it's the defining part of being an apostle as well as
writing much of our scripture as well.
But they said here from the very get go were were brought into
their fear for the fear of the Jews.
That's why the door was locked. And what are we to make of the
disciples fear? What are we to make of the
locked door? We have passed from the morning
of belief to this evening of waiting.
Mary told them they were to wait because Jesus was ascending and
they're locked behind the door. Jesus writes down the I'm sorry,
John writes down the reason for the locked door.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit for the fear of the Jews.
I believe to simply tell us that the disciples fears in our fears
are met with a person of Jesus. There's a miracle here that we
don't have quite all the details about how Jesus got behind the
locked door. Did the locked door miraculously
become unlocked? Did he pass through?
We don't have those details from the text, but Jesus did
miraculously appear in his resurrected body to show us the
amazing love of God that meets us exactly where our fears have
us. He knew Jesus knew who he wanted
to be his disciples, and he knew their fear and that miraculous
love is what made them meet together.
The disciples fears are political, but also related to a
legitimate fear of their own death.
They had just seen Jesus killed for his message.
They knew that the Jews had done this, and if they were to preach
the Kingdom of his resurrected power, they knew that they would
be targets of that ire as well and, and, and perhaps put to
death as well. We are probably not fearing the
loss of our lives. Some may be, but most likely
we're not fearing that loss of our lives, particularly as we
contemplate the implications of believing in the resurrection.
But we do still have fears of what it would mean for us to
truly respond the way that we see God leading to leading us to
in light of the resurrection. We probably would not lose our
lives or even fear losing our lives, but we probably do fear
losing some comfort. What if we lived radically
generous lives, Radically generous lives, because we
understood that Jesus's death and resurrection called us to
join him in the renewal of all things, including the reaching
of unreached people groups, people who have no access to the
gospel or no vibrant gospel outreach in their language or
culture. And yes, these people groups
still do exist today. What if we stopped ourselves
from fearing of the comfort that we may lose of engaging with
that idea in prayer and giving and perhaps even going to saying
that it could be God calling us to do that.
To move to a spot on the other side of the world.
To sell our properties, To say goodbye to lucrative careers,
say goodbye to relationships that are precious to us, that
means so much to us. And to do something that would
make zero sense to the rest of the world living around us.
All because we are compelled by Jesus death and resurrection to
do so. God may not be calling you to do
that, but even as I postulate how we could respond in faith to
His death and resurrection, I want you to be honest with your
heart about what makes you fearful.
How would you feel if Jesus were calling you to do that?
And would you follow Him in that way?
We may not fear losing our lives, but we may fear losing
the approval of those we want it from.
As we contemplate the resurrection.
God is asking you to give testimony to His death and
resurrection to those around you.
Your neighbors that live on your block, your Co workers, those
who you do business transactions with, your classmates, your
friends, your regular connections that you see in your
day-to-day interactions around you here in Dallas.
How are you feeling as you think about giving testimony to the
seeing the risen Christ to meeting him?
You might be worried about your reputation.
You might be worried, as I think I listed all those
relationships, about the time it would take, what would it would
take from you to actually give a fruitful and effective witness
to who Jesus was. You might fear what it can mean
for your reputation. We're just meant to see the fear
of the disciples were meant to relate to it.
The disciples locked the door to Jesus resurrection power in our
lives. And yet the compelling love of
Christ. God meets us where we are at.
If God is commissioning you to do something, if He is calling
you to something in response to His death and resurrection, He
will meet you in your deepest fears in that place and in that
places where He commissions us to do the work we see here and
immediately to response to that fear.
Jesus's first words to the disciples in this particular
text. Peace be with you.
It's a phrase that's repeated 3 times in short space here in
this in this section of the gospel.
It's a very simple greeting. Actually, it would have been
something that just would have been a very common greeting of
the time. Peace be with you.
But these disciples would have known immediately what Jesus was
referring to. He's taking them back to the
upper room discourse. Remember John chapter 14?
I'm going to read to you verses 25 through through 29.
This is John 14. These things I have spoken to
you, why I'm still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all
things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said
to you. Verse 27, Peace I leave with
you. My peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
You heard me say, I am going away and I will come to you.
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to
the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it takes place that when it does
take place, you may believe. Amazing how slow, how patience,
how gracious our King Jesus is with us.
He taught the disciples these things before this moment and
that phrase. Peace be with you was meant to
elicit all that He had taught them in the upper room.
