Come to Believe

Come to Believe from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


1 John1:1-2:2
1We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - 2this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us - 3we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not know what is true; 7but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

John 20:19-31
19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has send me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24But Thomas (who was called the Twin) one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him,”My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

The day of Resurrection is a big deal in the life of the church. It's traditionally the highest attended worship service of the year. We have special music and decorate the sanctuary, sometimes the service may even run a little long...

The resurrection is a big deal in the life of the church, so much so that Easter is not just a single day, but a season! Mary's discovery of the empty tomb kicks off fifty days of resurrection joy, a joy so great that by the time we begin worship on the second Sunday of Easter, scripture has not caught up with us, and we join the disciples gathered behind locked doors on the evening of the same day Jesus rose from the dead.

The footrace to the tomb began a week ago for us, but for the disciples it happened early this morning. Peter and the beloved disciple have seen that the tomb was empty, but they have not seen the risen Jesus. "When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.” Reaching back to the Genesis 1 account of creation, we see the light of the world appear on the first day of a world made new through the cross and the empty tomb. On the first day, Jesus came and stood among them in a locked room.

Fear drives us into locked rooms more often than we might like to admit. Sometimes we lock ourselves in because we’re worried what might happen if we came out, sometimes forces outside our control push us into those locked rooms. For the disciples, it was the very real fear of persecution for who they were, who God had created them and called them to be, that locked them in that room. But if the power of sin and death couldn’t stop Jesus from being with us, what are a few fears and a simple lock.

In the midst of our fear on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, Jesus gives us a gift, “Jesus came and stood among them and said ‘Peace be with you.’” Surrounded by turmoil and a world that is being reshaped around our risen Lord, the fearful disciples are first and foremost given peace. God is still working on us, just as God did not abandon us to the mess we had made of the world, so God does not leave us alone in our fear. Taken out of their fear and given peace, the disciples are able to see Christ as who he is, the Word made flesh, the Son of God, and Jesus of Nazareth, their Lord, their master, their teacher, their friend. “Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

In two verses, the disciples have gone from closeting themselves away in a locked room somewhere to rejoicing! But Jesus isn’t done with them yet: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” It is a little silly to rejoice in a room that is still locked. God is still working on the disciples, teaching them how to live in a world remade by the resurrection. Their fear has turned to peace, and then to rejoicing, but it’s not enough to stay in their locked room, Jesus is sending them out into the world. Not only is God still working on them, God is working through them through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But not all of them were gathered there that day. Not all of them received the peace of Christ, not all of them had the opportunity to rejoice when they saw the Lord. The disciples received the Holy Spirit and a commission to leave their locked doors and go into God’s world among God’s people, “But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas gets a bad rap for this. The phrase “doubting Thomas” crept into our language and is thrown around any time someone is wrongfully unsupportive of a person or idea. Scripture, on the other hand, does not refer to Thomas as “doubter.” Jesus does not condemn his unbelief. Thomas was not locked in the same house as the other disciples when Jesus appeared among them. Scripture doesn’t tell us why Thomas was absent from this fearful gathering of the faithful, it just said he wasn’t there to experience the risen Lord.

He’s only asking for the same gift the other disciples have received. After Jesus said “Peace be with you… he showed them his hands and his side.” Thomas only wants the same experience as the rest of the disciples before he is expected to believe this amazing and crazy story of resurrection. It would be easy for us to condemn him for his lack of faith, to just write him off as an unbelieving sinner, but God’s not done with Thomas.

Now the Bible story and our story catch up to one another, a week has gone by since Jesus first appeared to his disciples, and we find ourselves gathered in this house of worship. The disciples, likewise, “were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” Even though Thomas insisted on the same proof the disciples had already seen, he continued to gather with them, and seven days later Jesus appeared to them again, bringing greetings in the same manner as the last time he appeared to them.

This time it’s an appearance just for Thomas, bringing the resurrection into his skepticism, intervening directly into the life of someone on whom God is still working. “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe.’” In the midst of our doubt, Jesus appears and invites us to experience him and to set aside the fear that causes us to lock ourselves inside, to set aside the doubt that keeps us from experiencing how the world has changed. Jesus chases Thomas down because God is still working on him, and will work through him to proclaim the resurrection and the glory of God. Thomas is invited to do as he said he would, to place his finger in the marks of the nails and his hand in Jesus’s side.

But when faced with the risen Christ, Thomas doesn’t need to reach out for proof. “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” In spite of all his fear, all his doubt, Thomas joyfully proclaims the identity of Jesus Christ. We call him doubting, and he calls out “My Lord and my God!” Even in unbelief, even behind closed doors, or in a room locked by fear, God is still working on us so that we can proclaim to the world who Jesus of Nazareth is: “My Lord and my God!”

With Thomas’s heartfelt confession of faith, I imagine Jesus giving an affection chuckle as he says, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” This affectionate reply and blessing is the heart of this passage, because all of the disciples have seen Jesus at this point. The blessing is for the generations of Christians who come after, who have come to believe through the Holy Spirit. In other words, the church.

Coming to believe is a process, just as the disciples gathered in fear, moved to peace, then joy, and then were sent out, so too we are in a process of coming out of our fear-locked rooms. God is still working on us, and continues to guide us in faith even though our salvation has long-since been accomplished. We are coming to believe so that we can learn to live in a world remade by resurrection, where we don’t have to fear death, because we know our redeemer lives, even though he died.

We cannot imagine what God can do, and we cannot imagine what God is doing through us in a world that’s still figuring out how to live its redemption. We know the stories of those who have gone before us, and we know that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.” God’s reach stretches out beyond what we have read and into what we are living. “But these are written sot hat you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

We have the life of the risen Lord, it’s already given to us. As we come to believe more and more, we are more able to trust it and stretch Easter from a single Sunday to a season, and then to a new way of living as people who are not slaves to sin or death or fear. We have been sent out by the one who came out of the empty tomb.

The tomb was empty that first Easter morning, and 2000 years later the tomb is still empty. Therefore let us trust this good news, and live as people of the resurrection, not because we have seen everything, but because of the blessing of having not seen, and yet coming to believe. We have come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and on that sure foundation we, the people of God can stand and proclaim the true salvation, crying out in joy, “My Lord, and my God!”