Community Church Sermons
April 15, 2007
John 20:19-31
Listen
to this Sermon!
Well, there they are – in hiding, cowering in the darkened upper room, behind locked doors. The disciples of Jesus are scared to death. What happened to Jesus on Friday may well happen to them. This Jesus-business they have gotten themselves involved with has turned out to be not at all what they thought it would be. Instead of certainty and security, they have been left only with questions…and risk. So they hide behind closed doors.
I want you to imagine those disciples today, huddled together in fear. They don’t much look like we look, do they? Does anybody here feel a need to go and lock the doors and turn off the lights because we’re afraid of getting killed for being here at the Community Church? Does anybody here feel there is any risk for being here – other than fear that the sermon might go on too long and you might be late for brunch?
But, there they are, scared out of their wits and full of uncertainty.
And here we are, comfortable and pretty sure we’re going to get out of this service alive.
Which scenario do you think more accurately describes how things should be for the community of faith? Safe and secure like us? Or greatly at risk like them? We’ll get back to that question in a little bit.
This story, found in John 20, is a very important story. The details are simple. The disciples are in hiding. Jesus suddenly and mysteriously materializes among them – almost as if Scotty has beamed him up into the locked upper room. “Peace be with you!” Jesus says. He shows them his wounded hands and side. The disciples jump for joy. Jesus is alive!
And then just about as fast as he materialized – poof! – Jesus is gone!
The disciples are beside themselves with amazement and joy. Well, all the disciples except Thomas who happened to be down in the TV room watching The Masters when Jesus came. Thomas missed out on the miraculous moment of Jesus’ appearing. The other disciples tell him the good news. But Thomas has had enough of just swallowing things whole on the word of others. “Unless I see the nail prints for myself, and touch them with my own hands I will NOT believe!” he says. That’s why we call him what? - Doubting Thomas.
Well, a week later, Jesus shows up again! This time Thomas is there Jesus invites Thomas to not only see but to touch with his own hands the wounds in his body. Thomas nervously reaches out and touches the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and the spear hole in his side. And then Thomas collapses onto his knees crying, “My Lord and my God!”
And then Jesus speaks the words we need to most especially listen to today:
“You believe because you’ve seen and touched me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Now sometimes when we hear these words we don’t listen carefully enough. Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus is not telling us that we have to have blind faith to follow him. Not at all is he saying that. What Jesus is saying is this. First of all, that:
“There is no such thing as absolute certainty. Not in life. And not in faith”
The big news this week – besides Imus opening mouth and inserting foot – is that we now know who is the father of Anna Nicole’s baby. Wasn’t it amazing how – when it became public that little 7-month old DannieLynn came with a $500 million estate – men all across America stepped forward to admit they were the father?!
Well, thanks to the work of a court-appointed DNA expert by the name of Michael Baird, we now know that Larry Birkhead is little DannieLynn’s father. The DNA test results indicate Birkhead’s paternity with a 99.999 percent degree of certainty.
Now that’s a pretty high degree of certainty, isn’t it? But it’s not absolute certainty.
One of my favorite people – the late Nobel Prize winning quantum physicist Richard Feynman – used to say something about how one of the things laypeople don’t understand about science is that there is no such thing as absolute scientific certainty. There are only scientific theories, and as the theories are tested and put through various experiments, the scientist can make observations that show that the theory is more or less true. That’s all – more or less true. In some cases, the experiments show that this particular theory just doesn’t work. In other cases, the experiments tip the scale only slightly, and might be true but will need lots more testing. And, in still other cases, repeated experimentation and observation demonstrate that a theory is almost certainly true, and sometimes – when the weight of proof is overwhelming even if not absolute - such a theory is given standing as a law of physics. In the case of Anna Nicole’s baby, the science indicates with 99.999 percent certainty that DannyLynn’s father is Larry Birkhead. That’s a pretty high degree of certainty – and, thank God, certainly enough to give little DannieLynn a father - but even DNA testing can’t get you to 100%
I think both religious and non-religious people make a mistake when they think that belief is the same as certainty. Think of it this way: if 100% certainty is being able to reach out and actually touch the nail prints in Jesus’ hand like Thomas did, and 0% certainty is being able to dig up Jesus’ body and categorically disprove the resurrection, where would you place yourself on the scale of faith? Are you at 100% with Thomas? Have you yourself touched the nail prints with your own hands? Or are you at 0% certainty because you have seen the proof that Jesus is simply dead? Probably none of us are either 100% or 0% certain!! Maybe you’re more like 50% certain because you – like the other disciples – have at least seen with your own eyes the nail prints in Jesus hands? Or maybe not. Perhaps it is that believers and unbelievers alike find themselves in close proximity on the scale of certainty. Where would you place yourself? At 25%? 10%? 1%?
How certain are you about Jesus Christ?
Thomas wanted complete certainty, but there is no such thing as absolute certainty about anything. Not in life. And not in faith. That’s the first thing Jesus teaches us in this passage where he says, “You believe because you’ve seen and touched me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Belief is not the same as certainty.
Then, a second point arises out
of Jesus’ words:
“The only way you can ever live life as fully as it is designed to be lived is to stop insisting on certainty and to take the risk of living faithfully!!”
Richard Feynman called this “the pleasure of finding things out.” I love that phrase. Isn’t that a great way to describe what our lives should be like – discovering pleasure merely by stepping into the unknown and finding things out? Isn’t that a great way to think of what the Christian life could be – stepping out into the uncertainties of life, and living faithfully, and in the process discovering pleasure and blessing!
Jesus put it this way:
“Blessed are those who have not seen but believe….”
…believe enough to risk following Jesus.
Just outside of my hometown, there is a church that caters to people suffering with AIDS. This was just an ordinary little church like every other ordinary little church doing all the kinds of things ordinary churches do. But I think the way the story goes is that one of sons of a church member contracted AIDS. The church rallied around the family, and in so doing discovered that there were many other families in the larger community who had loved ones with AIDS. This concerned them greatly. What would Jesus do? And so, while other churches in the nation were taking the safe way out and either not doing anything about AIDS, or pronouncing it as God’s judgment on gay people, this little church did an amazing thing. They made ministering with individuals and families who are experiencing AIDS the primary purpose of their church. This drew into the church, of course, all sorts of people many other churches would simply reject. And it drove away from the church many members who just weren’t sure the church should be focusing on such a thing and felt it was too risky.
Although the people of that little church could not see with certainty what they were getting themselves into, they believed…they believed enough in the love of the risen Jesus Christ to risk everything to serve Him among His children suffering with AIDS.
Believing has much less to do with what you THINK in your head and REVERE in your heart as it does with HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!
Without having seen and touched Jesus, are you willing to take the risk of FOLLOWING Jesus?
You see, believing in the resurrection of Jesus brings with it the call to take great risks – the risk of loving others unconditionally…the risk of loving enemies and praying for those who hate us…the risk of putting others before ourselves…the risk of accepting others rather than judging them…the risk of including those who are excluded…the risk of using our wealth and resources to lift up those who are without food, and opportunity, and justice.
Easter is not about certainty. It is about risk! It is about believing in Jesus enough to accept the risk of following him.
So which of those two scenarios we talked about earlier should apply to the church? A group of people who are struggling with all the fear and uncertainty of risking their lives along with Jesus? Or a group of people only worried about making it to brunch in time?
I think we know the answer to that. And I hope we hear Jesus’ words.
I pray that we as a church – and each of us as individuals – believe in Jesus.
If we do, what risks must we take as a church – and what risks must you take as a Christian – when we leave here today?