Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed

 Read John 20

The morning of the first day brought revelation but not complete understanding.  Jesus was no longer in the tomb. His body had not been taken as was Mary’s initial concern.

Mary had subsequently seen and spoken with the resurrected Jesus, and told the disciples.  We have no evidence that they returned to the tomb.

It seems they were scared.  Jesus had been killed. He told them that he was giving his life but in their minds, they could be next on the cross.  They were scared.

Gathered in one place—well everyone except Thomas—and behind locked doors, they gathered for their evening meal.  They were surely fearful of a knock at the door.  The Sanhedrin could come calling any minute, and they would not come alone.  Their guards—soldiers if you will—would be with them.

They got what they wanted with Jesus.  They had their way. They even got the Romans to do the dirty work. The religious hierarchy and the Roman government had no idea that they were parts of a bigger plan.

The disciples wondered; would they be next?  Would they come tonight? Imagine trying to settle in and get comfortable for the evening meal knowing that there might come a knock at the door.

Or would they even knock?  Would they just kick in the door and seize everyone inside?  I’m not sure what the rule was on No-Knock Warrants back then. 

You might feel better being in a locked room but you had no peace.  Jesus had appeared to Mary, but the disciples had only her word for it.  They were still scared.

And then came Jesus.  He didn’t even knock.  He just appeared in the locked room. 

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit

That initial appearance packed a big wallop. 

·       Peace to you

·       You are commissioned to go into the world—you are sent

·       Receive the Holy Spirit

Surely, the disciples experienced joy, but it might take a bit for them to know peace.  They were gathered and scared, but Jesus told them as his Father had sent him, he was sending them.  He had discussed this in the hours before his death.

And finally, he gave them the Holy Spirit.  Hold on.  I thought the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, some 50 days later.  Jesus gave the Spirit at this time but it would not be fully manifested in them until that day of Pentecost.  Some things take time to produce fruit.

They would be filled with the Spirit in a few weeks, but Thomas missed this meeting.  Thomas did not accept the accounts of his fellow disciples.  He needed convincing.  He had to see for himself.

Thomas was not asking for more than the others had received.  Thomas wanted to see the resurrected Jesus with his own eyes.

That’s the model the world uses:  Seeing is believing.

We have a different model:  Believing is seeing.  Paul would say that we walk by—live by—faith not sight. 

Thomas wanted the world’s model.  He wanted to see for himself.  After all, the others said they had seen.  Thomas got what he asked for.  Jesus arrived in the locked room a week later and Thomas was there.

I’m guessing that the other disciples having seen Jesus in his resurrected body still thought it prudent to keep the door locked, but that’s a separate discussion.

Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him to touch whatever he needed to believe it was his Lord.  Thomas fell to his knees proclaiming my Lord and my God. Further inspection was not required.

Jesus spoke to Thomas and surely the other disciples, but he spoke of us.  He said you believed because you saw.  Blessed are those who didn’t get to see me first hand but still believe.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We have not seen; yet we have believed.  We are blessed for we have believed.

We move from this encounter to the first of John’s short epilogues. There is another at the end of the next chapter, but this one is especially for us.

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name

We were not there.  We did not see first hand but we have these accounts in the gospels so that we might believe and have life in Christ.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Amen.

John 11 - Part 1

Read John 11

Here’s the cast for today’s drama:

Jesus

12 disciples (Thomas gets a speaking part)

Mary and Martha who are sisters

Lazarus (Brother to Mary and Martha and on his last leg)

People coming and going and believing in Jesus

Some unnamed messengers

A crowd in Bethany (Much like those in previous chapters).  These folks don’t show up until later.

Jesus and his disciples were at the Jordan where John the Baptizer began his ministry.  They were taking a break from Jerusalem and Judea.  There was a growing contingent of Jews there that wanted Jesus out of the way.  Killing him would be an acceptable option.

There were also those coming to Jesus at the Jordan who were seeking the truth and they found him and they believed, but the atmosphere at the Jordan was a little more relaxed than in Jerusalem.  Still, Jesus was moving closer to the cross.

