One of the great things and one of the consistent things throughout all the narratives with all the details of the resurrection is this, that the eyewitnesses, the people who bring us the message and the narrative of the resurrection, they were so honest that all of them, the men and the women, as we say every Easter, they all expected to do what dead people normally do, which is stay dead. So when they visited his tomb and found that empty, nobody, nobody, nobody expected no body, but there was no body. And then Jesus came to them in a body fully alive. But what we're going to talk about for the next few minutes is this. We're going to dive into one character story, a character that you've all heard of before that plays a key role in the story of the resurrection of Jesus. But what we're going to talk about specifically is this.
So what? So what? Even if it's true, even if Jesus really rose from the dead, even if it's true, what difference does that make to you? Or what difference does that make for you? I mean, what does this have to do with you or your future or your children's future? I mean, does the resurrection of Jesus actually, I mean, like physically, like experientially, does it really matter? Does it matter in the real world? Does it matter in your world? Does it solve anything? Does it make anything better? Does it make anybody better? Does it make anybody better off? I mean, do we really need Easter? I mean, it's fun if you're a Christianian and we get to do all this cool stuff, but do you really need Easter? Does the world really need Easter? Now, if you're a Christian, if you're like me, you say, "Absolutely yes, it matters.
And yes, there are real world implications for Easter as it relates to Easter." And the reason I say that is this, and Sandra and I were chatting about this two nights ago, that because we were raised in church and we were raised on the teaching of Jesus, it has extraordinarily real world implications for us. But maybe that's not your story. And maybe you're kind of on the fence or you're not even on the fence anymore. You just don't give it any thought. Or maybe you walked away from faith as a child or say maybe a teenager or college student or you got married and then you just got busy or maybe you were driven away from your faith because of something that happened in a church or because of something that happened in your family or something that happened to a member of your family.
And the interesting thing is if you'll give Jesus a chance and you follow him through the gospels, he addresses all of that. And the story of the resurrection actually addresses much of that as well. So here's the backstory. Again, nobody expected Jesus to rise from the dead, even though he predicted it and he told them several times they just weren't believing it because in order to rise from the dead, he had to be dead and they didn't think Jesus was ever going to be dead because they believed he was the Messiah. And again, nobody expected again for him to come back to life once they saw him crucified. And the other amazing thing, they're so honest, as I mentioned before, nobody who brings us the story of the resurrection writes themselves into the story as diehard believers. They actually tell the truth, which means they admit that we were show me the receipts, skeptics, all of them.
And the other thing they admit that's kind of interesting is that after Jesus was crucified, the men went into hiding and the women went into action because some things never change. Okay? So on that, what we would consider that first Easter morning, again, these women, I mean, they love Jesus. They supported Jesus, many of them financially. They did not believe for a men and he was going to rise from the dead. Nobody was standing outside that tomb on that first Easter going 10, nine, eight, seven, cue the son, six, five. Nobody's out there. And the reason they showed up to embalm his body is because they expected him to stay dead. But when they arrive at the tomb, the stone is rolled away. Mark indicates that it was like moved away. It wasn't just rolled away. It was like in a different location and the body is missing.
And they assume what logical rational people would assume that somebody stole the body. So they run back to town, they find the disciples who are all huddled together in a house and they don't say, "He's alive. He's alive. He's alive." Do you know what they say? He's missing, he's missing, he's missing. And two gospels tell us that Peter said, "Okay guys, you stay here. I'm going to check it out. " Peter runs to the tomb. He knows where Jesus was buried and he looks inside. And he doesn't say he's alive. He's alive. He's alive. The text tells us he allows this to be written about himself, that he was bewildered. He was confused. He didn't know what to think. And besides that, again, to demonstrate the confusion, when the women reported this to the men, here was the men's response. The text says that they didn't believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
So it seemed like nonsense. Peter shows up at the tomb. The tomb is empty. It just seems confusing to him. They all get back together. Meanwhile, somebody lets them know that Judas is dead. Judas betrayed Jesus and now Judas is dead. How did that happen? They look and they realize Thomas is missing. Where is Thomas and now it's down to 10? So on the day that Jesus' body was discovered missing and all this confusion, all this emotion, they're gathered together that evening. And you can imagine they're afraid. They got to figure out what to do. They've got to stick together, but two of them are already missing. And while they're there, Jesus appears to them. And they did not say he's alive. Do you know what they said? It's a ghost because they have no comprehension that Jesus is going to come back to life.
