John 20:19-29

Sometimes I think Thomas gets a bum rap. Everyone calls him "Doubting Thomas." But he only doubted for a week. I mean the man had a full life and yet he gets pegged for his behavior during one week. Sure, he started off doubting, but in the end he believed. When he saw Jesus he said, "My Lord and My God!" and he believed. So why don't we call him "Believing Thomas?" He certainly seems to have done more believing than he ever did doubting.

And why is he the only disciple that is chosen as the poster child for doubting? After all they all doubted. Do you remember last Sunday's Sermon? All the men disciples doubted the story of the women. They called it the idol talk of women. Apparently it took seeing Jesus, wounds and all, for them to be convinced! The women were a little better. But even so they had to either see Jesus or an angel to be convinced to believe.

So why does Thomas get the moniker "Doubting" and not the others. Because he was not in the right place at the right time. Because he missed the first appearance. He might have missed the train the first time, but when Jesus came around again he was there. He saw Jesus for himself. He touched the wounds, and he believed.

And what is wrong with doubt anyway. Doubt is useful. If we didn't doubt we would believe everything we see. I don't know about you but as I have grown older I have learned to doubt everything I hear: especially all the junk on the internet. If I get an email saying that such and such happened I check it out for myself because so often they are just hoaxes.

There is one famous example. I first encountered it back in the 90's. A church member came to me with a petition to sign. The petition claimed that Madelyn Murray O'Hare was trying to get a bill passed in congress to make reading the Bible on the TV or radio a crime. So it urged Christians to sign it and to make copies to get other people to sign and to write their representatives in congress. Sounds like a worthy cause not just for Christians but people from other religions too. Only it wasn't true. There was no such bill before congress and never had there been. It was all a lie!

So doubt is useful. In fact it is necessary for survival. It helps protect us from believing things that are not true. It helps keep us from trusting people we don't know who could be dangerous.

But doubt has a dark side. While it can keep us from believing things that are false, it can also keep us from believing that which is true. Doubt can keep people from believe in the power of God and the grace of God. Doubt can keep them from trusting in God's saving grace. Doubt kept Thomas from believing in the resurrection. And it still keeps people today from believing.

Sometimes I think the Disciples had an unfair advantage. I mean after all they had the physical bodily presence of the Lord to prove to them that the resurrection was true. Thomas said he would not believe until he had seen it for himself. A rather good idea when confronted with a story as amazing as a man rising form the dead. But he did see Jesus. He had the opportunity to see the living breathing body of the lord. He had the opportunity to examine the physical evidence and to verify that indeed Jesus did have a pulse!

All the other disciples had that opportunity too. The Bible tells us that for 40 days Jesus appeared to them. Again and again they saw him. And it wasn't his ghost! He was living and breathing and could be touched and even ate and fixed them breakfast on at least one occasion.

But we don't have that advantage. All we have is the word of the church and the Bible and other believers. That was all Thomas had to begin with and he doubted. It is no wonder that so many people doubt the living presence of Jesus today. There are so many incredible stories floating around out there. There are alien abductions and UFO's and big foot and the Lock Ness monster and �. Why believe this amazing story over the others; most of them at least have some blurry video footage to go on.

And how do we, who do believe, convince others to believe? It was easy for the disciples to convince Thomas. They just waited around until Jesus showed up again. I can just imagine Peter pointing to Jesus and saying, "See Thomas, I told ya so." But what physical evidence do we have to point toward, to prove that Jesus is alive.

I think Jesus was aware of our dilemma. He said "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."(John 20:29) First of all, we may not have the living breathing body of Jesus to point to, but there is still evidence. One evidence of the truth of the resurrection is the living presence of Christ in us. Like the old hymn says, "You ask me how I know he lives; He lives with in my heart." We can't see, hear or touch the risen Christ but we can experience his life in our lives. We can feel his living presence. Wherever two or more are gathered in his name he is there. Just as Jesus was with the disciples in the upper room on that Sunday so long ago so he is with us here in this room by the presence of His Holy Spirit!

We also have the evidence of what he has done in the world. The changed lives of people show the presence of the risen Christ. If it were not true could the early church have had the power to withstand and even flourish in the midst of Roman oppression? Without the living presence of Jesus could St. Frances of Assisi have given all his wealth to the poor and devoted his life to Christ. Without the living presence of Christ could Mother Theresa have taken on the burden of ministering to the least of the least in India and leading a movement to do the same world wide? Without the living presence of Christ could Martin Luther King, Jr. Bishop Desmond Tutu and countless others have stood up to oppression without violence?

