Back in July, a number of our teens and a few adults went down to New Orleans. We were joined there by about 25,000 other young Lutherans. During our time down there, we got to do a lot of things. We heard great music. We saw amazingly talented artists. We sang out in praise for our great and amazing God. We even had the chance to serve a community still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Most importantly though, we heard and read the Word of God, centered around the theme “We Believe,” taken from John 20:31; “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
One thing the Bible studies and skits got me to think about again, was what it must have been like to actually be there. To actually see and hear Jesus speak. I mean, imagine what it would have been like to be there as Jesus went to see Mary and Martha. These sisters hadn’t just heard Jesus speak. They had welcomed him into their home! Jesus had actually eaten Martha’s cooking. Mary had sat at his feet, listening to her savior speak to her, close enough to reach out and touch him. They and their brother Lazarus counted him as their friend. A friend who they could laugh and talk with. And now, a friend they could cry with.
When Lazarus fell ill, the sisters sent word to their friend. They knew that more than any physician, Jesus could heal their brother. They sent word, begging him to come see his friend. But he stayed away. He stayed away as Lazarus’ health got worse and worse. He stayed away so long that by the time he did come, his friend had been dead 4 days.
But then they got to see something amazing. They heard Jesus ask for the stone to be rolled away. They heard Jesus say “Lazarus! Come out!” And then they saw the impossible. They saw their brother come out of his grave. He had been dead, but now he was alive! Can you imagine being a witness to such a sight?
We heard about a woman who went to a well. A woman with a past. A woman with a reputation. She had been married multiple times. She was currently living with a man she was not married to. Most women, respectable women, went to the well in the morning or early evening, when the temperature was cool. But this woman went in the middle of the day. Perhaps to avoid the sneers and whispered comments. Perhaps because she saw yet another man. Perhaps another husband. Or at least another lover.
Whatever she was expecting, it likely wasn’t to be Jesus of Nazareth. She wasn’t expecting a man who not only knew exactly why she was at the well that day, but about everything she had ever done. And the last thing she expected was that he would offer her, an adulterer and a Samaritan to boot, the water that leads to eternal life.
We heard the story that we heard in our Gospel reading this morning. About how Jesus appeared to his disciples alive, even though they had seen him die. After all, seeing a man you had followed and listened to for three years hanging beaten and naked on a cross isn’t something you’re going to quickly forget.
Put yourself in Thomas’ shoes. When you imagine what Thomas had been through, what he had seen, it’s not hard to understand his reaction when the other disciples told him they had seen Jesus alive. He had been there with them over the last few years, seeing Jesus give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, even life to the dead. He had believed that this Jesus was special. That he was the one they had been waiting for. And then he saw him killed.
How would you have reacted to seeing that? How would you have reacted when you were told just a couple days later, in the midst of your grief, that he was alive? Probably the same way Thomas did. You’d want to see it for yourself. You wouldn’t want to get your hopes up again, just to have them torn right back down because it turned out your friends just had overactive imaginations.
Of course, Thomas’ request was granted. A week after he first appeared to his disciples, Jesus appeared again. Thomas was able to see him with his own eyes. He was able to see the nail marks in his hands. He was able to see where the spear had pierced his side. Thomas was able to see, and so he believed.
But we weren’t there. We weren’t there as Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. We weren’t there as Jesus used a boy’s lunch to feed thousands. We weren’t there to see him hung on the cross. We weren’t there in the locked room. None of us has ever seen Jesus face to face. Unlike Thomas and the other disciples, we have not been blessed to physically see our resurrected Lord and thus believe. We cannot reach out and touch where the nails pierced him, and we won’t until he returns in glory on the last day. But we are given Jesus’ promise as recorded by Matthew, “and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
For some, this is not enough. Both inside the church and out you find people who like Thomas doubt. Who in their doubt say “Show me!”
A pastor’s young son was told to wash his hands because there were germs living in the dirt. He refused and complained. He moaned “Germs and Jesus! Germs and Jesus! That’s all I ever hear around this house and I’ve never seen either one.” But bacteria that are invisible to the naked eye can cause very real, serious diseases. Conversely, the risen Jesus, invisible to us now, forgives our sins now and will raise us from the dead on the last day.
Now, some might argue, “sure, you can’t see germs with the naked eye. But you can see them with a microscope, or in pictures in a biology textbook. You can’t see Jesus with a microscope, telescope, or any other kind of scope.”
To that argument I would say this. As a child, even in school, we believe the testimony of scientists who have seen and studied them that germs exist. You yourself might never see one, even under the glare of a microscope’s lens, but the given testimony of their existence is proof enough. What is Scripture but the testimony of those who saw and spoke with Jesus? The disciples saw him. They saw him and they recorded what they saw so that others too might see and believe. And though we can’t see him now, we will see him on the last day.
We are those about whom Jesus said “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We are those John had in mind when he wrote “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
Faith in Christ, who once was dead but now lives, is created and maintained by hearing His Word, the Word of God. We are told that it is in and through this Word that Holy Spirit works. As Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
By hearing the Word we are led to believe and confess that we are sinners for whom Christ suffered and died. We know this because of passages like 1 John 1:7-10 which says “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
By the Word we believe and confess Jesus as our Savior. This is made known through verses like Romans 1:16, which says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
By the Word joined to things we can see and touch, things as simple and basic as water, bread, and wine, that our faith is built and sustained. As we hear in Romans 6:4, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Or from Matthew 26 which says “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
By the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through the Word, the power of Christ is made alive in us. Through the testimony of those who were there, by faith we see and believe that Christ is alive, and can live with joy and confidence in His saving work.
By hearing and believing the testimony given by those who saw the risen Christ, and by the Holy Spirit working and dwelling within us, we receive strength and comfort in the face of doubt, fear, disappointment, and loss. Moved by that same Holy Spirit we confess by both our words and our lives: “My Lord and My God!”
How can we know that Jesus is the one and only way to eternal life? The one and only plan from the beginning of time for the salvation of all who believe? We know and believe because of THIS book. Because these things were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