And then Jesus asked for some food. And I guess in that context, it's like, I don't think ghosts eat. And so Jesus is eating with them and they're just ... Well, you can imagine, or it's hard to imagine. They're just ... I mean, they stood in the back of the crowd with their hoodies up and watched him die in public. They saw where he was entombed and now he is in their presence very much alive and stories and Jesus sightings begin to circulate around Jerusalem that the rabbi from Nazareth is alive. And soon that rumor is outside Jerusalem into the other parts of Judea. And that's where we're going to jump into the story. So here we go. John, who was there for all of it, he records this account. Here's what John says. He says, now Thomas, who I just mentioned, one of the 12 Jesus original apostles, Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
More than likely when Jesus was arrested and all the disciples ran away and abandoned him, they kept their distance. Apparently Thomas, he must have left town. Okay? Maybe he stood at the back of the crowd and saw Jesus crucified and then they didn't see him again. But days later, apparently he returned. So the text says this. He says, "So the other disciples told Thomas, once Thomas returned back to town and found where they were hiding, they told him, they said, Thomas, we have seen the Lord. You've heard the rumors. We've seen the reality. We have seen the Lord. And Thomas responds like we would. He's like, sure you have. Yeah, I've heard the rumors. It's part of the reason why I came back to town. And then he says, makes this famous statement. Perhaps you've heard this before, read it before. But he's like, " I've heard the rumors, but guys, come on, come on.
I mean, we've known each other, what, three or four, some of us 10 years. But unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and unless I put my finger where the nails were, and unless I put my hand into his side because as Jesus was bleeding out, centurion or ask one of his men to take a spear and thrust it up under Jesus ribs into his heart to make sure he was dead because the Sabbath was coming and they needed to take these decaying bodies off the cross. He couldn't have people moaning and groaning through the Sabbath. They knew he was dead. And unless I can touch the nail marks in his hands and put my hands in his side, I will not believe. "And this is where, this is so amazing, this is where this account intersects with perhaps some of you. In fact, when you follow Jesus through the gospels, listen to his teaching and listen to his narratives.
If you read slow enough and long enough, you will find yourself in this story over and over and over. And maybe for you today, this is where the story of Jesus intersects with you. I will not believe. And the reason he wouldn't believe, and the reason perhaps you don't believe in the resurrection is you're not superstitious. Dead people do not come back to life unassisted, right? And Thomas's point back in that ancient time was probably this. Hey guys, look, I know wishful thinking. You probably saw somebody who reminded you or looked a lot like the rabbi or perhaps somebody, because this is what happened in ancient times. Perhaps somebody crazy enough and they would have to be so crazy is parading themselves around claiming to be the rabbi who's come back to life. Now, this famous exchange between Thomas and the disciples branded him with an unfortunate and I think unfair nickname.
And you've all, maybe you didn't even know this was a biblical character, but you've all heard about doubting Thomas, right? I think it should be rational Thomas. Okay? He wasn't doubting. He's rationable. He's rational, reasonable, nobody's fool Thomas. And they try to convince him that Jesus is back from the dead and he's just not buying it. I mean, you're seeing things, guys. You're seeing things. And if you keep this up, you're going to get all of us crucified because for Thomas, the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus wasn't just too good to be true. It was impossible to be true. But here's what else Thomas knew. Thomas knew that if Jesus had come back to life, if Jesus really had risen from the dead, it had real world implications because he was there for all of it. He heard Jesus teaching. The teaching of Jesus that we read, the parables of Jesus that we read in the gospels were parables and teaching that he taught over and over and over over, not just one time.
And Thomas was there for all of it. He had heard over and over and over who Jesus claimed to be, that Jesus claimed to be a king, that Jesus literally claimed on multiple occasions to speak on behalf of God. At two occasions, he said," The words that I say to you are not my own words. They are from above. "That was blasphemy to speak on behalf of God. But interestingly enough, after the resurrection, the people who write, when they wrote their accounts, they equated the words of Jesus with the words of God. This was what Jesus claimed for himself that he spoke on behalf of God. Not only that, Jesus claimed to act on God's behalf, to act on behalf of God. In other words, Jesus would say," If you want to know what God is like, watch me. If you want to know how God responds to this group of people, watch me.
If you want to know how God responds to that kind of chaos, watch me. If you want to know how God responds and how God feels about that kind of need, watch me. "That Thomas understood that Jesus came to demonstrate in the real world what God is actually like. At the end during Passover, when they were so confused about how Jesus was talking about, he's going away, but he's coming back. You can't go with me, but you'll come with me later. And they're like, " Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're scrambling our brains. Okay. Jesus, look. "One of the apostles says," Look, just show us the Father. Just show us the Father. "Jesus makes this outlandish statement. If you've seen me, he said," You've seen the Father. This is as good as it gets. The God has sent me into the world. I am God in a body.
