Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!! So goes the historic call and response of the Christian church. Christ is risen indeed!
In order to really appreciate the wonder and complexity of this days gospel reading it is necessary - as far as it is humanly possible - to suspend your presumptions and prior experience. When we read chapter 20 of John's Gospel already knowing the ending, we lose something very important. For the faithful women that braved the journey to the tomb and for the cowering disciples hiding in the Upper Room, for the rest of the world an unthinkable miracle had taken place, birthed and carried out straight from the heart of God! Jesus of Nazareth, the itinerant desert preacher and rabble rowser had died, and now he is alive forever more. The Messiah had come and conquered our enemies while we slept and hid and wept. He had not toppled the temporary Roman regime, he has conquered the real enemies of sin and death and the grave! Unthinkable, unprecedented, unimaginable and for these saints undeniable!
The day unfolds with the women reporting to the disciples, they spend the day trying to discern what they have seen and heard, and that evening while they sit locked down and questioning, Jesus stands among them!
Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with them this first resurrection day. When he returns to the group they tell him what has happened and what they have seen. Thomas - also sometimes called the Twin - refuses to take their word for this miracle and I imagine I would have been with Thomas. How do I believe the unbelievable unless I experience this for myself? An amazing verse here is often over looked. Verse 26 reads, "A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them." Imagine what a healthy fellowship our Jesus had built among these brothers and sisters that even though Thomas would not believe the most central tenet of their new faith, a week later he is still among them! I wonder if he would have survived in our church fellowships with his doubts, or if we would have given him the left foot of fellowship and booted him out!?!?!
Jesus comes and stands among them again that next Sunday night and reveals himself to Thomas. Just an aside - a second appearance the next Sunday would have been plenty of reason for the early church to gather EVERY Sunday for worship!
Have you seen Jesus my Lord? Do you KNOW the risen savior? I have met him, and I have been in relationship with the living Son of God for years now. I know that if you will approach Jesus in faith he will reveal himself to you as well my friend. If you will start this journey of faith you will be able to say with the saints of the ages, "Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!!"
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
4 comments:
Hoo Rah!!
Christ IS Risen Indeed!!
I can't even imagine the highs and lows everyone was experiencing.
I can remember my Dad being in the hospital...we would get good news, then bad news...good news and then bad news. It was like a roller coaster ride. Our emotions were frazzled by the time he went home.
The high here, of course, is that Jesus walked out of the tomb, conquered death and would soon ascend to our Father. :)
And there He waits for us to all come home some day.
Praise the Lord!
I do have a question, though.
Jesus instructs Mary not to cling to Him - did He mean this physically at this point or emotionally?
He allowed Thomas to feel his wounds...so He could be touched physically.
Believe it or not, I have wondered about this for years, but never had the "courage" to ask anyone.
Your blog is doing more good than you know, Senor Pastor.
Thank you.
God Bless.
Hi Mark,
I know those confusing days first hand - it sems to help when trying to understand the disciples and the struggles they faced!
Here is a shot at why Mary couldn't cling to Jesus ad Thomas was told to touch his - you're on the right track.
Jesus tells Mary, “Touch Me not” (John 20:17, KJV); but then later, speaking to Thomas, He says, “Reach hither thy finger and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side” (verse 27). The seeming incongruity of Jesus’ statements is resolved when we examine the language Jesus employed and consider the basic difference between the two situations.
In John 20:17, the word translated “touch” is a Greek word which means “to cling to, to lay hold of.” This wasn’t just a touch; it was a grip. Obviously, when Mary recognized Jesus, she immediately clung to Him. Matthew 28:9 records the other women doing the same thing when they saw the resurrected Christ.
Mary’s reaction was motivated, possibly, by several things. One is simply her loving devotion to the Lord. Mary is overwhelmed by the events of the morning, and as her grief turns to joy, she naturally embraces Jesus. Another motivation is Mary’s desire to restore the fellowship that death had broken. She had lost Him once, and she was going to make sure she didn’t lose Him again—she wanted to keep Jesus with her always. Also, Mary may have been thinking that this was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to return (John 14:3), in which case He would take her (and all believers) with Him to heaven.
However, it was not Jesus’ plan to stay in this world always, and His resurrection was not to be seen as His promised return. That is why He tells Mary of the ascension. His plan was to ascend to the Father and then send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7; 20:22; Acts 2:1-4). Fellowship with Jesus would continue, but it would be a spiritual communion, not a physical presence.
In loosening Mary’s hold on Him, Jesus was, in effect, saying this: “I know you desire to keep Me here, always present with you. I know you want everything to be just the same as before I died. But our relationship is about to change. I’m going to heaven, and you will have the Comforter in My place. You need to start walking by faith, Mary, not by sight.”
When Jesus spoke to Thomas, it was not to counter a misplaced desire but to rebuke a lack of faith. Thomas had said he would not believe until he had touched the living body of Jesus (John 20:25). Jesus, knowing all about Thomas’s declaration, offered His body as living proof of His resurrection. This was something He did on another occasion as well (Luke 24:39-40).
So, both Mary and Thomas needed more faith. Mary needed faith enough to let Jesus go. Thomas needed faith enough to believe without empirical proof. Mary needed to loosen her grip; Thomas needed to strengthen his. The resurrected Christ gave both of them the faith they needed.
Bill
Wow what a powerful story. Imagine being there! I think about how great it has been to see a car fixed or a person healed by a doctor, but imagine someone rising from the dead!
We've all had our times as doubting Thomas or Mary. We need to cling to Jesus, or have him come into our lives and show us the holes in his hands. I love the verses that say how special it is that we believe despite the fact that we haven't seen, and how powerful that is for us. Think about that...how incredible our faith is because we are sure of something we have not seen first hand. It seems so clear to me for these people that Jesus was the one true God. I wonder why they had so much trouble figuring that out back then.
I got to go to church twice this Easter so that I could see all my family members (can't miss a minute with my sweet little new Niece). It was awesome to hear my pastor preach on John 20 twice. It's such a great verse.
Ever see the competition in this verse? John references like 3 or 4 times that he was the disciple that Jesus loved, and that he got to the tomb first. Typical guy, eh?
Christ has risen, Amen!
Happy Resurrection!
Marshall
I never thought before about Thomas still being with the disciples, even if he didn't buy the resurrection yet. Huh.
Peter and (probably) John racing to the tomb cracks me up, and their turning around and going back home. Mary must have wondered why she bothered to go get them! What did they think had happened?
I note that Thomas isn't in big trouble with Jesus for having doubts - Jesus just shows him what he needs to see. I think that's comfort for people who worry that they're in trouble with God if they have doubts.
Verses like the closing ones drive me crazy - what did John not find worth recording? I would gladly take 21 more chapters...
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