Today we'll be looking at the passage below. Notes to the sermon are below the passage.

JOHN 20:19-31
19 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!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

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.”

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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vs. 19a - Evening on Sunday. That morning the tomb was empty.
Some have seen the empty tomb, all the disciples have heard from Mary that Jesus is alive, but they have not seen him.
Realize what’s at stake. The dream of the kingdom: God moving to redeem and heal. A kingdom of love and peace and justice – the restoration of broken hearts, broken systems, fallen creation. If Jesus is dead, then the dream is dead. But if he's alive...

19b – Some of the first words the resurrected Jesus speaks are "Peace". The words of the new creation are "Peace". Peace is repeated 3 times in this passage.
20 – Did Jesus show them his wounds so that they would believe?

21-23 – Jesus will then speak Peace over them once more
- Sending them
- Breath – Receive Holy Spirit
- Gives them the ministry of forgiveness (to be honest, I have my doubts about what to do with this verse :)

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Then, the story gets really interesting
24 – Thomas – not there – getting food?
25a – They tell him – "We’ve seen the Lord!"
25b – "Unless..." – Thomas is just asking for what the other disciples experienced. Who wouldn’t be like Thomas?

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26a – A week later…and Thomas was with them
27-28 – Imagine the moment – “It’s his turn!”

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Why make Thomas wait?

What do you think that week was like for Thomas?
The pain.
An outsider. Planning his departure when things cool down?
Feeling like they’re all playing some big prank on him? Like at any minute they’d be like, okay Thomas, we stole the body!
Questioning his faith, maybe he was the next Judas…had done something wrong…wasn’t good enough. Everyone had fled…"maybe my desertion was somehow worse."
"Why won’t you show up for me!"

Why make Thomas wait?
Maybe because there will always be people waiting.
People who feel like Thomas.
From the beginning, Jesus builds his church with a skeptic in it.
If Thomas didn’t have to wait then we wouldn’t know that Jesus loves skeptics too.

Maybe so that the church would have a constant reminder that it’s okay to welcome doubters.
I love that he’s with them. They don’t kick him out for doubts.

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Christian, are you a safe place for non-believers and doubters to be?

Parents, do you foster an environment where questions and doubts are truly welcomed?

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Consider Jesus’ words – “stop doubting and believe.”
Stop feeding the doubt, choose to believe.

Henry Drummond: “Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can’t believe. Unbelief is won’t believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light. Unbelief is content with darkness.”

What you are yielding to is not empirical scientific evidence but the power of the Spirit of God who is calling you. "Believe. It’s okay. I am good, I love you, trust me, I have the life you’ve been craving. I can lead you to the truth."

One of the radical claims of Christianity is that the truth is not empirical evidence, an equation, a set of statements etc. In Christianity the truth is a person. The Spirit is calling you, "You’ve been looking for the truth, let me lead you to Him."

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Chapter 20 reads like it was the original ending to the book of John. This point is debated, but regardless of if chapter 21 was added later or not it does read like an epilogue. All that to say, the end of chapter 20 is a funny way to end his book.

Verse 29 – "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Verse 8 - callback to John – he believed without seeing - Imagine Jesus is winking at John here.
Verses 30-31 – "so that you may believe"

Funny John, you’re going to end your book with a guy who demands physical evidence and gets it. And all the reader gets is a book?
It’s like John is naming the elephant in the room.
"I get it, you won’t get what Thomas got. You weren’t there like we were…but you can still believe."
It’s like Jesus isn’t just winking at John, he’s winking at you.

It’s possible... to stop doubting and believe…

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End of Matthew chapter 28
11 Disciples gather on a mountain. Jesus shows up. They worshipped...but some of them doubted!
This is wild!
And Jesus doesn't weed them out, or address their doubts!
He's gives them all authority and tells them to go change the world.

Perhaps it isn't our job to be certain. It's our job to keep moving.