If No Sound

Audio of More Sermons by Pastor Marjorie Palmer

 John 20: 19-31

Quickened to Faith©

St. John tells us that on Easter evening Jesus visited the Upper Room and showed himself to the disciples.  That moment had an incredible effect on everyone present. In a matter of a few minutes their moods had changed from being deeply depressed and confused and filled with many emotions, to being filled with awe and wonder and surprise and thrill and excitement, and, and, and,…

It is really hard to imagine the thrill of that moment. Each person there in the Upper Room that night was ignited with joy at seeing Jesus with them again.  Each was transformed from the deepest depression to the highest euphoria in just minutes.  I think it must have taken some time for the idea of what they were seeing and hearing sank into their minds.  They moved from feeling the agony of losing their good friends to the glory of Easter all at once! What a scene!

Sadness, anger, and depression were replaced with joy and thrill and relief.  Their lives had changed wonderfully, completely. At that point their faith in Jesus as our risen LORD began.

But Thomas was not present.  We don’t know where Thomas was; scripture does not tell us. We can imagine that Thomas was wandering around somewhere; maybe he went to his family or went out to the desert to be alone.  He must have been just as torn up about Jesus’ death as any of his fellow disciples were. He had even spoken boldly, just a few weeks earlier, saying, ‘Come, let’s go with [Jesus] to Judea and die with him.’  But then, when it came to the moment when Jesus was taken by the soldiers, Thomas ran away, along with the rest of the disciples.  He must have been crushed and shocked and deeply angry with his own actions, but mostly he was deeply grieved by the loss of the finest man he had ever known.

But then Thomas returned to his friends in the Upper Room, and, of course, you can imagine how they told him about Jesus.  Jesus had come to them and shown himself to them and spoken to them and eaten with them. He was alive!  Death was no more.

 “Idiots!’ thought Thomas.  ‘What in the world are they talking about?  They are acting like fools, as if they had no respect for the dead.  How can they go on and on like that?  What makes them think Jesus is alive?  We know he’s dead.  We know he suffered that terrible execution, and we know how badly we acted throughout the ordeal.  They are really idiots!’

Thomas didn’t believe the news his friends had told him about Jesus, but a week later he was back with them again. The disciples were still rejoicing about Jesus’ resurrection, but Thomas would have none of that.  He told the others that the only thing that would convince him that Jesus was alive was if he personally put his hand in Jesus’ wounded side and stuck his finger in Jesus’ hand.  Then he would believe.

 What about us?  What things do we need to have or see or hear or know before our reason will let us believe?

 What sort of evidence is there that tells us that Jesus is alive?

First we have the Bible: the church’s witness of the apostles, the ones who walked and talked with Jesus, who ate and drank, and sang with him.  They spent time with Jesus many times following Easter Sunday. Paul tells us the Jesus appeared to over 500 people during those forty days after the first Easter.

At the end of today’s scripture, in fact, St. John says that he wrote his gospel so that we, the readers, ‘may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing [we] may have life in his name.’  St. John was telling us that scripture is one of the best evidences of God’s work in Jesus.

 Second, we have the witness of the saints: the believers over the past, nearly 2000 years, who have walked in faith throughout their lives.  There are millions of these saints, yet we know the names and stories of only a few.  The ones we do know speak loudly of their faith in Jesus, their risen LORD.  Many of the saints gave their entire lives to living and working for the LORD.  Many wrote books that we can read today of their walk in faith.

Third, we have the witness of today’s saints: we have each other.  We can remember some of our more recent saints, maybe some who have just passed on recently.  We also remember parents, and grandparents, and other close friends who shared their faith with us. (For me, people of faith that I have met and known in my life, people whose whole lives have radically changed because of their encounter with Christ, is important evidence of the truth of Christ.)

There is a lot of evidence out there, telling us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that God raised Jesus from the dead.  But it is not evidence, alone, that gives us faith.

There is something more.  Our scripture today tells us so.  When Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening, they were astounded at his presence.  Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you’, and he showed them the wounds on his body. They could see he was their LORD and he was alive.  Then Jesus told them that he was sending them out, just as he had been sent by the Father, and Jesus breathed on those gathered in the Upper Room and told them to receive the Holy Spirit.  Their hearts were ignited by the Holy Spirit, and they believed. They would be forever different because the Holy Spirit had come into their lives and quickened their faith.

Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit that night.

I don’t know how I missed that before, but I did.  Jesus gave his friends the Holy Spirit that night, and it was the Holy Spirit that confirmed in their hearts what their senses were telling them:  Jesus was alive!

The church remembers Jesus in many ways.  We certainly remember Jesus in our Communion and in Baptism. Occasionally churches have a ‘foot washing’, remembering how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet telling us to be servants of one another.  But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any sort of remembrance of Jesus’ breathing on the disciples. 

It even sounds a bit funny to consider, but we should not forget what it was that Jesus was doing in that moment.  Jesus used the picture of breath to pass the Holy Spirit to the disciples.  They would have understood immediately what Jesus meant when he ‘breathed on them’, because the word for spirit was ruah, which is also the word for breath in Hebrew.  (Remember how God’s spirit moved across the face of the deep in Genesis Chapter One?) 

I’m afraid I hadn’t put the idea of faith and the Holy Spirit together that closely before.  I used to think it was Pentecost when the first example of the Holy Spirit kindled faith in the people.  But here it is, on Easter evening, right as Jesus is appearing as the risen LORD.

Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples because it is the wonderful partner in faith. The Holy Spirit acts in our hearts to confirm what we begin to know about Jesus.  The Holy Spirit agrees with our minds and hearts when we hear the good news of Jesus’ rising or the good news that God loves us, that we are being called to Him. The Holy Spirit is critical to having the faith in Christ. In fact there can be no faith in Christ without the Holy Spirit’s assurance.

There are other examples of the Holy Spirit igniting faith in someone.  Remember when Jesus asked the disciples who they would say that Jesus was, and Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’ And Jesus told Peter, then, that he could not have come to that conclusion on his own.  ‘For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.’  (Matt 16:17)  Jesus’ identity was revealed to Peter by God; he did not come up with that on his own.

Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples because it is the wonderful partner in faith.  The Holy Spirit acts in our hearts to confirm what we begin to know about Jesus.  The Holy Spirit agrees with our minds and hearts when we hear the good news of Jesus’ rising or the good news of God’s love for us, that we are being called to Him. The Holy Spirit is critical to having true faith in Christ.  In fact there can be no faith in Christ without the Holy Spirit’s assurance.

There are other examples of the Holy Spirit igniting faith in someone. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about Peter speaking to Cornelius and his household about the good news of Jesus.  Before Peter had even finished his talk the crowd had reacted with joy and celebration, being filled with the Holy Spirit.  St. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit had given evidence to the family, and they believed.

John Wesley also spoke of the Holy Spirit giving witness to our own spirits, telling us that we are the children of God. The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to having faith. It seems we can take in all sorts of information through our senses, but we don’t have faith in them until we also have the Holy Spirit witnessing to our spirit that what we are seeing and hearing is true. It is the combination of both our senses and the Holy Spirit’s witness to us that gives us faith.

At different times I have thought that the faith of the early Christians was somehow different, better, than our faith today.  After all they had the advantage of seeing Jesus up close and personal. They really walked and talked with him.  They had all those experiences first hand, but it is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts that gives us the faith.  But our faith is the same as that of the disciples in the Upper Room, because it is the same Holy Spirit that ignites our faith and assures us that it is true. It is the same Lord Jesus in whom we have faith. The faith of the disciples is the same faith of the great saints in history, and it is the same for us today.  When we come to faith it is the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in our hearts, telling us that what we have seen and heard about Jesus is true.  He is alive.  The Holy Spirit tells us that we believe.  Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

      That night when Jesus walked over to Thomas and offered him his body to inspect, Jesus said, ‘do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ (20:27)  St. John doesn’t tell us if Thomas actually touched Jesus’ wounds. I rather imagine he didn’t, but something happened at that moment that quickened Thomas’ faith. He knew in the deepest part of his heart that Jesus was alive, that he had come back from the dead and was standing there before him, offering himself to his friend.  And Thomas in that moment of truth spoke the words that speak volumes about his faith. In that moment Thomas knew that Jesus was his Lord and his God.  Like Peter, Thomas had been assured of Jesus’ identity by the Holy Spirit who now dwelt in him.

Copyright © 2009 Marjorie Palmer. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written permission of the author.

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