How Will It Change You?
Is there an event in your life that occurred in the past but continues to affect your life today? Was there a life-changing moment that has never been forgotten… that never grows old for you… a moment when your worldview shifted and you became a different person? Before you experienced this event, did anyone try to explain to you how your life would be different afterward? Did you believe them?
For many of us, there is more than one life-changing event that we remember with crystal clarity… events that still influence our words… and our actions today. For example, some of us can remember with vivid clarity the day that we graduated from high school… the day when … in the eyes of the world… we became an adult. Some of us can remember the day that we enlisted in the armed services… or the day that we got married… or the day that our first child was born. These so-called “rites of passage” are seminal events that can change us forever. Some of us can remember the day President Roosevelt died… VE Day… VJ Day… the day President Kennedy was killed… the day the Berlin wall fell… the day the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated… the day the war in Iraq began. For some, these events were merely news stories. For others, they were significant emotional events… life-changing events.
For Thomas, this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus was a life-changing event. Whatever he saw that night changed his beliefs… changed his life… changed him… forever. What was it that Thomas saw when Jesus stood before him and urged him… personally… to put his finger in the marks of the nails and his hand in his side? I believe that Thomas saw more than the apparition of a man… and what he believed he saw changed him forever. What was it that Thomas saw?
First of all, he saw irrefutable evidence of the power of God. The person… the man that Thomas knew was dead… was standing in front of him… alive. Contrary to all scientific reasoning, this dead human being was alive… breathing… talking… to him. It was a miracle… clear evidence of the power of God over death itself. But that was not the only evidence of the power of God. This man… the man who had been an ordinary human being that Thomas had known for several years… a man who had known hunger… thirst… weariness… pain… was now more than human… for this man could appear in a room when all the doors of the building were locked to keep human beings out. He somehow appeared before all the disciples without climbing in through the windows… or being lowered through the roof. If Thomas had not known it before… this man now had power that went beyond the power of an ordinary human being. But that was not all: the man standing before him was not a ghost. The resurrected Jesus was not an apparition… for this man told Thomas to touch him… to put his hands on his body… to put his finger into the mark of the nails and to put his hand into the wound in his side. This was not a dream… not a vision. This man was real… was physically alive! This was irrefutable evidence of the power of God.
On the heels of that realization, Thomas also saw something else. In the body of Jesus, Thomas saw clear evidence of the love of God. Everything that Jesus suffered on the night he was betrayed and the day that he was crucified could be seen in the body of the man that stood before him. Thomas could see the marks of the whip that tore the flesh off of Jesus’ body. Thomas could see the wounds on his head left by the crown of thorns given to him when the soldiers mocked him… derided him… spat on him. Thomas could see the marks of the nails in his hands… distinctive marks of crucifixion… a criminal’s death… an humiliating and excruciatingly painful way to die. And Thomas could see the mark of the spear thrust into Jesus’ side… the coup de grâce administered by a soldier to insure the death of this man… an unmistakable sign that he had died… for no one could have survived that wound. In the man standing before him, Thomas saw all that Jesus had suffered for his sake… all he had suffered even though… in the end… the disciples had deserted him and fled… including Thomas.
Even as the memory of that night… the memory of his cowardice… and the conviction of his own guilt overwhelmed him, Thomas saw… in the figure of the man standing before him… the evidence of the boundless grace of God. All of Thomas’ human frailty… his fear of the authorities… his cowardice in deserting Jesus… his doubt in Jesus’ resurrection… was forgiven. Even though he had abandoned Jesus… Jesus had not abandoned him. Instead, Jesus sought him out. Jesus revealed himself specifically to Thomas on this night… yet without anger… without bitterness… with no intent to punish him for his doubt… for his desertion… for his unbelief. Jesus met Thomas where he was… with all of his doubts and lack of faith… and encouraged him to believe. “Don’t just look,” he said… “but touch… put your finger here and your hand here… do whatever it takes for you to believe.” Jesus came to Thomas… as he comes to us… without anger… not to blame… not to punish… but to love us… and to teach us… and to reveal God’s boundless grace to all who do not yet believe.
