The first Easter was a busy day for Jesus. First thing - He got out of the grave and spoke to Mary and the other women and told them what to do. Then He walked seven miles to Emmaus with two disciples. He broke bread with them and came back to Jerusalem for the event we just read about. He first blessed them with “peace be with you” and then commissioned them as those who are sent (apostelon) just as the father had sent Him to the world.
Thomas might have gone to the restroom or he might have gone out for a walk to console himself in grief. But when he returned, the others said, “We’ve seen the Lord. Jesus was here.” And Thomas didn’t believe them. His reaction was like saying, “’Peace be with you?’ Yeah, right! I don’t believe you. I won’t believe – until I can put my fingers in the holes in his hands and side.” That’s an act of Thomas’ will. And that’s something that speaks to all of us. It begs the question, “Are we going to believe or are we not going to believe.” And you know we’re not going to believe unless we WANT to believe. Each of us have a decision to make: either I will believe or I will not believe. Kierkegaard called this the “either/or” of faith. When we defy Proverbs 3:5 and lean on our own understanding, then we are saying “I will believe when I can be convinced, empirically that this is so – then I’ll believe.” So we can WILL to believe or WILL not to believe that Jesus is resurrected and was standing there before those other disciples.
The following Sunday – Jesus came back with the same greeting and this time Thomas was with all the other disciples. Now if Jesus went to all the trouble of getting crucified to get us into the kingdom, it doesn’t seem strange that He came back to get Thomas. Thomas was part of the team and when the commissioning came on he was not there. Jesus came back, because He wanted Thomas on the team and He made Thomas aware of His resurrection.
This gospel passage is traditionally used on the Sunday after Easter every year, because this is an important passage. And what makes it important is that this is when it happened. And that makes a difference. Christianity is based on factual events that actually happened in a moment in history. At a moment in time God called Abraham and told him He found a family. God in a moment in history spoke to Moses and said, “You go back into Egypt and let my people go, bring my people out.” At a moment in history a real virgin had a real baby in a place called Bethlehem. At a moment in history that baby had grown up and went into the water and was baptized. There were other people, who saw each event. In a moment in history this man Jesus performed all kinds of miracles with many witnesses. He fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He made the lame walk and even raised the dead and expelled evil spirits. At specific moments in time these things actually happened and that’s the difference between Christianity and all the other faiths that people profess around the world.
These events really did happen. And the people in the scripture really had the same kind of feelings that you and I have. They were tempted and purged like you and me. When Thomas said to the eyewitnesses, “I don’t believe you,” then he fell out of fellowship with the other disciples. One of us might respond the same way, if you excused yourself for a moment from this sanctuary only to miss out on a great miracle. You might tell the rest of us who experienced the event, “I don’t believe you.”
Each of us might try to convince you in different ways: “You don’t believe us . . . that means you don’t trust us.” Our mutual fellowship and faith would be damaged. Some of us would feel sad for you. Somebody might feel like you’re calling us liars or you’re saying we’re crazy. And we’d feel offended and hurt.
But the Thomas-in-us wants tangible proof, because it’s too important a thing to happen without reasoning and drawing logical conclusions. Some of you have attended the Brownsville Revival or a Billy Graham Crusade when hundreds of people were being saved every night. When I joined Billy’s evangelism team in 1996 I was still trying to explain logically what God does in people’s lives. Last Thursday the Gideons and I handed out close to 800 New Testaments to law enforcement and 911 communications personnel who started immediately reading what I had tried to get them to do for two years. This was for me a powerful witness that Jesus still shows up in our everyday lives.
Jail chaplain, Tom Bridges witnessed vivid proof the other day when he experienced his first demon possession and deliverance at the close of a worship service with female inmates. One of the women moved around a lot and seemed to be hurting. She consented to letting him anoint her and pray for her, but the Lord spoke to his heart and told Tom to stop. The Lord told Tom, “I don’t want you to lay hands on her and pray for her. I want you to point your finger at her and caste the demons out.” He obeyed and just pointed his finger at her and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ get out of her.” She immediately raised about 18 inches and fell to the floor with her legs bowed under her torso. She dragged her body across the floor. Her eyes went completely white. Her tongue started to hiss like a snake. Two correctional officers were poised to use mace. After a few minutes of this he offered to help the woman off the floor while asking her name. Her eyes opened and she gently said, “My name is Shirley - Peace be with you.”
Dear Heavenly Father, Your Son and Holy Spirit are still showing up in our lives to say, “Peace be with you.” Thank You for Your facts and events in scripture and in our lives that are so real – that are not made up as delusions or apparitions. For all knees shall bow and tongues confess, Jesus Christ is Lord, in His name, Amen.
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