News came that Lazarus, a friend to Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha, had fallen sick.  It surely must have been serious for the sisters to send word to Jesus.  If you had a runny nose or allergies, that might not be newsworthy.  I’m thinking it was COVID-1 or COVID-2, but that’s just speculation. 

We don’t know if the messengers were masked or not, but Jesus knew exactly what was happening.  He announced this sickness will not end in death. 

Upon hearing the news of Lazarus’s illness, Jesus decided to stay at the Jordan for two more days. This is just speculation again, but I think that the disciples had booked the Jordan-side resort through AirBnB and had paid for the full week and it was nonrefundable.

We know that’s not the case.  Jesus said that this sickness came up Lazarus so that the Son of Man could glorify God through what he would do.  It would also be the tipping point in the plot to kill Jesus.

As often was the case, the disciples seemed clueless.

After the two days, Jesus told his disciples that they were headed to Judea.  That brought the relaxed time at the Jordan to an end.  Was their Master getting Sometimers Disease?  Did he not remember that just a very short time agon they were ready to stone him in Jerusalem?

Then Jesus gave them another light and darkness, day and night quip to think on.  Maybe it was to give them something to talk about on the walk to Bethany.

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.  It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Here’s the quiz that goes back to chapter one and we revisit time and again. 

Who is the light of the world?

If you are walking with Jesus, you will not stumble.  When your shepherd is the Good Shepherd, you are in good company. 

The disciples still didn’t get the big picture.  Jesus had to be very blunt with them, they did not pick up on he is sleeping analogy. 

Lazarus is dead.

Had the disciples been paying attention, they might have remembered Jesus saying that this sickness would not end in death.  So here was their dichotomy.

·       Either Jesus finally got one wrong, or…

·       There was more to come.  Something unbelievable.

Evidently while they were questioning their Master’s judgment in returning to the region where people stood ready to kill Jesus, they had some short-term memory loss.  There is no recorded discussion about the sickness that was upon Lazarus not ending in death.

They should have been able to connect the dots for the man who turned water into wine, fed a multitude with a couple fish and a little bread, walked on water, and opened the eyes of a man born blind.

They should have been expecting great things ahead of them; instead, they seemed certain that certain death awaited them.

Thomas, who is known most for doubting that Jesus had been raised from the dead—that comes later too, here commits to his own death out of loyalty to Jesus.  It has a little machismo to it.  Today is a good day to die.

I could put this into Marine Corps jargon:  Come on you %$#&, do you want to live forever?

This is Charge of the Light Brigade stuff, with Thomas shouting Half a league onward.  It was much farther than a mile and a half to Bethany, but the cavalier spirit in the face of death was obvious.

Jesus knew what he would do in Bethany.  The disciples didn’t pick up on what he had told them.  Perhaps Jesus didn’t want them advertising what he would do in advance.

Whatever the reasons, the disciples followed into what Thomas portrayed as certain death.

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

The disciples could not see the next miracle.  Perhaps it was beyond what they thought even their Master could do.  The man’s dead and they couldn’t leave him out overnight, so he is probably already in the tomb.  This would be a good time to send flowers.

But Jesus was going to Bethany and so too were his disciples.

Thomas seems to be forever saddled with the moniker of Doubting Thomas, but here I would like to dub him Loyal Thomas.  The only thing that Thomas could see ahead of him was death; yet he followed his Master.

He followed his Master.

He followed.

How many times do we find ourselves in Thomas’s shoes?  How many times do we face situations where we can’t see a good outcome?  We can’t see what God will do for us.

We are called to have faith.  There was faith in the loyalty of Thomas.  He didn’t know what was ahead and it looked like death, but he would follow his Master.

So here is what we should chew on for a time. 

When following Jesus appears to be unprofitable, will we follow anyway?

When following him appears to be costly, will we follow anyway?

When following Jesus might cost us everything, will we follow anyway?

Things in this out of control world might get worse.  They might get much worse for those called Christian.  Will you follow him anyway?

Follow him.  Trust him.  Live for him. Die for him if that is what faith requires.

Follow him even if it costs you everything for your place with him for eternity has already been prepared.

Now while we still have some breathing room is the time to prepare ourselves to follow him even if it costs us everything.

Amen.