Finally, in the figure of the man who stood before him, Thomas saw clear evidence of the wisdom of God. Jesus knew that those who doubt the most… once convinced… are the strongest believers. Jesus knew that if Thomas could be convinced of the reality of his resurrection, Thomas would never doubt him again. He knew that Thomas, the Believer, would go to the ends of the earth for him… which, as tradition holds, he did. In fact, he traveled farther than any other disciple… to India and to China… to share the good news. Jesus knew that, if Thomas believed, nothing would stop him from sharing the love and grace of God with others… that he would witness without fear… even of a martyr’s death… to all whom he met along the way.
How many of you have ever had a friend tell you something so unbelievable that you refused to believe what they said was the truth? You may have laughed at them… or teased them… for what they told you… even when another person backed up their story. How did you feel when you later learned that they were right? Didn’t you feel as if you needed to make it up to them somehow? Didn’t you need to ease your own guilt by doing something extra? Jesus knew that Thomas would never let him down again… that this clear evidence of Thomas’ own lack of trust… lack of faith… would cause him to be “über-faithful” in the future. What better way to turn a doubter into a zealot?
This is often the tactic used when this sermon is preached on the Sunday after Easter: The preacher puts us all in the place of Thomas… and then asks us why our own faith is so weak. I don’t want to do that today. Today… instead of Thomas… I want you to put yourself in the place of Andrew… or Matthew… or James… or Thaddaeus… or Philip… or Nathanael… or one of the ten other disciples. Imagine how you would feel if you saw Jesus on that first day of the week… the day that he was raised from the dead… the day that Mary Magdalene told you that she saw Jesus… but you did not believe her. What if Jesus had showed you the evidence of his own crucifixion? What if you… like Thomas… had seen the evidence of God’s power in Jesus’ living body… the evidence of God’s love in Jesus’ wounds… the evidence of God’s grace in forgiving you for your desertion and doubt? What if you had become a believer that first evening… and for a week, you had been trying to convince Thomas of your belief! You knew how he would feel when he finally learned the truth… if he ever learned the truth. Perhaps, you wanted to hit him over the head with a 2 X 4 for doubting you. How could he doubt when all ten of you saw Jesus… and were witnesses to it? How could he doubt your word? How frustrated would you be that you could not provide better proof? As frustrated as the rich man in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus? How angry would you be that he would not believe you? How badly would you want to say… on that second Sunday evening when Jesus appeared to Thomas… “You see… you idiot… I told you so.”
But Jesus did not do that. As much as Jesus had the right to berate Thomas… to chastise him… to rake him over the coals for all that he had done… or failed to do… Jesus did not do that. Instead, Jesus reached out to him in love… and used the opportunity to teach him… to gently guide him to where he needed to be. My friends, it was never Jesus’ “hellfire and damnation” preaching that won people’s hearts and souls. It was his unconditional love for sinners like you and me that won them over. It was his matchless example of the love and grace of God that touched their hearts.
Today, there is a sign on a marquee out on Route 377 here in Stephenville that reads: “Hell and punishment await unbelievers.” It was not hell and punishment that found Thomas that night… it was the love and the grace of God. It is the love and grace of God that wait for you and me… that will wait for us as long as it takes for us to believe. I believe that the love and grace of God await every unbeliever. That is what is so unbelievable about our God… that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Those arms were stretched wide for us… those nails were driven home for us… that man took the punishment for us… so that we would not have to suffer for our unbelief. The grace of God is unbelievable.
Yes, God would like us to believe everything on the words of a few witnesses. Yes, God would like us to be able to simply hear the Word and believe. But God also knows that there are those among us who still doubt… who still question… who still wonder… who still deny. That’s OK. God’s love… and God’s grace is sufficient… even for those who still doubt. Take all the time that you need. Put your finger in the marks of the nails… and your hand in his side. When you come to see all that Thomas saw that night… all the other ten disciples saw earlier… then you will know… beyond the shadow of a doubt… the power of God… the love of God… the grace of God… and the wisdom of God. You shall know the truth… and the truth shall set you free. Amen.
John 20:19-31