Come to explain what God is like because there's so much confusion and there's so much mystery and God loves you too much to leave you with that kind of mystery. I have come to show what God is like. In fact, the Apostle Paul later, when he gets convinced by the resurrection as well, the Apostle Paul said it this way. I love this verse. It's in Colossians. He says, everything that came before Jesus, everything that came before Jesus in terms of what does God like and who does God like and what does God like, everything that came before was a shadow. And then he says this, but the reality is Messiah. Reality is the anointed one. Reality is Christ Jesus, that Jesus came to explain God. And Thomas knew that. The other thing he knew was this. He had seen Jesus forgive what were considered the worst kinds of sin in that culture.
He saw Jesus forgive sin when people didn't even ask to be forgiven. Jesus would just proclaim with the authority of God. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. If Jesus was who he claimed to be and rose from the dead to prove it, it had real world implications about where people stood with God in spite of their sin. But maybe most encouraging of all if Jesus rose from the dead is how Jesus talked about death because Jesus consistently referred to death as sleep. And he referred confidently and repeatedly of this zoan, zoan Ionian. Zoan Ionion. It's a Greek phrase. It's difficult to translate into English. It shows up in our English text. It's everywhere, but it doesn't really capture the idea because there was a context in which this made perfect sense. Literally, it means life of the age. Jesus constantly talked about life of the age, life of the age, life and the age to come, life beyond this life where all would be made right because the kingdom of God would be manifest throughout the entire world and it would be ruled by a good king.
And Jesus claimed to be that king, which for Thomas and the rest of that group, the men and the women, that was so difficult to imagine because all of the kings and the kingdoms of this world, they ruled with their own best interest in mind. And it was Jesus, their Messiah who claimed to be king who on one occasion said, "I have not come to be served. I have not come to be served. I have come to serve and to give my life a ransom for many, which when they saw him die on the cross, they didn't know it in the moment, but that's exactly what he came to do. He was the good king. He was the perfect king. And he promised a kingdom that's not of this world, but was for this world and with his arrival was in this world." So Thomas Newton, if Jesus rose from the dead, it really ultimately changed everything because if someone could predict their own death and resurrection, which Jesus did on multiple occasions and they just didn't believe him because they believed he was probably or possibly Messiah, we've waited on Messiah for hundreds of years.
You're not going to go to Jerusalem and die. That must be some metaphor or some parable or something. We're so confused so often by what you say, that can't be literally true. But if somebody can predict their own death and resurrection and pull it off, that has real world implications for everybody, for you, for me, for your children, for my children. But Thomas, he's not buying it. People don't rise from the dead, especially embalmed and tombed people. Now, before we jump back into the story, here's just something to consider. If you're a different religious tradition or you used to be a Christian or you're not sure it's even important, you're not sure it's relevant, or maybe you're having a tough time. And you think to yourself, "I'd like to think there's a God who could be my heavenly father that would listen to my prayers." Just I want you to consider this.
And this is a bit hyperbolic, okay? Even if every Christian you've ever met, even if every Christian you've ever met is a raging hypocrite, if every religious leader strikes you as wanting something from you or just kind of weird, including me, okay? If every Christian you've ever met is a raging hypocrite and every religious leader, Christian religious leader just strikes you as weird or wanting something from you. Here's what I want you to consider. If Jesus rose from the dead and by rising from the dead punctuated everything he claimed about himself and everything he claimed about God's love for you, wouldn't it be tragic? Wouldn't it be tragic for you to allow anything or anybody or any experience to get between you and Jesus of Nazareth? And the reason you should consider following Jesus, the reason you should consider leaning into the message is not this and not people like me, it's who he claimed to be.
It's who he claimed to be. And his resurrection demonstrated and authenticated everything he said about himself. And if what he said about himself is true, it has real world implications for you for the rest of your life. God and a body, love, personified. I mean, this is remarkable. Probably everybody listening or watching at one point in your life has said, God is love, or I believe God is love, or I believe God loves everybody. Do you know where that phrase originated from? It originated from John who brings this Matthew Martin Luke John, he's an old man. He lives in a world where it's not lovely, it's not loving, it's anything but. And as an old man, he dictates his story of his time with the life of Jesus. And he's the first person in all of ancient literature to make this statement and to document it where he's the one who says God is love.
And if we were to say to John, "What do you mean God is love? Look at the world. It's full of chaos. You've been isolated. All of your friends have been executed." What do you mean God is love? Where is God? The world isn't lovely. And John would say this. He would say, "I don't believe God is love because the world is a loving place. I believe God is love because I stared into the eyes of love and I'm convinced that Jesus was God in a body. And if God is anything like my rabbi, my master in my Lord, that I'm convinced that God is love." And he dictated that and believed that because of the resurrection of Jesus that punctuated everything Jesus claimed about himself. The resurrection of Jesus, not his teaching. The resurrection of Jesus was the pivot point for his first century followers.
