Believing is believing
Rumc Easter week 2, 2010
· If I say the name Judas, what word comes to mind? Many of you say “betray" but not all of you.
· If I were to mention Simon Peter, some of you would say "faith," but not all of you.
· If I were to mention the names of James and John, some of you would say "Sons of Thunder," but not all of you.
· But when I mention the word Thomas, there is little question that most everyone would say what?. . . “Doubt.” In fact, Thomas is so closely associated with doubt that we have coined a phrase to describe him: "Doubting Thomas."
Do you know that in the first three gospels say absolutely nothing at all about Thomas? It is only in John's Gospel that he emerges as a distinct personality, but even then there are only 155 words about him. There is not a lot about this disciple in the Bible but there is enough.
When Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem the disciples thought that it would be certain death for all of them. Which disciple said, “Then let us go so that we may die with him.” THOMAS It was a courageous statement, yet we don't remember him for that.
When he missed Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples, which disciple asked for the same opportunity the rest of the guys got? THOMAS. That is the context of his words, I will not believe unless . . . “But we don’t look at it that way do we.
When Jesus appeared which disciple bowed down in an earth shattering confession of faith “My Lord, and my God." Not teacher. Not Lord. Not Messiah. But God! It is the only place where Jesus is called God without qualification of any kind. THOMAS. These are certainly not the words of a doubter.
Even if we continue to call Thomas the doubter,
· How different is his first reaction than the women who accused the gardener of stealing his body.
· How different is Thomas from the materialist Sadducees who didn’t’ believe in a bodily resurrection.
· How different is Thomas from the millions of people throughout history who have said, “I don’t know- ‘now you see him, now you don’t, now you see him again’ doesn’t seem like God’s game.”
· How different is he from those who say he must not have really died?
· How different is he from those who say he was a ghost?
· How different is he from those who say I just don’t know
· How different is Thomas from those who have tried many times to use historical of scientific methods to prove or disprove the resurrection.
· How different is Thomas from those who say the dead do not normally rise, and therefore Jesus could not rise from the dead.
· How different is Thomas from those who say I’ll follow Jesus because he was a great teacher. But this resurrection stuff is just too much?
· How different is Thomas from you and from me?
Preachers have spent way too much time trying to prove the resurrection to skeptical congregations. I have read so many sermons entitled “5” or “7” or “3” reasons to believe Jesus was raised from the grave sermons that I begin to ask myself, “Who are they really trying to convince? The congregation or themselves?
Let me show you the best evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1. I’ll start right here. Do you think I could have gone out and followed a career path that would make me more money? Sure I could have, and I might have, if the real power of the resurrection hadn’t grabbed hold of me while I was still in High School and changed both my goals and my values.
2. Do you think that after one church burning down and the other being on the edge of the 93 flood, after depression, suicide attempts, hospitalization mocking, after being stalked, harassed, threatened, and being told in a church council meeting that they ought to tar and feather me and run me out of town on a rail. Do you think that after successfully working in a couple of different industries, becoming a journeyman carpenter, starting my own business . . . do you think after all of that that there is any explanation for my standing here today is anything short of a living testimony to the power of the resurrection in my life?
Let’s look at you
1. I know of people in this congregation who have been raised from the grave of awful addictions to walk among us. Is there any explanation for that besides the power of the resurrection of Jesus?
2. I know of people who have survived awful, abusive childhoods or marriages, some who continue to suffer; yet sit here week after week. Is there any greater evidence of the reality and power of the resurrection than their presence in our midst?
3. I know of people here who have been down the road of mental illness; they daily struggle with the fear that it will come back or get out of control. How do you explain presence in our midst? Only because the power of the risen lord brings them here.
4. I know of some who have been through unspeakable illnesses, suffered, been on the brink of death, or walked through such illness with a loved one. Yet sit in our midst and testify to the love and the power of Jesus. Is there any explanation other than the work of a resurrected and living Christ at work in your lives today?
5. I have walked with some of you through the death of some dear people. We have walked away from their graves with our heads hanging low. Yet because the power of the risen and living Christ is proclaimed in our midst we have the hope to return on Sunday to sing halleluiah- AMEN.
YOU- AND YOU AND YOU AND ME ARE THE BEST EVIDENCE I CAM IMAGINE THAT JESUS LIVED, DIED AND LIVES AGAIN.
How many of you were here Wednesday night? Raise your hand. Can you imagine any greater proof that we serve a resurrected and living Jesus, than what you saw Wednesday night?
· I am sure there were some who went Wednesday night believing in their hearts that LIGHT would fail.
· Here we are in a congregation with an average age of somewhere around 60
· In a denomination with an average age of 62
· In a time in history when we have lost 6 million members from our denomination
· When the church is no longer marginalized but has been pushed off the page for most people.
· With people around us asking “Why can’t they come on Sunday? Or “Why should we make it easy for them?”—yes that question was really asked!!!
In that context we launched the first week of LIGHT.
Ø We had more high school students than we have had all year including one who hasn’t been here since confirmation a year and a half ago.
Ø We had ALL of the confirmation students here- which hasn’t happened in months, and they were alive and engaged!
Ø The children’s rooms were overflowing and we know of more who plan to come this week! There were two huge adult classes making the walls of their rooms bulge.
Ø There were God’s children of all ages sitting fully engaged in praising God, and hearing God’s word.
Ø There were people you may have never met sitting in your pews.
Ø There were people who hadn’t been to church in years smiling and talking about bringing friends.
If there is better evidence of the resurrection of Jesus than that I don’t know what it is!!!
Friends. We don’t need scientific proof. Friends, we don’t need to put our fingers in his hands and in his side. Friends, we don’t need to see the grave cloths ourselves. Friends, we don’t need to rely on our own private feelings, or hopes to prove the resurrection of Jesus. And though it is a powerful reminder we don’t need to rely on a 2000 year old story to prove to us that Jesus is alive and well in our world, in Reinbeck, in our congregation and in our lives.
Last week, on Easter, we celebrated that after that awful Friday and that dark Saturday came Sunday morning. The women left in brokenness and hopelessness and came running back from the tomb saying he’s loose! He’s loose!
Here we are a week after Easter- Just like the Thomas story. Today we remember the one called the doubter , but we remember him not for doubting but for testifying that Jesus really is not just set loose from the tomb, and set loose in Thomas life.
Today we look at the story of the resurrection and it is almost unbelievable. By that I mean it can’t be measured, explained, proven or disproven: except one single and miraculous way. When Jesus himself comes to stand in front of us. (I don’t mean bodily) I mean in you looking at me and me looking at you. I mean in all of us seeing in awe the living breathing Christ teeming in the faces that filled this sanctuary Wednesday night. I mean in each of us as we see in our mind’s eye the person we once were and the person Christ has made of us.
And there is only one response.
Some might say: evidence is believing. But that is not really believing.
Some might say: I’ll believe when I can touch it. But that is not really believing.
Some might say: seeing is believing But that is not really believing.
Some might say: feeling is believing But that is not really believing.
Some might say: proving is believing. But that is not really believing.
Jesus asks us to have faith. That is to say- we must believe simply because we believe that we believe that we believe.
To know that we know that we know. in the depths of our being.
To have faith is to say believing is believing.
To believe so deeply that with Thomas we leave all doubt behind and unashamedly fall on our knees in worship to exclaim my lord and my god.
Will you believe with me? If so let’s say it together. My Lord and My God! – My Lord and My God.
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