Sermon preached at Our Savior on 4/11/10 for the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Sermon text: John 20:19-29
"I'll believe it when I see it." That's something that we say when we're very skeptical about something, when we think that something probably isn't true, and most likely won't ever be true. Will they ever build hotels on the planet Mars and make it a vacation destination? Well, I'll believe it when I see it. That doesn't seem very likely to me. Will the Sabres win the Stanley Cup and the Bills win the Super Bowl in the same year? I suppose it's possible, but...I'll believe it when I see it. Will the 219 expressway ever be completed to stretch from I-90 all the way to I-86? I'll believe it when I see it.
Of course, there have been many things that people never believed would happen, but then they did see them. I'm sure many people in the past would've never believed that human beings would walk on the moon. But when it finally happened and millions got to see it live on TV in 1969, suddenly people believed.
Some things we don't have the luxury of seeing, though. Who would ever believe that a man would be killed and then would come back to life? And not only that, who'd ever believe that that man's death and life would mean that we get eternal life in heaven? It's pretty incredible -- almost unbelievable -- when you think about it.
But we believe it. As Christians, that's exactly what we believe. That's exactly what Easter is all about. Christ has died. Christ is risen! Christ will come again and take us to be in heaven with him forever. We've never seen these things. But we believe them. The Holy Spirit has worked through God's Word to give us faith to trust that Jesus is alive and that we are forgiven. For us, as Christians, believing is seeing. Our faith is the sight God gives us to see his love, to see our Risen Savior.
The disciples on that first Easter were given an opportunity that we don't have today: they saw the Risen Jesus with their own eyes. "On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (Jn. 20:19)
Now, I mentioned this last week, but that first Easter Sunday wasn't this day of unbridled joy for the disciples that we'd think it would've been. Our text mentions they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had arrested Jesus and eventually had him executed by the Romans. The disciples didn't understand Jesus was going to rise. Sure, he'd told them. Sure, they should have known and understood it from Scripture. But they didn't. And despite reports from several women that Jesus had risen, they didn't believe it. Instead, on the evening of Easter, the disciples were afraid and locked in a room together.
But then Jesus is there. And suddenly their fears are gone. Suddenly Jesus' words give them what they need: "Peace be with you!" And then they have the peace of knowing their teacher and Savior was alive, that their sins were forgiven, that all of Jesus' promises would come true. And Jesus even comforted them by giving them even more proof. "After [Jesus] said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." (Jn. 20:20)
Jesus' wounds on his hands and side -- the very things that would've inspired horror in the disciples earlier -- were now a source of comfort. The nail marks in his hands and the cut in his side proved that Jesus had died, but that death had lost its power over him. No wonder the disciples were overjoyed. Death would have no power over them either, because of what Jesus had done.
They were all overjoyed, of course, except for Thomas. Our text tells us that for whatever reason, Thomas wasn't there on that Easter evening. (Jn. 20:24) The disciples told him that they'd seen Jesus, that he was alive. But listen to Thomas's response: "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." (Jn. 20:25) In other words, Thomas said: I'll believe it when I see it.
Doubting Thomas, we hear him called today. He refused to believe not only Jesus' own words that he would rise, but he wouldn't even believe his fellow disciples when they saw Jesus for themselves. That's worse than doubting; that's the sin of unbelief.
And we hear that whole story, and we hear what Jesus says at the end, and we think, "Yes! Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed! That's us! We haven't seen Jesus, yet we believe in him. We must be pretty great. We're better than all the disciples, nothing could ever shake our faith."
Be careful. Don't look at Thomas as an example of a sin that other people fall into but you never could. Doubts are things that creep into our minds and our hearts when we don't expect it. And if we think we're somehow immune from ever having doubts, then those doubts are going to be even more destructive to our faith.
Think about the situation the disciples were in. It was high stress. They'd just seen their master killed. They were afraid of the Jews arresting them. At first, none of the disciples believed that Jesus had risen. They only believed when they actually saw him. Thomas was the same way. The other disciples doubted, too, we just don't usually think of it that way.
What about your doubts? Are you ever the one acting like Thomas? Maybe you're thinking, "no, I have no doubts. I believe in Jesus and that has never changed in the least." Well, that's great that you think that.
But what about when things aren't going well for you? What about when you're scared like the disciples were. Our fears might have to do with uncertainty about our life or our job. Our fears might center on our thinking that we just can't succeed, that we're bound to fail in what we're doing. Our fears might center on sickness that is affecting ourselves, or affecting our loved ones. When those fears hit us, the doubts aren't far behind.
Does God really love me? Does God really hear my prayers? Think about the problems and fear you've had in your life recently. When those fears hit, did you go to God in prayer? Did you trust that he would take care of it? Did you open the Bible and see what God might have to say about your problem? Or, did you just worry about it? Maybe you just got angry about it, angry at yourself or people close to you.
Yes, those doubts are never far from any of us. Maybe you've even doubted whether anything God says is really true. Maybe you've even doubted whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. Make no mistake about it, these doubts -- all of these doubts -- are sins. They're a bit of unbelief creeping into our hearts. And we all have these doubts at times in one form or another. The question is, what can we do about it? Where can we turn?
Jesus told us where to turn. Did you catch it in our text? Jesus was talking about it. When he appeared to his disciples the first time, he said to them, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (Jn. 20:21) Even when Jesus was no longer visible in this world, his disciples would carry on his mission. And what was his mission? He tells that to his disciples, too.
"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (Jn. 20:23) Jesus told his disciples that they could announce his forgiveness. And how would they announce his forgiveness By announcing that Jesus had died and risen! By telling the good news of the gospel message. And the disciples did tell their message in writing down Jesus' story in the words of the Bible.
And when we read that message in the Bible of our forgiveness, we actually get that forgiveness. The Holy Spirit works through that gospel message to give faith and strengthen faith in that forgiveness. The same thing happens here on Sunday mornings. You confess your sins, and what do I say? "God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Those words aren't a sham. They're real. And they're not real because I said them. They're real because Jesus died and rose again. They're real because Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them the authority to forgive sins. And when our sins are forgiven like this, it strengthens our faith. It builds up our confidence in what our Risen Savior has done. It reminds us that God does keep his promises, that our sins are forgiven.
Yes, we haven't seen Jesus alive with our own eyes. But we don't need to. For us, believing is seeing. We see the Risen Jesus by faith. Our faith is strengthened in his Word. Our faith grows when we hear that our sins -- even our doubts -- are forgiven. Our faith grows in the Savior who was dead but is alive forever and ever. And we look forward to seeing him in heaven, to see and touch his hands and side. To see, not just by faith, but also by sight, just exactly what God's love has done for us.
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