Sermon Title: "Seeing is Believing; Believing is Seeing"
Date: March 30, 2008
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  John 20:19-31

In some ways, I feel a bit like the Thomas in today’s gospel.  Remember on Easter when I spoke about those who weren’t there?  Thomas wasn’t there.  And he wasn’t with the other disciples on Easter afternoon when they gathered behind locked doors in an upper room, confused and fearful and very unsure about their own futures.

Like Thomas, I’m usually not here the Sunday after Easter, when the traditional gospel reading is that of “doubting” Thomas.  I usually take the week after Easter off, so year-after-year preaching on Thomas was left to Rev. Elaine.  But she’s preaching in Hawaii today, and I’m not leaving for Hawaii for another eight days, so, unlike Thomas, I am here today!

Yet, I’m a bit like Thomas in another way.  He wasn’t sure at first about this resurrection story.  While I’m fully convinced of the resurrection today, and in spite of my asking you last Sunday to put yourself in the place of one of those who came to the empty tomb, I’m still not sure which one I would have been.  Would I, like the “other disciple” have looked in and believed that the tomb was empty because Christ had risen?  Or would I have run from the garden thinking, like Mary and Peter, that someone had taken Jesus’ body and it was simply missing?

Today, we encounter Thomas in two episodes.  After the first Easter afternoon, when the other disciples told him the Risen Jesus has appeared to them—coming into their very midst behind locked doors!—Thomas doubts.  We all know the story.  ‘Show me the holes in his hands and side.  I want to put my fingers in them to know it’s really the same Jesus who was crucified.’

Thomas thinks he’s the medical examiner on CSI.  He wants visible proof.  He wants to see physical evidence that the crucified Christ has become the Risen Lord.  Blood.  Nail prints in the hands.  A gash in the side.  The little rods the CSI folks put in to trace the trajectory of the bullet…or in this case, a nail or a sword.  Forensic evidence is crucial.

Fortunately, for Thomas, Jesus is willing to provide the evidence he demands.  One week after Easter—a Sunday that corresponds to this day—Jesus appears to the disciples and says 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.” (20:27)  The visible proof of the resurrection is undeniable, and Thomas cries out, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28)  This single sentence, seen by many as the climax of the gospel of John, contains one of the earliest Christian confessions of faith:  Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God!

Today’s lesson is often used to berate doubt, and, in fact, we usually add the adjective “Doubting” to Thomas’ name.  But the word translated as “doubt” here is not one of the common Greek words for doubt.  It is apistos, whose literal meaning would be closer to “without faith” or “unbelief.”  Jesus graciously provides Thomas what he needs to move from unbelief to belief.  It is not cognitive acceptance of facts Jesus is looking for, but a heart-filled trust.  Faith does not remove all doubts and questions.  Faith invites trust of and witness to the risen Christ.  With Thomas’ confession, the encounter results in a powerful confession of his faith.

But the scene doesn’t end here with swelling music and closing credits. Jesus isn’t finished with Thomas yet.  He says, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (v. 29)  Jesus wants Thomas and the other disciples to know that believing doesn’t depend on seeing.

Believing isn’t seeing.  And seeing isn’t believing.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  And the writer of John’s gospel tells us that he has written his book 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.” (v. 31)  Jesus is challenging us to make a leap of faith—to leap without looking.  And John is encouraging us to believe in Jesus based on what we hear in his gospel—not on the forensic or empirical evidence.

Are we ready to see?  Are we ready to believe?

Most of us want to say “yes”, but the problem is we’d like to see at least one small sign that reminds us of the presence of God, some tangible proof that God is somewhere out there and cares about us.

• When we’re laid off at work
• When our application is rejected
• When we don’t receive an acceptance letter from the one college we really wanted to attend
• When we’re faced with a debilitating illness
• When we’re rejected in love
• When we struggle with family problems
• When we’re burdened with the sheer boredom of life
• When we’re caught in a financial crisis
• When our spiritual well has run dry
• When we have no emotional strength, nothing left to give

Just something . . . anything.

As people of faith, with the resurrection, we have hope.  With the resurrection, through all the difficulties of life, we can go on because we know the end of the story.  That end is in the hands of the God who raised crucified Jesus from the dead.  Without the resurrection, we have nothing to say to a hurting, unsteady world.  With the resurrection, we have good news.  The same God who had the power to raise Christ has the power to lift us up in the midst of our disappointments, depression and despair.

At a Bible study group having a discussion of “difficult Christian beliefs”, someone eventually mentioned the difficulty of believing in the bodily resurrection of Christ.  Many found this a rather farfetched possibility.  Life from death?  A dead body risen from the tomb?  How can that be credible?

A woman spoke up, “Well, I do believe in the resurrection.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve lived it.  When my husband walked out on me, I could have died. I did die.  My life was over.  Dead end.

“But then, by the grace of God, and with the coaxing of good friends, I came back.  I came to life.  I got a whole new life.  It was a miracle.

“I believe in the resurrection.  I’ve lived it,” she affirmed with a smile.