4/7 Sermon - Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe

John 20:19-31

A group of children play basketball in the backyard. Soon enough, they start trying to make trick shots. Behind the back. Backwards. Behind the basket. Front the street. Then mom calls out; the cookies are fresh out of the oven. They all race inside. Except. One kid goes as far away as possible, turns his back to the basket, and launches the ball. He turns just in time to see the basketball swish in the net. He runs to tell the others what happened. “Yeah right. No one saw it! You have no proof.” The friend’s doubt.

-          We have a similar problem today in the Easter season with doubt. “He is risen, he is risen indeed,” we say. But where’s the proof? There might be some doubt in our hearts. And this doubt grows! There are other things that we can doubt as well in Scripture, like the teachings on men & women., sexuality, life. Some people doubt just how important God’s Word is, and they’d rather spend their Sundays doing something else. Some of us even doubt God’s forgiveness. “Could God forgive me for the sin that I’ve done?” We doubt.

-          What if it’s all a trick? Fake? How can we really trust in the resurrection. Today our reading focuses on doubt.

Our reading begins on the Easter Sunday Evening. vv. 19-22. The women had seen Jesus, had told the disciples that Jesus had risen. Peter and John raced to the tomb and found it empty. But it was an Easter let-down. Although the women told them about Jesus, they doubted. Easter joy turned to Easter fear. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They locked the doors and hid inside.

-          Then out of nowhere Jesus appears! It’s so simple in the reading, right? Jesus came and stood among them. It’s a miracle! What does Jesus do? Jesus shows hard, first-hand evidence that he is risen. He points the disciples to his body. Come and. Touch the nail marks. Feel my pierced side. I was dead. Now I am alive. The first thing that Jesus did with his disciples it point to his crucifixion and resurrection, point to the marks on his body that prove it.

-          Then Jesus does something even more amazing; he tells them the results of his crucifixion and resurrection. 1) Peace be with you. They have peace because Jesus destroyed death.. 2) If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. They have forgiveness because he died for our sin. 3) Receive the Holy Spirit. He sent the promised Holy Spirit with this gospel message.

But one disciple. was not present. Vv. 24-25. Thomas has been famously dubbed, Doubting Thomas.

-          The world holds the same doubt, right? ‎”You have a God who died and rose? A God who controls all things? Alright, show me proof. Do a miracle. Raise someone from the dead.”

-          We can have the same doubts in our heart as well. “Did Jesus really rise from the dead? How do I know? How can I really, really know? Did it really happen? Is it a trick?

-          As I said before, other doubts come alive in our hearts: “Can I trust what’s in this 2000-year-old book?  Should I believe the bible when our culture is so opposed on issues like life, sexuality and gender? Why should I go to church, spend time with God when I have so many other things to do? I have sinned, horribly; has God really forgiven me?

-          We doubt. How do we deal with this doubt?

The same way Jesus does. Vv. 26-28. What did Jesus do? He did the exact same thing with the other disciples. He pointed to the mail marks in his hands. The mark on his side. He showed Thomas proof of his crucifixion and resurrection. And he said, “Stop doubting and believe!”

-          Doubting Thomas sees the proofs of the cross, Jesus’ death, the resurrection, and at once confesses his faith.

-          Now, wait a second. How in the world does that apply to us? To me? I can’t see Jesus! Jesus doesn’t appear in front of me when I start to doubt! We can’t feel the nail marks in his hands and touch his side!

-          There is a time and place for reason and logic. We can make some pretty strong arguments to defend the Bible. There are some here. Jesus doesn’t appear to us, but The Gospels and Paul’s epistles are filled with eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ resurrection.

-          However, in the end, Jesus does not appear to us. I don’t have proof or evidence for you of Jesus’ resurrection.

-          Where does that leave us, today?

“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” Jesus speaks to us.

-          As Jesus appeared to Thomas, he was thinking about you. Even 2,000 years ago, Jesus was thinking about you. “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” Right now, we don’t see Jesus.

