Preaching - John 20

It was my privilege to join a client parish recently to step away from the funding applications and development plans, and to open the Word of God with them. Not once but twice! Being a rural parish, The Howe o' the Mearns Parish Church of Scotland, in southern Aberdeenshire, has a few places of worship, and usually holds 2 services at 9.30am, and 2 at 11am every week.

There are 2 regular services at Fettercairn and Laurencekirk, and it was in these two that I had the privilege of bringing the Bible message, as part of their planned preaching programme. For this, I was on week 2 of "The Power of Words - Conversations with the Risen Christ". Week 1 started on the cross, with Jesus's words to those around "Father, forgive them". The given theme for this week was "Unless I see", with a focus on the encounter with Thomas. Initially I thought, "great - you didn't want to preach on doubting Thomas did you?!" But as it happened, I was so pleased to get this message to preach, and the preparation for it really helped me. And more than that, at each service, people spoke with me afterwards about how they had been personally challenged and encouraged from what I had said. Obviously I'll keep what they said private, but suffice to say that from how they were impacted, I was incredibly encouraged that God would use me to deliver such a powerful message especially for those people.

Now if you wish, you can either watch, listen to, or read the message here.

To watch it, the livestream from the first service at Fettercairn is copied below from the Parish Facebook page. Either watch the whole service or skip to about 23minutes in for the message.

To listen just to the sermon, I've put the audio recording from the second service at Laurencekirk below. If you'd rather just read what I wrote and mostly stuck to, then the text of the sermon is copied below that.

Laurencekirk 19 April

20:36

Sermon Text: Not so Doubting Thomas

Bible Reading: John 20:24-29

Jesus appears to Thomas

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’

But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’

²⁶ 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!’ ²⁷ 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.’

²⁸ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

Let’s get one thing straight at the start of this message.  Thomas gets a bad deal here.  I’m sure you will probably know him better as doubting Thomas.  He makes one mistake and is labelled for life.  Interesting.  We’ll come back to that later. 

But let’s just pause for a moment and look more at the name, Thomas to see if that helps us interpret some of what’s going on here.  The Greek name Thōmas is a transliteration of an Aramaic word (te’oma), meaning “twin.” Thomas is also a transliteration of the Hebrew word (te’om) for “twin.” The Greek Christians of Jesus’ day tended to use the Hellenistic name Didymus (also meaning “twin”), which appears in John’s three remarks about Thomas being called the Twin.  But it is not clear if he actually was a biological twin.  Some believe that Thomas and Matthew may have been twins because their names often appear together in biblical lists of the disciples.  That is unlikely.  The Syrian Church believe Thomas was the twin brother of Jesus, and others simply that he looked like Jesus.  The only certainty we can glean from Scripture, and even this is vague, is that Thomas was dubbed the Twin. The title may have simply been a nickname because he resembled another person.  Now, if there was a deeper connection with Jesus, either through looks or even biology, then maybe this is why he was used as the example here to tell a profound truth for us today?  It’s worth bearing that in mind but as is often the case, it’s probably not worth getting too hung up on this, but let’s briefly highlight two more positive examples of Thomas that don’t get spoken about so widely.

In John 11, we learn that Thomas possessed courage and commitment to Jesus, and when He decides to return to Bethany because His friend Lazarus has died, the disciples are reluctant to go, fearing the Jews there might try to stone Him again.  John records in v16, “Then Thomas, called the Twin, said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’Later, in John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that He would prepare a place for them in heaven, adding that they would know the way to get there. Thomas is unafraid to be vulnerable with Jesus and honestly expresses his scepticism in verse 5: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”. The Lord is keen to give Thomas His answer, which is unusual as Jesus rarely answered a question directly.  But this is one of those occasions when a pretty direct answer is given, albeit still with an air of mystery about it.  But it is a very powerful nonetheless, when Jesus says, saying in the following verse, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him”.

So, Thomas is brave but also not afraid to seek clarity.  He’s strong yet questioning.  Not bad characteristics to have, and yet on one occasion when Thomas displays what is perceived as a less than positive action – doubting – that’s what he’s remembered for.  Have you ever made a bad choice in your life and struggled to shake off the stigma of that? (These are not questions I need an answer to by the way!)  Have you done something that wasn’t great, or made a wrong choice that hung over you for a while?  How many people are remembered for one mistake rather than any other good they’ve done – especially those who are trying to right the wrongs from their past.  Society is so quick to label people according to their perceptions of them.  There are the big labels – addict, waster, immigrant, incomer, homeless, thief, hooligan.  Do you get the picture?   Maybe we’re even guilty of doing that to someone we know. Holding something against someone who has done something to us? Or even effectively crossing to the other side of the road to avoid someone who we label as not being right for us?  I’ve had the privilege of standing alongside former addicts in worship.  Society may still see them as people who in their drunken or drug fuelled state, committed a crime or did something less than positive.  But now, in their clean and spiritually redeemed state, they worshipped like it actually meant something.  They knew exactly what this was all about now.  But then there are also other societal labels to define someone – single parent, unemployed, retired, pensioner, on benefits, disabled, person of colour.  There is an element of human nature that needs to put a label on someone and to add to that, society often just likes to focus on the negative.  Good news just isn’t newsworthy.  And here in our passage we see some evidence of this from 2000 years ago. Thomas is forever known as the doubter – not brave, strong, or clarity seeking.  How often that is the case even in our communities.