We have not seen with our eyes. But we have seen with our hearts. We have seen the risen Christ in the changes in our lives and the lives of others. We have seen the Lord! We are blessed!

What you doubt what I say? Are you a Doubting Thomas? Well, how can I prove it to you? Look around you. We are the living breathing body of Christ, wounds and all, and we are most definitely alive! "See Thomas, I told ya so."

John 20:19-31

Doubt. It's part of life. It is taught to us from an early age. At some point an older child tells us a lie, perhaps for good reason. But once we discovered that we had been told an untruth the seeds of doubt were planted. And the seeds of doubt grow fast and choke all in their path. The next time they told us something we questioned whether it was true: we doubted.

Doubt is necessary for survival in this world. If we believed everything we were told, we would soon be in trouble. So if someone tells us their product is better than another we question their word. It a government tells us to do something, we question their motives. We have all been lied to, so out of self-defense we distrust; we doubt.

Doubt may be necessary in this world, but it is also dangerous. Doubt may save us from believing a lie, but it can also keep us from believing the truth. How many times has a person in a bad situation been told, "Take my hand; I can lead you out. Trust me." And because they doubted, they perished. But worst of all doubt about ultimate things creates spiritual turmoil and pain. A person who doesn't know what to believe about God and the meaning of life is like one who is alone and lost. Doubt can be like a whirlpool that threatens to pull a person under.

The prime example of doubt in the Bible is Thomas. We often call him "Doubting Thomas," but he is no different from us. We all doubt as he did. Under the same circumstances, we would doubt too. He had been gone when Jesus appeared, and he did not see him the first time. So when he came back everyone was excited and were saying that Jesus was alive.

Consider this from Thomas' point of view. He had seen Jesus crucified. The Romans had nailed him to a cross. And when the Romans set out to kill someone they finish the job. First the women and then the rest were saying that Jesus was alive. The physical evidence was clear. Jesus had died. He was pronounced dead and the certificate had been signed. It was obvious that the disciples were the victims of some kind of group hysteria. Their grief had driven first the women and then the men into the delusion that Jesus was still alive.

We can't blame Thomas for doubting the resurrection. The other disciples had doubted before they saw Jesus. Under the same circumstances we would doubt. It would be natural. When someone tells us something unbelievable, not matter how much we normally trust that person, we doubt. We should not blame Thomas for doubting. Instead we should acknowledge that we are more like him than we like to admit. Then we should try to learn from him.

I have a special kinship with "Doubting Thomas." Just call me "Doubting Alex." When I was in college I went through a period of serious doubt. I left for college knowing of my call to the ministry. I was going to study Religion and Psychology and then go to seminary. Then I met people and read books that made me doubt.

It was my first semester at U.S.C. I was taking the introduction to Religion course in the Bible. At the same time I had gotten involved with a Bible study group in the dorm next to mine. Soon my faith was under attack from both sides. In my religious studies course we read books that made me question whether I understood the Bible at all. Then in the Bible Study they told me I was not saved. I had not been baptized in the right way at the right time they said. They said my church, which had loved me, was not obedient to God's Word because it ordained women and baptized children. And I began to doubt my salvation.

The seeds of doubt were sown. And they grew fast and furious. Someone was wrong and I didn't know whom. Either my Sunday School teachers in the United Methodist church I grew up in were wrong. Or the United Methodist minister who was teaching my class was. Either I was saved by grace through faith, or I was damned because I had not been immersed. I even began to wonder if maybe they were all wrong and there was no God or Jesus or anything. That Semester I experienced the spiritual turmoil that comes with not being sure of anything. I doubted just as Thomas did.

We call him "Doubting Thomas," but doubt is only half of his story. The other half of the story is that Thomas came to believe. A week after Jesus appeared to the other Apostles he appeared to Thomas. Jesus obviously came just for Thomas' benefit. He came to give Thomas the proof he thought he needed to believe. And in the end Thomas said, "My Lord and My God." Doubting Thomas had doubted that Jesus was even alive. But Jesus came and changed Thomas In the end "Believing Thomas" confessed that Jesus was God. God took the prime example of doubt and turned him into an example of belief.

