The Real Story - Pastor Tom Loghry Rockland Community Church Download

On Easter Sunday, we remember the resurrection of Jesus. Thomas doubted the truth of Christ’s resurrection; we must learn from his example and trust in the account that we have been given.

Transcript:

I am planning to go to the movies in May. I'm planning to go see the Mandalorian and Grogu with my son. This is the way! We enjoyed watching the Star Wars television series, and I'm expecting that we will enjoy the movie. It is great action, great storytelling, great drama. Two heroes doing their small part to keep the Star Wars universe from the clutches of the Empire. It's a great story, but of course it's all fiction; none of it's real. And while I expect going to the movie will be a good time, I am not expecting that the story I will hear will hold any great consequence for my life. It's just a story.

Would we say the same about Jesus? One of the things that I love about Easter is that it brings this question to the surface. It can be very easy for us to treat the narrative that we find in the Bible as a mere story, perhaps with some moral teaching, some moral inspiration, some spiritual advice. Subconsciously, we can create two universes. We have the universe of the Bible and then we have the universe in which we actually live. We have the spiritual sphere, and then we have the sphere of real, actual living.

We can get away with that division if what we find in the pages of scripture is a mere story, perhaps powerfully told, but a mere fiction nonetheless. However, this is not aligned with what the Bible claims itself, and it doesn't accord with the historical record of the people who followed in the footsteps of Christ and his disciples. The emergence and survival of the Christian faith is inexplicable as a mere story. From the beginning, it was contended to be a testimony of historical fact worth dying for.

Either Jesus actually rose from the dead, or he did not. Either what Jesus claimed about himself is true or it's just a pack of lies, the ravings of a deluded man. Either the disciples are witnesses, or they're liars, or possibly dupes. Either Jesus means everything; he means a world of difference, or he means absolutely nothing, and to follow him would be a fool's errand. We would have no doubt that it would be a fool's errand in that case, given that he himself ended up on a cross. Where else should we expect to end up, in one way or another? The way of Jesus leads to a cross. What hope can there be in that path? Unless there is, in fact, a resurrection.

What is the truth, and what does it mean for us? I want you to grapple with that this Easter, to come to a point of decision, of belief, in light of the reality that has been revealed. And to do that, I wanna take us to the disciple who is infamous for his doubt, the disciple Thomas. And so we go to John chapter 20, verse 24 through 29, and if you look in that chapter, you'll know that Jesus, after having been crucified and buried, is, is then to be resurrected from the dead and that he's seen alive by some of his disciples. In this chapter, we are first told of how Mary Magdalene came face to face with the risen Jesus. Looking at verses 19 and 20, we see how Jesus came to the disciples as they were hurry, huddled together in a locked room, obviously fearing that they might be crucified just like Jesus had been. But one of them was not there. Now Judas had already killed himself at this point, so we're not talking about him. One of them was not there and was missing. Thomas was not in the room.

And as we see in verses 24 through 25, when he does rejoin them and when he hears from them that they have seen the Lord, he does not believe, he does not believe his fellow disciples with whom he's spent the past several years. He can't believe again. We can imagine his, his feeling of, of disappointment and disillusionment, having seen the one that he believed to be the Messiah be crucified on a cross, the very opposite of a victorious savior. He was downcast with disappointed hope. Earlier in his time with Jesus, we can actually have some indication, we catch some indication of Thomas's anticipation that things might not end well. We see in John 11:16 when Jesus is preparing to go to Bethany, to go to Lazarus, his friend who had died. He's anticipating that because of those conspiring against Jesus, that Jesus is gonna end up being killed and so he says, let us also go, that we may die with him. Then in John 14 when Jesus is telling his disciples that he's going to be leaving them, but that they should know the way, Thomas says to him in response, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?

And so now it seems that Jesus has gone. Now, he hasn't actually gone gone, as we know he's yet to ascend, but it seems like he's gone. And Thomas says, I don't know the way, everything seems lost, and this just seems like it's just been a path of madness. What has this been all about in the end? And so, despite the good reasons that he does have to believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead, the fact that his fellow disciples are testifying to the fact, and surely he would trust them, and the fact that he's actually heard Jesus make allusion to the fact that he's going to be raised from the dead, he refuses to believe. He refuses to believe unless he can see the holes in Christ pierced hand, unless he can touch his wounds.

And so nothing happens for a week. We often forget that the resurrection appearances of Jesus are not just a one day affair. He comes and goes among his disciples multiple weeks, 40 days before he ascends to heaven. Now, notably, Thomas is still with the other disciples apparently. Perhaps he couldn't believe, but he didn't know where else to go. I have to imagine that the confidence of the others held some magnetic force over him as God would have it, because, in fact, Christ intended to meet his demand. So we see in verses 26 through 29, I'm gonna read these verses again, says, a week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to him, my Lord, and my God! Then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

This time when Jesus shows up, Thomas is in the room. Now as before, the room in which they're gathered is locked, and yet Jesus comes into their midst. And we don't know how, there is no explanation given, but we do know this, that Jesus is not just a mere spirit. He is not a ghost, because he can be touched. In fact, we see elsewhere that he eats with the disciples, and we know that, in fact, Christ presently continues to have the human body with which he was raised and that we, as we are raised in like manner, are going to have a body just like his. In Philippians three verses 20 through 21, the Apostle Paul tells us, but our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

So Jesus is actually there. He's actually present in the room with them. It's not a mere vision. And the first thing he says to them is, peace be with you. And this greeting is more profound than just a nice saying, even though that would've been a common thing to say, peace has much more import given the fact that he has conquered death. We recall what Jesus says in John 16:33 to his disciples. He says, I have told you these things, and he was telling them that they're going to endure great suffering. I've told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

And it is in this moment that this has become clear, that Christ truly has overcome the world. Because if he's conquered death, who could possibly match his power? And so in the midst of them all, he turns his attention to Thomas, and we imagine him looking Thomas square in the eye. He, he heard, he heard the challenge that Thomas made, he says, put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Now this invitation and the details of it, of Christ's pierced hands and side, brings to mind how Christ fulfilled those prophecies concerning himself, concerning the Messiah. Because it was foretold hundreds of years before that the Messiah would suffer in just this way.

Christ fulfills Psalm 22 verses 15 through 18, where, where it says, My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you la...