Easter 2 – 12 Apr 2015 – Year B

Easter 2 – 12 Apr 2015 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for our meditation is written in the 20th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 24 – 29.

²⁴Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
      But he said to them, "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." ²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." ²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" ²⁹Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”

Let us pray: Father, guide the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, so that as we experience your means of grace this day, your word of truth and your Holy sacrament, our hearts will be reinforced in the promise of our baptism, so that faith and peace will reign. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Doubt: It plagues all of us and when it comes to faith in Jesus, doubt comes as that tiny little voice that seems to whisper in our ear, “Is this really true? Did God really come and live among us and die for us? Was Jesus really God? Did Jesus really rise from the grave? Did Jesus really die for me?” – The questions of Satan – they have been whispered into our ears since the beginning of time; as recorded in Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Doubt: It is the fruit of unbelief. It stems from our failure to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Doubt is what happens when we think we need more control over our lives than we feel we already have. Doubt can create feelings of fear and hopelessness as though our lives are slowly spinning out of control.

Doubt induced feelings of fear and hopelessness surely flooded that little locked room where the disciples had hidden themselves away that first Easter Sunday evening.

They had heard the reports of the women; John and Peter even ran to the tomb to see things for themselves. Two of Jesus disciples had even rushed back on foot from Emmaus in the dark; a trip of about seven miles, to share the news that they had seen the Lord. But ten of Jesus’ closest disciples could not believe the reports, and so they hid themselves for fear of the Romans and the Jews. They had seen the cruelty and viciousness meted out to Jesus three days before and they wanted no part it. The disciples feared for their lives and I am sure they thought that they would be the next to be crucified if only they were found.

Then suddenly, here is Jesus standing among them and our text records He speaks to them sweet words of absolution, “Peace be with you.”  - Jesus doesn’t break down the door. He doesn’t have to. The One who burst from the tomb without bothering to roll away the stone has no need to break down locked doors. The disciples cannot believe their eyes and are still fearful, but Jesus shows them the wounds in His hands and His side to break down their door of doubt and unbelief.

Again Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” and His words give what they say: Peace. – You see, this is no normal greeting; it is the fulfilment of the words spoken in John 14: 27

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

His peace comes in the midst of turmoil, unrest, fear, and hopelessness…and doubt; again a fulfilment of his words in John 16: 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Jesus, the Lamb of peace had conquered death by dying and now comes in peace to bring life to the world.

But still, there is Thomas or Doubting Thomas as we have come to know him. He was missing that night and missed the chance to see Jesus. Our text from John 20 tells us that Thomas, not seeing Jesus, refused to believe: “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Thomas must have thought, “This story must be some sort of cruel joke. How can the dead raise themselves from the grave? Do you really expect me to believe such silly nonsense? Show me the proof and I will believe.”

Isn’t that the reaction of the world too? Thomas sounds a lot like the so-called “scholars” we constantly see on TV Easter Specials, which claim to be historically based. When the Church celebrates the resurrection of our Lord you can count on the theological theorist to come out of the woodwork like cockroaches when one turns out the light. They perpetuate doubt and lies in their speculation and theories; they so often try to intellectualise the inerrant Word of God, bringing doubt about the truth, and ammunition for the forces of Satan.   

The really sad part of all of this is that many of the so-called “scholars” who write these lies, or appear on these programs, call themselves Christian.

To be honest, and just as sad, Thomas often sounds a lot like us as well. We want proof. “Seeing is believing” is a term one often hears. We are natural-born sceptics.

We look for signs that God is real, that He is truly with us. We judge our relationship with God by what we feel, not by what His Word tells us. In his calling, the pastor will tell people what God has said and promised, and then frequently, they in turn will tell the pastor what they really believe. I have heard it countless times; “I have never read the Bible mate, but I know what I believe!” or “I don’t believe I have to come to church to be a Christian Merv. After all, I believe in God.”  - Really? – As a Pastor or a Christian for that matter, what do you say? – The terrifying fact is that Satan and his demons also believe in God – In fact Satan and his demons believe Jesus is the Son of God.

That is why they hate Him and had a hand in murdering Him; that is why they fear Him; that is why they resort to doubt as a devious weapon to draw us fickle humans away from God’s power and love and peace.

You see, this Jesus has come to crush the head of the serpent. To be sure, the serpent landed a blow to mankind in the Garden, and he bruised Jesus’ heal with the pain of crucifixion; but Jesus overcame the deathly power of the old evil foe and banished him forever into the darkness. Yes, Jesus did die and it is true that no man has ever climbed up out of the grave on his own. But Jesus is not only true man; He is true God.

This Jesus is the same true man and true God who came to that pathetic little room one week later, appearing again to His disciples…and this time, to Thomas. Now Jesus fills Thomas requirement to believe, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

With that Thomas repents of his unbelief, “My Lord and my God!”  Then Jesus imparts more teaching to Thomas and to us, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29, NKJV) Jesus is telling Thomas and us what Paul records in 2 Corinthians 5:7, that we are to “walk by faith, not by sight.”  He is telling us that our human proverb should not be “seeing is believing”, but “believing is

seeing.” For, as John reminds us, Jesus declared.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Friends, we participate in a liturgical service each time we worship; we come into God’s presence with the invocation; and then we publicly confess and repent of our sins and the Pastor pronounces on behalf of Jesus the, words of forgiveness (absolution). This is not an exercise steeped in tradition – this is a time when we honestly speak of our human sin to Christ in faith; and in response, using the Pastors voice, Jesus speaks words of forgiveness back to us individually and directly. Jesus responds to our faith in the only way He knows how – with the words of true forgiveness, won at great cost to him for our sake. Then to reassure us that our absolution is complete, he speaks the same words of reassurance to us as he did to the disciples in the upper room. “Peace be with you.”    The hearing of Jesus’ word of absolution is vital because, as Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

We do not physically “see” Jesus among us with the eyes of flesh, yet we do see Him with the eyes of faith. Jesus is no less present for us than He was for His disciples locked away in that little room. With the words, “Peace be with you,” Jesus announces His presence among His disciples and today He announced in the absolution, His very same presence among us.

Soon, just before sacramental feast, you will hear the words “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” - And then, when we eat of the bread, the risen Jesus will invite us to touch His hands and His side in the Holy Communion. There you will feel the nail marks in His hands; for with His own hands, Christ Himself, gives us His true Body, imprinted with the marks made by the nails; the marks of our salvation. Then in drinking from the cup, we reach out our hand and put it into His side and take what flowed from Jesus’ side: The true and precious Blood of our Lord and Saviour.

So it is that here, at the altar, we declare with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” and here at the altar, we receive His same life-giving absolution, “Go in peace.”  Jesus’ words gives what it says: Peace; for we, too, know Him by His scars and by them we are healed.

By the grace of God, here at our worship service, there isn’t a time that Jesus doesn’t come to you, His disciples. Every Service with Holy Communion is an Easter, and every day is a first day of the week, a new creation, when the crucified and risen Lord is present with His disciples with His Words and His wounds, His breath and His Spirit.

Hear now Jesus’ Words of peace, “Peace be with you.” And in that peace “I forgive you all your sins.” Amen.

The love and peace of God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.