So what happened to "Doubting Alex" in College? One Day when I was doubting the most, I was sitting reading my Bible. I was frantically searching for some evidence that someone was telling the truth. I was looking for something that I could believe without doubting. And as I was reading I was doubting my understanding of what I read.

Finally out of desperation I turned to God and prayed and asked God to show me the truth. At that moment the turmoil in my heart was taken away. It was as if Jesus appeared in that dorm room and said, "Peace be with you" just as he had to Thomas. Oh I still doubted some things. I questioned the things I had assumed about the Bible. I questioned my understanding of God's Word. But I no longer doubted the important things. I knew that God was loving and just. And I trusted God to lead me. To show me what I should believe, and to forgive me when I failed to follow. I no longer had to rely on ministers and professors to tell me what God's will was. I still listened to them, because they could help me find God's will. God was the one I trusted to reveal his will to me.

We are all doubting Thomases. We all doubt, especially concerning religious matters. Perhaps we doubt that we are saved. "Do I trust enough? Was I baptized the right way? Is my faith enough or is there something I need to do?" Perhaps we doubt the Bible or the way people interpret it. And we think, "Maybe God really isn't loving. Maybe someone made it all up. Maybe there is no God." Or maybe like Thomas we doubt the resurrection. "Maybe Jesus didn't raise from the dead. Maybe he was just a good man who is dead." And sometimes the things preachers say make our doubts worse.

We learn two very important things about doubt from "Doubting Thomas" and "Believing Thomas." First of all, doubt is part of the human condition. Don't blame Thomas or yourself for doubting. We all doubt and at times that doubt is even necessary. Even Jesus didn't condemn Thomas for doubting. Second, God can turn doubt into belief. God took Thomas, the prime example of doubt, and turned him into a prime example of belief.

Doubt is necessary: without it we would believe every lie people tell us. But we don't have to let doubt rob us of the joy God is offering us. Jesus appeared to Thomas to take his doubt away. And he ministered to me to give me faith and peace when I needed it. When you doubt, acknowledge that doubt, and give it to God. God can take the turmoil of doubt and transform it into the peace of faith. God took "Doubting Thomas" and transformed him into "Believing Thomas," and God can do the same for all of us.

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John 20:19-30

Let me tell you a story called "The Rainmaker."

The preacher prayed for rain again that morning. As I remember, it was the thirteenth Sunday in a row he'd prayed for it. Folks was startin' to get upset with his always prayin' for rain and none commin'. They'd just as soon he not pray for it as to have him remind them that there hadn't been no rain and everything was wiltin' dry and dead an' stuff. You could almost hear folks groanin' when he started praying for the "farmer's wealthfair." Not that he was a bad preacher mind ya. When it came to blessin' barns and preachin' about the Bible he was good. I'd never onced seen one of the barns he'd blessed burn down. It's just that he kept prayin' for rain and none ever came.

I guess just about everyone was ready for somthin' ta happen. But no one expected what happened next. About the time church got out there came a bright red wagon with blue wheels. No one had seen the likes of it since the carnival had come through on the way to the city a few years back. It came right down the street and stopped at the edge of town with the back facing the folk commin' out of preachin'. The sight of this wagon gathered a crowd all by itself. If it hadn't, what happened next would have. There was a rustlin' and a clangin' from the back then a tall man came out. He was weain' the most torn up clothes I ever seen. And if that wasn't enough, he was wet all over; drenched from head ta foot like he had falled in the creek or somethin', but that couldn't be, 'cause the creek was so dried up it was only knee deep on a grasshopper. Just yesterday Old Tom said it was good we weren't Baptists 'cause if we were the preacher couldn't baptize no one until the rains come.

The tall man started talkin' real loud as soon as he come out of the wagon. His voice was so comandin' that everyone listened. Even if someone had tried to say somethin' they couldn't have 'cause he was makin' so much noise bangin' on that washtub. It sounded like God himself was thunderin' in heaven. No one remembers much about what he said except that he was a rainmaker, that he went around makin' rain where there wasn't none. What people remember best wasn't what he said but the way he said it. He talked with a voice that thundered like the heavens themselves, and his words flowed over us like a river of salvation and no one could stop listening to him. The strangewst thing was that the whole time he didn't dry up. It musta been 100 in the shade and he didn't dry up. He was drippin' with water. Then he said somethin' strange. he said ta heal the land he had ta heal the people on it, and that each of the farmers and storekeepers had ta come up so as he could lay his hands on them and pray over them.