You see, if God is calling us to something deeper, if God is
calling our hearts and compelling us to live lives,
maybe even radical lives, He does so through His peace,
through this quiet internal calling in our hearts that He
then confirms an external calling through His church.
And I remember He does not give us peace as the world gives.
He gives us peace based on other worldly terms, knowing that our
eternal life is meant and hidden in Him.
And after peace be with you. In verse 20, He then identifies
who he is by his wounds. Now this is not just the
identity of who Jesus is, Jesus Christ who died for their sins,
wounded on the cross, but his wounds are also a symbol of his
victory, the source of the peace that those disciples have come
from, both his identification and his victory.
This is the wounded God man. And immediately into verses 21
through 23, we have again the repetition, peace be with you.
And we have this otherworldly commissioning that Jesus gives
to his disciples as the Father has sent me.
Even so, I am sending you in this moment of fear, what we'll
see in this moment of talents. Jesus as as our brother, as our
older brother, is allowing us to be identified with him.
His identity and his victory is not just him, but he is bringing
us into the Godhead. As the Father is sending me, so
I am sending you. He is reaching down and showing
them their mission and lifting them up in that mission by
identifying them with Christ. And so I see here from the
beginning that our identity in Christ and our mission in Christ
can't be separated. If you are in Christ, you have
been engrafted into this sending.
You might reject it, you might not want it, but that is part of
the deal. We see Jesus identity and his
victory and he's bringing us into it.
And verse 23, or rather verse 22 first, well, I can't pass over
this. When he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.
Now this is not to say that the Holy Spirit hadn't always been
present amongst them. We know that to be true based on
Jesus's other teachings. But there's a special moment
here where Jesus is saying something special is happening
here. It's a foretaste of what's to
happen at Pentecost in the book of Acts, but I also believe it
marks these disciples as Christ's apostles, those who saw
him in person. Remember, that is an important
part, the apostleship that we need to see.
They they saw Jesus face to face and then in verse 23, their
authority to forgive sins or to retain them, that is to withhold
forgiveness. That's not to say that there's
some sort of special power with the apostles that only that they
are allowed to forgive sins or that it comes through them.
But he is saying that this ministry of forgiveness, the
forgiveness of sins that can only come to the cleansing blood
of Christ. That message is passed down
through Jesus's people, first to the apostles, but then as the
apostles spread that testimony to the church.
This would have brought us back to John 17 verses 17 through 21.
Jesus said St. This is his prayer, His high
priestly prayer. Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world,
so I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I
consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me
through their word, that they may all be one, just as You,
Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so
that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Jesus continues to just enlighten the disciples and
illuminate through His simplicity here in John 20 of
what He's already taught them in the upper room.
And now let's move to this, this series of doubts, how we used to
understand this interaction with Thomas and and Jesus.
And I think the big question here is this intellectual
disbelief or is Thomas's doubt more likely should be classified
as a conditional faith? You know, intellectual how
distinguishment is to intellectual disbelief might
just be it's hard to arise to that level of faith.
Thomas is not quite sure how to handle these kind of questions
that are coming at him or sort of a conditional faith.
Is Thomas sort of drawing the line in the sand and saying
you're calling me to believe, but I just can't do it unless
Jesus, you allow me to do this thing for you?
Just a quick background on Thomas.
He's known as the twin sometimes called Didymus.
He had these kind of moments of bold faith.
And you remember back in Chapter 11, he had a moment of bold
faith of going with Jesus when he went to back to Judea to
raise Lazarus from the dead. And he actually had a phrase in
verse 16 from Chapter 11 where he said, let's go and we'll die
with Jesus if we have to. And then we kind of have the
foreshadowing of Thomas's doubts.
We have that in Chapter 11 and verse 14.
You might not remember this, but when Jesus said I am the way and
the truth and the life, he's actually responding to a
question of doubt from Thomas from that interaction.
So we have this kind of this picture of someone who's kind of
had this both bold faith, but also this moment of doubt of
disbelief. I, I believe it's actually more
in the conditional faith category than there's some level
of intellectual doubts. And I think it's because of the
way that Jesus treats Thomas. You see in this interaction with
with Thomas that Jesus knows Thomas doubt, even though Thomas
didn't say his doubt in front of Jesus because remember he said
this in the interaction with the disciples.
The disciples told him all that was going on.
Again, we don't know all the pictures as to why Thomas is
feeling this way. He could have maybe felt really
disappointed that he was left out.
We also don't know why Thomas wasn't with the disciples in the
1st place. All the other disciples were
there except for Judas, and we know why that wasn't there.
