The Word is alive….. what is it telling us here today?
Are the scriptures telling us to have faith and not to doubt like Thomas? I’m not one who really thinks Thomas was a doubter, and as far as faith is concerned, if you are here you have faith, and you’ve chosen to come together in this place to be fed and strengthen your faith. The scriptures are alive and they seem to know what we need to hear; they know what we need to learn. Sometimes we need to hear about having or keeping our faith, but I think for the here and now, today’s Gospel is about action…it’s about reaching out and sharing the faith we already have.
I think that today’s gospel lesson of action is about Evangelism. I know, I know…ICK… But for us to live into our faith we have to stop cringing when we hear the word Evangelism. It’s really not a bad word, it’s just often misunderstood. Last week I talked about symbols of the resurrection and about how for them to have real meaning for us we have to move beyond simply seeing them; we must experience them so that when we do see them they strengthen us.
Evangelism became a bad word for this same reason. For many of us, the meaning of Evangelism wasn’t something we read in a book. We got our meaning from experience and way too often that meaning left a bad taste in our months.
- TV Evangelists…send money and God will heal you (not all are bad)
- Bible Belt: Have you been saved? Have you excepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior?
- Church marquee signs sayings things like “You think it is hot here in August! Wait until you get to your current destination!”
I think today’s Gospel is a sound method of Evangelism.
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The Gospel began, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews,”
- Seek out where there are doors that are locked, both in our lives and in the lives of others.
- seek out those who are in fear,
- seek out those who have been pushed out to the fringes of society
“Jesus came and stood among them”
- go to those in need
- don’t wait for them to come to you
- Stand among them
“and said, "Peace be with you."
- Bring peace
- Be a new sense of stability to their lives
- Show respect and dignity
“After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”
- Don’t be afraid to show them your own scars
- Show them your imperfections
“Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
- Rejoice with them
“Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.”
- Offer them peace again and again and again.
- Finding peace is a process.
“As the Father has sent me,”
- Don’t be afraid to say that you believe that God has sent you to them
- Acknowledge that you are there for a reason
“so I send you."
- Send them…give them a direction to go.
- Let them know that with God it is a give and take relationship
“When he had said this, he breathed on them”
- Breath on them…not literally…but share their space
“and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”
- Teach them about the Holy Spirit
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
- Teach about forgiveness
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
- Be more like Thomas… Why was he not with the others? I can’t help but wonder what I would do after hearing the report that Jesus was alive. If my friend who was dead was now alive would I hide or would I go and look for him?
- You can’t share your experience if you are locked behind closed doors.
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord."
- The Disciples shared their experience with Thomas
- We too need to share our story/testimony
But Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
- People will struggle, struggle with them.
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you."
- Offer more peace. For most, experiencing peace isn’t something that just happens, we have to be exposed to it more than once. Bring peace to people over and over again.
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
- Share your pain and share in their pain. Be present with those in need and show them compassion.
Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
- Thomas boldly proclaimed the truth. We need to share boldly, but we don’t want to be pushy. Each persons relationship with God is different, and our hope in sharing our experiences with others is create growth and not to pressure others into believing the same things we do.
Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
- The stories of Jesus are still living today because people shared those stories with others. We live in a society where the stories of Christ are disappearing. We have to do our part to not only keep the stories alive, but we must live these stories in such a way that spreads the Good News.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
- God is revealed to us each and every day. The signs of God in our lives are still happening, but these signs or events are often not pointed out when they occur.
Something brought each of us here to
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