But actually, doubting is not necessarily a bad thing.  Call it his questioning, or sense checking if you like.  This is actually a sign of his courage.  Thomas here longs for the truth.  If the words Jesus had said to him back in John 14 about being “the way the truth and the life” were really true, he just wanted proof.  Not proof of the divinity of Jesus – he absolutely understood that – but he wanted proof of what had happened – it’s not every day that someone rises from the dead is it!  Thomas wanted to see the scars.  So maybe, just maybe, we should call him courageous Thomas because it can take strength to admit doubt, rather than just go along with the crowd.  To be the one who asks that seemingly silly question and actually discover that everyone was thinking the same thing!  Have you ever sat in a meeting not really understanding what was being spoken about and yet you said nothing, hoping to get clarity later on or when the minutes came out?  I wonder what it would be like if we asked that question to get clarity.  Research shows that actually, you’ll find you’re not in a minority after all, and your questioning has actually helped everyone present to grasp the concept being spoken about.

Now, to help us understand this even further, let’s check out the verses before todays Bible text.  Verses 19 and 20 of John 20 read “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”  What do you notice there? The disciples are locked in that upper room. They were in fear.  And Jesus came in.  Now, it’s only later in v24 that we discover that Thomas wasn’t in the room for that earlier resurrection appearance.  Once we’ve got past the usual comedic nature of someone that was killed now showing up alive in a locked room and saying “Peace be with you”, Jesus then proceeded to show them his hands and side because he knew the disciples would need proof to believe what was going on here, and as a result, they were overjoyed.  Sometime later, in comes Thomas, the disciples tell him what’s happened, and he wants to also see the wounds of Jesus in order to believe – just as the others had.  He was actually not in a minority for needing proof.  It’s just that the disciples were caught by surprise and none of them wanted to be the one to ask the question.  And yet Jesus gave them what they needed to answer the unspoken questions.  There’s a continuation of the slight comical nature of this scene here, because Jesus leaves them for a whole week before coming back again in the passage we read today.  Now, we don’t know if the disciples were locked up in that room for a week, dealing with their excitement amongst Thomas’s apparent lack of belief, or whether they had gone out and about.  But, to return to what we noticed from the moments before that first upper room appearance, while the disciples were locked up in the room, Thomas was out and about.  The disciples were behind locked doors, why? Verse 19 tells us that it was for fear of the authorities and what they might do to the disciples if they were seen.  Can we take from this that actually, Thomas was being brave again, maybe going about his business, but certainly putting himself in harm’s way by freely walking the streets or sailing his boat?  That brave trait of Thomas appears to be there again. 

But now, a week later, Thomas sees the risen Lord, and Jesus knew his need, inviting him to touch the scars as he had done with the other disciples.  Instantly Thomas utters the powerful words of recognition and submission – my Lord and my God.  Jesus did not come in and condemn Thomas, but offered what he needed.  He freely showed the scars that represented everything that Jesus had done for Thomas, for the other disciples, and by extension, to us today.  So even the most sceptical or questioning soul can be reached by Jesus – he is willing by his grace to bring the evidence and not to condemn anyone for doubting, or asking that seemingly silly question.  And that my friends, is grace.  The grace of God, that we absolutely don’t deserve, that is freely available to everyone no matter what label society has placed on them.

The final verse of our passage today, v29, sees Jesus extend a blessing to us.  He acknowledges that Thomas saw and believed, but then, not as condemnation to Thomas but as encouragement to all the disciples for the ministry they were being released into, Jesus says that those who do not see Jesus and yet believe are also blessed.  Jesus knows that the disciples will be sent off to different places – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) – to preach in His Name, and that many would come to believe in Him.  Latest estimates say 2.6 billion people – one third of the global population – identify themselves as Christians.  Now some may have had a vision of Christ, but most of us fall into the “not seen and yet believed” category.  Thomas’s actions have set up a powerful truth from Jesus for us now.   Our belief comes from trust. 

Now a quick sideline here.  There are 31,102 verses in the Bible, and no matter the translation or numbering system used, the very central verse of the Bible, is Psalm 118:8, effectively making it the heart of the scriptural text.  And what does this say? “It is better to trust in the Lord, than to trust in man”.  And interestingly, Psalm 118 also contains many prophecies of the events that would take place from Palm Sunday to the crucifixion of Jesus.  So, cutting back to Thomas, who simply wanted human proof of the divine miracle, we find Jesus obliging and saying in v29 of John 20, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed – echoing Psalm 118:8 - the very heart of the Bible even before this collection of writings had been put together. There is a blessing in trusting in God.  And that my friends, is called faith.

So, there is courage and strength in admitting doubt.  Who would have thought it?

There is grace from Jesus even for the sceptic

And there is a blessing freely available for those who trust in Him.

Which one are you?  Again, I don’t need an ‘out loud’ answer here! Courageous? Doubting? Sceptical? Trusting? Any of those words ring true?  But let’s not label ourselves or others.  Let us serve God.  Living in faith.  Walking freely thanks to His grace.  And as the hymn writer Annie Johnson Flint wrote, He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.To added affliction He addeth His mercy; to multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.  His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.  His pow'r has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

Doubt can be the door way to deeper faith.  It can lead to a deeper study of the Word of God and a greater understanding of the power contained within those pages and that grace available to all of us.

Christ’s scars still speak to us today as those who have not seen, and yet believed.

So don’t be afraid of doubt.  Use it to strengthen your faith.  Don’t dwell in it.  Use it to move forwards.  And channel it for good today.  And utter those words as Thomas did – my Lord, and my God.