First he grabbed hold of Mr. Greely. Mrs. Greely was right there with him 'casue she didn't have no younguns ta look after. The rain maker put one hand on Mr. Greely and the other on Mrs. Greely and pushed them both to their knees. Then he started prayin' for Mr. Greely's store and his chickens and his wife. He seemed to spend a lot of time on his wife.Then he did the strangest thing. He told Mr. Greely that from now on his name would be Ike. Everybody knew that Mr. Greely's name was Ichobod Greely, and now we was supposed to call him Ike. When he was finished prayin' Mrs. Greely was so happy that she threw her arms around the rainmaker and go the wettest of them all.

Next came Alen Wally. It took Alen a while to make it to the front of the crowd. For a long time after his wife and son died he wasn't as fast as he usta be. Folks say he usta be the strongest man around these parts. When the rainmaker reached out to put his hands on Alen's head, Alen fell to the ground without him pushin' down at all. Alen just fell like a dry reed breakin' in the wind. Then the Rainmaker put his large wet hands on Alen's dry hair that was blowin' in the wind and started prayin' again. The strength of the Rainmaker's voice was stronger than before. He seemed to be tryin' to wake the dead with his deep voice. The power of his prayin' seemed even more overwhelming than before. The whole thing got even hairier when Alen, that large man, started cryin' like he was a baby cryin' for his daddy. The lump in my throat was bigger than a seed melon. I have been ta camp meetin's and heard mighty prayin' before, but he was prayin' with the voice of the Almighty hisself. Then, when the Rainmaker was finished prayin, he bend down and whispered gently, as gently as a mother to her baby while singing a lullaby, in Alen's ear. I don't know what he told Alen, but Alen's face suddenly took on the look of a strong man, and the Rainmaker lifted Alen ta his feet and I never seen him look bigger of stronger in all my life. Like he had a new chance on life again.

The Rainmaker kept prayin' and prayin' until about all the folks in town had been prayer over. Everyone had water drippin' from their heads. The Rainmaker left town without anyone really noticing. We was all dazed by it all. It was like he had disappeared into heaven or somethin'. But even with all that prayin' it didn't rain fer another four weeks. The whole season was a flop. We was all real poor folk that winter. Yet people didn't seem ta mind. They had other things on their mind. For one, Ike Greely was happy because his wife had a baby. Twins in fact. So Ike was twice as proud as a regular father. After that, Alen started goin' round town and helpin' people with their hard work. There wasn't any barn rasin's that year, but since then he's been at ev'ry one. That's on top of all his work at the blacksmith shop. We had just enough ta eat that year and no more, but no one seemed ta mind.

No one ever saw that crazy Rainmaker again. None of the towns around saw him neither. He just rode off ta Lord only knows where. Sometimes I wonder where he is. He prayed mighty pow'rful, but no rains come. All those good things happened; all those blessings, but no rain. I just wonder who that Rainmaker thought he was.

After the first Easter Sunday the Disciples gathered in the upper room. They were hiding from the people who had killed Jesus. They didn't realize the power that was already theirs to stand up against that evil. Instead of believing that Jesus was alive and that they had the victory, they hid like they had been defeated.

It was then that Jesus appeared to them. And he breathed on them giving them the Holy Spirit. He gave them the power of God to over come all that would defeat them. They were no longer the defeated, they were victors in Christ because he was alive.

But not everyone believed. Thomas was not at all sure anything had happened. He thought the rest were crazy. It wasn't just the historical fact of the resurrection that he doubted. It was the present reality of the spirit's power.

I shared the story of the Rainmaker because like Thomas the person telling the story failed to notice that the power of God was in their midst. In the story the Rainmaker represents Christ. And he was present blessing those who were present. But many of the people failed to notice the blessing.

Their prayers for rain were being answered by showers of blessings right before their eyes. People and families were being made whole by the water of life. God himself was blessing them and healing them where they needed it the most.

Like them we fail to notice or believe that Christ is with us. When the preacher prints, "The risen Christ is with us" in the bulletin we say it. But too often we don't believe it. We may not doubt the historical fact of the resurrection like Thomas, but like him we do doubt the present power of the resurrection.

