John 20:19-31
“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 big SO THAT, the chief motivation for John to write his gospel, and for that matter, for all the gospel writers. So that you may come to believe.
Now, we tend to use the word believe as if it means to have an opinion. “I believe it is going to rain today.” The word has a much deeper meaning as it is used in the Bible. There is intellectual content of course, but there is also an element of trust and confidence, and even loyalty, to the word believe.
Now, how does this belief happen? What causes it?
The kind of proof we need to believe in Jesus is not the kind of proof that we need if we are, say, developing a cure for cancer. It is not scientific, experimental, verifiable proof that we need. It is more like the kind of proof we need for falling in love. Ian and I know about this. We had only known each other 3 months when we decided to get married. And then we were only engaged for 5 weeks! 4 months from start to, well, not to finish, because that was only the start after all, and we're still going, after 38 years. We didn't need a lot of proof that we were a good match – and we were right.
Thomas thought that he needed tangible proof. “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.” He wanted proof that he could touch. But in the end, he didn't need that much proof. There is no indication that he actually did touch Jesus. When he saw Jesus and heard his voice, that was enough – he fell to his knees: “My Lord and my God!”
And there are many who don't even have this amount of proof – who just hear the story, and believe. And they are blessed.
Now I think there are 3 stages to coming to belief in Jesus. 1. We are attracted by the story, we want to believe it is true. 2. We decide to believe it is true, and start to behave as if it is true. 3. We get affirmation of the truth of our belief by what we experience.
This is also true in the process of falling in love: I first met Ian and just knew that we would be good friends. I decided that he was worth getting to know better. Then as we spent time together, we found more and more reasons to keep spending time together.
So the process of coming to belief in Jesus is much like falling in love with someone: You hear the story of Jesus; you decide that it would be worthwhile to be one of his followers; and as you act like his follower, you have experiences that convince you that you were right; everything about him is true.
What is the proof for you? Some people have had supernatural experiences. One man I know was baptized in a river as an adult. He says that while he was under the water, he could feel the pastor holding his hand, but he could feel another hand in his other hand, and he knew that it was God's. Some people have dreams or visions. Some people just have a sense of a comforting presence. All these are valid signs of the presence of God, proofs that the Jesus story is true.
But there is another affirmation that the gospel is true: the love and fellowship that is found in the church. It is significant that Thomas, after he was not present at the first appearance of Jesus, did give up. He was still with the community when Jesus appeared again. He didn't abandon his friends because he thought they were deluded. He still hung around with them.
The kind of love that the early church had for one another is so beautifully described in our first lesson from Acts: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and... everything they owned was held in common.” And in the second lesson: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.”
Because when we believe, we have no need anymore to SEE the body of the risen Christ. We ARE the body of the risen Christ. WE are the proof that Jesus is alive.
Now, walking in the light, as John says, means being honest with one another. It means being honest with ourselves about our faults and our shortcomings. It means forgiving one another. We cut each other some slack because we are all struggling with some sin or other, if we are honest about it. And Jesus tells us to forgive one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we retain the sins of any, they are retained. We have to let go of them, let go of all our grudges and hard feelings from the past, and forgive one another freely, in order to set each other free.
In a world where everybody seems to be promoting their own agendas and putting up a perfect front for the world to see, covering up their inadequacies, it can be refreshing to be among a people who are humble and honest and forgiving. And this is the final proof that Jesus is alive.
People will fall in love with Jesus when they not only hear his story but see him in the flesh. And that's us, folks. We are the body of Christ. A bit broken, but filled with new life, the life of the Spirit, eternal life. Thanks be to God! Amen.
“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 big SO THAT, the chief motivation for John to write his gospel, and for that matter, for all the gospel writers. So that you may come to believe.
Now, we tend to use the word believe as if it means to have an opinion. “I believe it is going to rain today.” The word has a much deeper meaning as it is used in the Bible. There is intellectual content of course, but there is also an element of trust and confidence, and even loyalty, to the word believe.
Now, how does this belief happen? What causes it?
The kind of proof we need to believe in Jesus is not the kind of proof that we need if we are, say, developing a cure for cancer. It is not scientific, experimental, verifiable proof that we need. It is more like the kind of proof we need for falling in love. Ian and I know about this. We had only known each other 3 months when we decided to get married. And then we were only engaged for 5 weeks! 4 months from start to, well, not to finish, because that was only the start after all, and we're still going, after 38 years. We didn't need a lot of proof that we were a good match – and we were right.
Thomas thought that he needed tangible proof. “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.” He wanted proof that he could touch. But in the end, he didn't need that much proof. There is no indication that he actually did touch Jesus. When he saw Jesus and heard his voice, that was enough – he fell to his knees: “My Lord and my God!”
And there are many who don't even have this amount of proof – who just hear the story, and believe. And they are blessed.
Now I think there are 3 stages to coming to belief in Jesus. 1. We are attracted by the story, we want to believe it is true. 2. We decide to believe it is true, and start to behave as if it is true. 3. We get affirmation of the truth of our belief by what we experience.
This is also true in the process of falling in love: I first met Ian and just knew that we would be good friends. I decided that he was worth getting to know better. Then as we spent time together, we found more and more reasons to keep spending time together.
So the process of coming to belief in Jesus is much like falling in love with someone: You hear the story of Jesus; you decide that it would be worthwhile to be one of his followers; and as you act like his follower, you have experiences that convince you that you were right; everything about him is true.
What is the proof for you? Some people have had supernatural experiences. One man I know was baptized in a river as an adult. He says that while he was under the water, he could feel the pastor holding his hand, but he could feel another hand in his other hand, and he knew that it was God's. Some people have dreams or visions. Some people just have a sense of a comforting presence. All these are valid signs of the presence of God, proofs that the Jesus story is true.
But there is another affirmation that the gospel is true: the love and fellowship that is found in the church. It is significant that Thomas, after he was not present at the first appearance of Jesus, did give up. He was still with the community when Jesus appeared again. He didn't abandon his friends because he thought they were deluded. He still hung around with them.
The kind of love that the early church had for one another is so beautifully described in our first lesson from Acts: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and... everything they owned was held in common.” And in the second lesson: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.”
Because when we believe, we have no need anymore to SEE the body of the risen Christ. We ARE the body of the risen Christ. WE are the proof that Jesus is alive.
Now, walking in the light, as John says, means being honest with one another. It means being honest with ourselves about our faults and our shortcomings. It means forgiving one another. We cut each other some slack because we are all struggling with some sin or other, if we are honest about it. And Jesus tells us to forgive one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we retain the sins of any, they are retained. We have to let go of them, let go of all our grudges and hard feelings from the past, and forgive one another freely, in order to set each other free.
In a world where everybody seems to be promoting their own agendas and putting up a perfect front for the world to see, covering up their inadequacies, it can be refreshing to be among a people who are humble and honest and forgiving. And this is the final proof that Jesus is alive.
People will fall in love with Jesus when they not only hear his story but see him in the flesh. And that's us, folks. We are the body of Christ. A bit broken, but filled with new life, the life of the Spirit, eternal life. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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