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April 19, 2009--Second Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Texts: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1- 2:2; John 20:19-31

Sermon Text: John 20:19-31

Faithful Steps

Did you ever wonder why Jesus “comes back” after His resurrection to talk with His disciples? Sure it confirms the old prophecies and the current report that He is alive, and it is always good for the disciples to see the one with whom they just spent the last three years. But doesn’t it kind of “mess things” up to have Him come back like this? I can’t help but think of those sci-fi movies about time travel where every interaction from the time traveler changes the course of human history.

Maybe that’s the point of this text. Maybe Jesus’ post-resurrection accounts serve to remind us that He is constantly changing the course of human history.

The biblical text sets us within a particular calendar of events. It is the evening of the first day of the week. The disciples have heard Mary Magdalene’s report of the empty tomb and the supposed gardener she discovered to be Jesus. Their response? They are hiding behind locked doors.

Would you have locked yourself in? Having seen what the crowd did to Jesus, I might also have been afraid. And with a possible ghost-Christ moving about, behind locked doors seems like a great place to stay.

Future events of the Early Church suggest to us that they were not meant to stay behind closed doors, as neither are we. That initial experiences of Christ (particularly the risen Christ), however, are to experienced when believers gather together. It is easy to make fun of the disciples for the way they have sequestered themselves, but there is something to be said about being locked in together. In this instance, that’s when Jesus appeared among them.

As if it were an instruction to begin worship, Jesus calls them to peace. Is that how we begin worship? Or are we honestly rushing into “religious activity” each Sunday morning? In the midst of the fears that have imprisoned these disciples, the call to peace comes as a faithful gift of the covenant-keeping Jesus. With such grace, His hands and feet become exhibits proving the case for peace by His presence.

Though the narratives of the Passion Week suggest Jesus has given His last lessons, there seems to be a further lesson offered here. This lesson is framed in verse 21 around the words, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Immediately, our eyes race to the gift of God for ministry. We begin to think about the implications of what these first disciples can do just like Jesus did. But is this really the heart of this passage? Could it be that the real center is the one who now has the Spirit’s breath within Him, breathed out at His bidding?

The corresponding question arises for the believer of what value we place on what we do for the Lord versus who the Lord is in all our faithful activity. John’s Gospel spends much time communicating the deity of Christ. In this instance the message seems to focus not so much on what will be done by the disciples, but the authority by which Christ will minister through us. We cannot neglect the results of the anointing, but we cannot also assume too much of what we think we hold in our own hands. If so, honestly, we are right back in the same place as the Garden of Eden considering how we might eat better by our own leadership.

John introduces to us a previously absent Thomas. Thomas, whose name “Didymus” means twin, becomes for the reader the antithetical character to this revelation of Jesus. Not trusting the witness of the eternal Lordship of Jesus from the disciples reports, Thomas is frustrated for more than a week by his intense desire to capture Christ in a rational show and tell. Thomas finally gives the ultimatum that unless he sees and touches, he will not believe.

Once again behind closed doors, the power of this divine Christ is seen as He suddenly appears again to the disciples. The disciples, this time including Thomas, are greeted by the Peace of Christ. Immediately, Thomas is given opportunity to see, touch, stop doubting and believe. The significance of the latter two instructions being two separate events is as important as the instructions during Jesus’ healing ministry to both rise and walk. The one becomes a statement of healing, the other a statement of healed living.

So what do we make of this encounter with Thomas? Jesus explains that Thomas serves as a reminder of faithfulness to those who must simply live at the level of faith, trusting without the privilege of proofs. Such a person is considered blessed.

This passage concludes in verse 30 and 31 with a final statement noting the divine power of Jesus, and the summation that all of this is offered that we may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Did you notice that Thomas was not offered the breath of the Spirit for forgiveness of sins? I’ve always been bothered by that. I suppose it’s because I want him to have that power just like the other disciples. I guess it’s because I know how much each of us has been at some level knocked out of faithful living by our fears and doubts. Could it be that we might all get the “stuff,” whatever that “stuff” is, to live so faithful that we can’t help but remain the blessed disciples of Christ?

This is where John’s Gospel gives us one of the greatest narratives of Christianity we could ever have received. This is not the story of how good a few of the disciples were, nor even the story of how failed one might have been. Though there is a warning through the actions and doubts of Thomas, we have got to be fair and note that when Jesus first showed up to the other disciples they got a “show and tell” experience as well. Instead, it appears from John’s insistence on communicating the divine nature of Jesus Christ, that the heart of this narrative is the God who calls us to live faithful lives, believing in His presence and power. All this that we might not live by our strength, but by the gift of God’s very Spirit.

Is that not the call of holiness? Is that not the voice of Christian maturity? When our faithfulness is rooted in our own ability to do for the Lord, we are trapped by our own manipulations of our own deification--trying to be like Jesus! We pat ourselves on the back, thinking we have done well, when all the while we have missed the blessing of letting Christ be the only Lord of our life. It is He who deserves the praise. It is instead for us the daily privilege to let His ongoing song of salvation raise us in our being to be one with Him in His divine presence by not so much doing first and then being His, but instead by being His first and then letting the doing flow as a faithful response to His peaceful presence.

Think about your daily routine. What would it look like for Jesus Christ to suddenly appear in your office, home, or workshop at 10AM this Tuesday morning? Consider that He comes bringing you peace. What would your life be like the rest of that day if He was to breath into you His Spirit’s breathe? Like these disciples, is it possible that you will never be the same again?

May you truly be blessed as you live life faithfully believing in His name!