Jesus is alive and he comes to us in our need so that he can heal us. He comes to us when we are afraid like the disciples. He comes in answer to our prayers for rain, for healing, for strength. He comes to us in times of fellowship as well as fear. He comes to us when we are hurt or when our land is spiritually dry.

When the disciples were weak and afraid, Christ came to them. He came to breath on them the breath of life. He came to give them the same power that lifted him from the dead.

What? Do you doubt what I say? Must I show you his hands and feet before you will believe. Look around you. Here are his hands and feet. We are his living witness. Christ is risen and his power lives and makes the dead alive long after Easter is over.

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John 20:19-31

I want us to imagine for a moment that we are not here. You may say, "Well, preacher that is usually what I do during the sermon on Sunday morning." I don't want you to imagine that you are on the lake, or sitting in your easy chair. Instead I want us to imagine we are in the room that I just read about in John. That each of us is one of those Disciples.

First of all, forget that you are in a well lit room. The room that the disciples were in was dark. The sun was shining outside, it was probably a beautiful spring day, But the doors and shutters are shut tight. You see today is the first day of the week, only three days ago Jesus was crucified. And you were there. We were all watching as they hammered the nail into Jesus hands and feet. After what they did to the teacher, Lord only knows what they will do to us his disciples. They may arrest us and scourge us like they did him. They may even crucify us like they did him.

We had seen Jesus die but the trouble he started was still going on. Some people just want to stir up trouble you know. First they killed Jesus now it appears that someone has stolen his body. On top of all this fear we are still trying to deal with the grief. Poor Mary who discovered this morning that Jesus was stolen has been doing nothing but babbling on about seeing him alive and thinking he was the gardener. And Peter and John haven't said a thing since they got back from the tomb.

So the disciples were hiding in the upper room for fear of what the Romans would do to them. Then all of a sudden they were not alone. Jesus appeared in the midst of them. They probably thought they were seeing things. But everybody was staring at him so they must see him too. Then they began to wonder if this was Jesus' ghost come back to haunt them.

If they had been afraid before they were probably more afraid now. Jesus knew of their fear and so the first thing he said was "Peace be with you." Then he showed them his hands and side. It was not his Ghost, he was alive and he had blessed them! Then Jesus told them to go out into the world. Just as the Father had sent him, So he was sending them.

But who could blame Thomas for not believing. He hadn't been there to see Jesus. I know if I were Thomas I would have a hard time believing. The other disciples had not believed he was alive when Mary told them she had seen him. Why should he believe just because there were a few more people saying the same thing.

Things have not changed that much since then. In some places in the world Christians still hide from the authorities. Most of us can gather freely without fear of being killed. But we still live in a hostile world. A world that ridicules our values. A world that attacks us for our belief in chastity and marital fidelity. A world that degrades us because we try to help those who it says are not worth helping. A world that crucifies us because we tell it that it's lifestyles are sinful and that only Christ's blood can atone for it. A world that ignores us when we say that life comes out of death.

So many times we Christians cower in our churches and refuse to go out into the streets for fear that someone will recognize us and ridicule us for what we are. Like the disciples, we close the doors and shutters tight so that no one will discover us. But Jesus knows our fear just as he knew the disciples' fear. And so, just as he was in the presence of them in that upper room, he is with us here. And now just as then he says to us "Peace be with you." Do not fear the world outside for I am with you.

But that is not all, we are strengthened by Christ's presence. In our Gospel lesson there is a curious statement. It says that Jesus breathed on the disciples. I wondered what that meant and this is what I found out. The Greek word for spirit is pnewma and the Hebrew word is ruach. They both also mean wind or breath. In the Old testament this word is used when God breathed the breath of life into the first human. So here Jesus is breathing the breath of new life into the disciples. In the same way Jesus is breathing on us the breath of new life and that enables us and empowers us.

Jesus is with us. We live in a hostile world The people outside want to crucify us just like they did our Lord. But we are not alone. Jesus is present with all who worship in his name. And he is giving all of us new life.

The world outside will ridicule you if you try to live your Christianity outside these walls. They will call you names. And they will shun you.

But Christ send us out into the world. To proclaim the good news of his resurrection. But we do not go alone. We go with the power of the one through whom all things were created. With the strength of the one who was raised from the dead and lives forever.

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