But we don't actually know why Thomas wasn't there in that, in
Jesus's first appearance. But what we do know is that
Christ saw Thomas. We do know that Christ knew that
Thomas was meant to be a part of the apostles.
And so we see Christ's pursuit of his people even in the face
of their doubts. The door was locked again or
meant to see the repetition here of the fear.
Jesus miraculously appears again and said peace be with you
again. He didn't know Thomas didn't
tell him about his doubt, but Jesus knew.
Jesus knew exactly what Thomas needed to hear.
Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and
place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe.
Jesus is coming to Thomas is what pierced his hearts.
The text doesn't actually tell us that Thomas needed to touch
or that Thomas actually touched. In the end, Jesus has his
declaration. Peace be with you.
He told him what to do. But it doesn't actually tell us
that Thomas touched. Kind of feels more like this
melting away and submission to God's pursuit of him, My Lord
and my God. This is reminiscent of the
Psalms and how they proclaim my Lord and my God.
Some have been postulated that maybe this is the My Lord what
representing the humanity of Jesus and my God representing
the divinity of Jesus, submitting to the wounded God,
man before him. And Jesus answered kind of ends
this whole response with have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed. So Jesus appeared before Thomas
because he knew that he was meant to be his apostles, and
all the apostles had to see the risen Christ, even Paul when he
went from Saul to Paul. Remember that miraculous episode
from the book of Acts? That was so that Paul would
become an apostle because he saw the risen Christ.
So the apostles had to see the risen Christ, and that is what
Jesus didn't, his love and his pursuit of Thomas in the face of
his doubts. But verse 29, the peace of God
through our blessed belief, have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet believed. This is meant to encourage us
because we are those who have had that blessed belief.
We are part of the lineage of the apostles and we have
believed in him and because of our belief, we have received the
forgiveness of sins. We have been in grafted in just
as the apostles were. And we are part of being in
Christ and in his mission. So I have, I have 5 very quick
applications for us today. We'll go and then we'll head to
the words table and and they're going to connect us and connect
our hearts to the words table. My first one is to read the
apostles. If our belief is meant to stem
from their testimony they're seeing of Jesus, we have to know
what it is that they say. Jesus went through great lengths
to show us who it was that were his and the apostles and who
were to write scripture. So we should read it, read God's
Word, and as we would receive the Holy Spirit in the sense of
allowing the Holy Spirit to eliminate to us Christ's words
for us. The word that is how God is, is
continuing this blessed belief that we have.
We're meant to see his patience for us.
If God has opened your eyes and faith to who Jesus is, it has
been through His patience with you.
I know He has been greatly patient with me, stepping in
through those closed doors that I want to put for him, and yet
gently calling my name and renewing my eyes that I would
respond to Him in faith. We are meant to look at Jesus's
wounds. He is not just another good
teacher, He is the wounded God man.
If God had just sent a man who was a good teacher, it wouldn't
work. If he had just sent a God who
could not identify with our sins and not pay the price of our
sins, God's justice would not work.
Only a wounded God man would work.
That's the only thing that would blast through our fears, renew
our doubts, and allow us to surrender to the wounded
kingship of Christ. Only through God, man dying for
us will we be able to say with Thomas, my Lord and my God.
And now as we prepare our hearts to come to the table, I think we
need to follow Thomas's example and drop our conditions.
In the end, Thomas didn't touch. He said strong words.
He said I would never believe unless I touched it.
But in the end, Jesus pursuit of him melted his heart and melted
that conditional part of his faith and he just confesses.
So as you come to the table, I would ask you to ponder with
your Savior if you would say something like, I will come to
you, Lord, if I will follow you dot dot dot.
If, however, you would fill in that blank, I would say even
though you are in Christ, you might be filling that.
That blank might be serving a functional savior for you.
But let me remind you that that Savior, it wouldn't die for you.
And actually, in a lot of ways, if you would fill in that blank
with something else, it might demand that you would die for
it. Comforts, approval, power,
control. Jesus is the only Savior that
would die for you and would call you to himself.
Crown him the Lord of love. Behold His hands inside, rich
wounds yet visible above, and beauty glorified.
No angels in the sky can fully bear that sight, But downward
bends their burning eye. That mystery is so bright.
Let us pray. God, we thank you for this time
and Your Word, how it has LED us and guided us.
We now ask as we come to the table, that your voice would be
heard by your people, calling you into this ancient active
institution that you've given your disciples.
May we spend our time well, be honest with you in our hearts,
and God would you apply your word to it as we join you this
day. We pray all this in the My name
of Jesus, Amen.