And it has been the pivot point and the deciding factor for people ever since. So yeah, this is a big deal. If it's true, it has implications for you and they are all good. Back to the story. So again, Thomas leaves town, Thomas comes back to town, he ain't buying it. And then John tells us this. This is so cool. John tells us that Jesus disciples, and now they're 11, Thomas is back. They're in the house again and Thomas was with them. And though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you. " And the reason he said, "Peace be with you is because he scared them to death." It's like, Jesus, would you just use the door? Okay, this is the second time you've done it. I don't know if they thought that or not, but there.
I mean, it's just terrifying. And Thomas is there and Thomas is stunned. And Jesus looks at Thomas and I think he smiles. I think this next interchange, he's not shaming Thomas. I think there's humor here. Thomas, I heard what you said. So come here. Come here. Thomas, I heard what you said. Put it right here. Put your finger right here. Put your finger here and see my hands. Jesus is smiling. Thomas ain't moving. Reach out to your hand and come on. Put it in my side. Thomas just stares. And there's no indication that Thomas took Jesus up on this. He did not need to. And then what Jesus says to Thomas next is so powerful. And what Jesus says to Thomas next, he says to you. And he says to me. And the English text, it sounds like he's shaming Thomas. He's not. Here's what the English text says this in one translation.
And then Jesus said to Thomas, "Stop doubting and believe." That can't really be the tone and the posture. It's like, here's what the Greek says literally. I love this. Jesus said to Thomas, "Be not unbelieving, but believing. Be not unbelieving, but believing." The implication is this. Thomas, now you don't have to struggle to believe because here I am. He wasn't doubting Thomas. In fact, the Greek term doubt doesn't even show up in this phrase in the Greek text. He wasn't doubting Thomas. He was like some of us. He was just unconvinced, Thomas. And Jesus invites him to move from unbelief to belief. And what Thomas says next was so blasphemous for a Jewish boy to say. What Thomas says next, you don't want this associated with your name unless it is true. And Thomas looked at Jesus according to John who was there. And he said this, the text says, John says, Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God." Thomas was convinced in this moment.
He was in the presence of God.
He was so convinced. Do you know what Thomas did? Most people don't. Thomas traveled to India, to India, preaching and teaching the message of Jesus, anchored to the resurrection of Jesus, planting churches. He was martyred in India. And today, you can actually visit St. Thomas Cathedrals on the coast of Tamil Nandu, India. My Lord and my God, these first century, non-superstitious people don't rise from the dead followers of Jesus. We're convinced that if you're a Christian, that your savior was God. And if you're not a Christian, they were convinced God had come into the world to make himself known. So we didn't have to live in fear and we didn't have to wonder what God is like, and we didn't have to wonder about who God likes. And then Jesus in that room, he takes his attention off of Thomas and he addresses the entire room.
He says, "Okay, let's just kind of put it out there, guys. Because you have seen me, you have believed, believed what, believe that I rose from the dead. This is a very narrow belief. The reason you've seen me, you didn't believe when you saw the empty tomb. You didn't believe when you heard the rumors. The reason you believe I rose from the dead is because you have seen me. " And then Jesus stares out into kind of the middle space beyond Galilee and beyond Judea and beyond Samaria and beyond the first century. And he speaks to you and he speaks to me and he speaks to us. He saw us coming. He saw us struggling to believe, to reconcile what we've experienced and what has claimed. And then he says this to you and he says it to me. It's amazing. He said, "Blessed are those.
Blessed are those. Happy are those what the word means. Hopeful are those. Content are those. At peace are those. Comforted are those who have not seen what you guys saw and yet have believed." That's us. And the reason we believe is not simply because the Bible tells us so it's so much better than that. We believe because of the eyewitness accounts and we believe because of the sacrifice and devotion of men like Thomas and Peter and Matthew and John and Mary and Martha and a host of others. And we believe because that next generation who knew these men and women were convinced that these things happened. These aren't Bible stories. These are events in history, events that ultimately change the world, change the way the world sees people, change the way the world sees children and sees women and sees those who are oppressed. It changed everything.
And even if you're not a Christian, you have been impacted by the shadow of you've been impacted by the values of and the teaching of Jesus indirectly that what he predicted would happen in terms of his kingdom. It has happened. It continues to happen and it will happen until the end of this age. We believe because of their testimonies, but believe what? It's narrow. We believe the event that sits at the epicenter of all that we believe, the event that moved Thomas from unbelief to belief, that turned those female embalmers into evangelists and turned those cowardly men who understandably were fearful for their life. It turned them into ambassadors who risked their lives or the world would know what God had done in and for the world. They believed and we believe in the event that changed and changes everything, the resurrection of Jesus. Hey, thanks so much for watching.
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