-          I think “see” has a couple different meanings.

-          We cannot physically see Jesus. He doesn’t appear in front of us! We can’t touch him. And so I can’t prove to you that Jesus has risen.

-          We also can’t logically “see” Jesus sometimes. Here’s what I mean: Jesus doesn’t always make sense to us. There is quite a lot in Scripture that doesn’t make logical sense to us. It’s a struggle for us to believe. The resurrection of Jesus? The triune God? Jesus who is both God and man? Even some doctrines of Scripture we might really struggle with, like creation, roles of men and women, gender, or whatever else.

-          We have a hard time ‘seeing’ because we’re not God.

Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe. Jesus does the same thing for us that he did for Thomas and for the disciples.

-          He points us to his hands. His feet. He invites us to see his side. He says, “Look. I was dead, but now I am risen from the grave. Hear and believe!”

-          The is the gospel: Look at the cross. Jesus hung on the cross and suffered and died for our sin. This is the gospel: look at the tomb. Jesus died, rose, and destroyed death. Jesus proclaims to us the same exact thing he proclaimed to the disciples.

-          Jesus answers our doubts by proclaiming the good news: Because of his death and resurrection, do you know what we have? The peace of eternal life. The forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit living in our hearts.

-          This is what John is saying in vv. 30-31. These words are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name.

-          We doubt. It’s a struggle we’ll have our whole life on this earth. Did But Jesus gives us the gospel of Jesus, true life, to answer our doubts. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. You are blessed with eternal life.

-          I understand what I’m saying. I am not really giving proof for our doubts. I’m not making the resurrection a solved detective case. What I’m saying is this: the good news of Jesus is the most beautiful truth in this world. It’s the truth that we have peace and forgiveness. We can see that. We can know that.   

How does this look practically? How does this play out in real life? Paul shows us a great example in our third reading.  Read Acts 18.

-          Paul was traveling on a mission journey, and he stopped in Corinth, a huge city in Greece. Although they were in Israel, there was still a large number of Jews in Corinth. Paul found this group of Jews, and what did he do?

-          We’re told that Paul reasoned with them in their synagogues, and tried to persuade the Jews and Greeks that Jesus was their Savior.

-          What happened? They rejected Paul! They rejected his message. Even though Paul saw Jesus face-to-face, even though God spoke directly to Paul, even though God appeared to Paul in a vision in this reading, the Jews in Corinth still rejected his message.

-          Do you know what that means for us? Even if God spoke to us face-to-face or in a vision, and sent us out to invite people in Burlington, many people would still reject the message of Jesus.

What happened in Corinth? The gospel message of Jesus exploded! Many people who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

-          What a second. These people had no proof that Jesus rose. The risen Savior didn’t appear to them in visions. I’m sure they had doubts, like we do, like Thomas did, that God didn’t answer. But they still believed.

-          Why did people believe? Because of what the apostle Paul taught. Paul’s message is the exact same as our message is today. We point people to the nail marks on Jesus body. The risen Savior. We proclaim that Jesus died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life.

-          Why did people believe? The holy Spirit blessed Paul’s words. The Holy Spirit was there. And the Holy Spirit is with us too, as we proclaim this message

God gave Paul a beautiful promise. Keep preaching. I am with you. I have many people in this city. My Word creates faith.

-          We have that same promise. God is with us. We keep preaching and believing the simple of Jesus crucified and risen, the easter message.

Doubt. That’s what we talked about. Doubt is all around us. It’s in our heart. How do we know, for sure, that Jesus rose from the dead? Why should we trust what’s in the bible? What if it’s a trick?

-          Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.

-          Jesus was talking to you. I can’t prove the resurrection. I can’t show you conclusive evidence like a detective show.

-          What I can do is this: Look at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Look at what the Easter message gives you

-          And you CAN see the results of that. You can see the Holy Spirit working, even today, bringing people to faith. We do know the peace that is ours, that we have the promise of eternal life. We do know the forgiveness that is ours, that our guilt is wiped away.