Sermon(Jn 20:24-29): Unshakable Faith

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025255887

 

>> 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (Jn 20:24-29) <<

 

Do you know the fatal weak point of Muhammad, a leader of a heresy, S. M. Moon, the leader of a heresy in Korea, and Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism in the United States? They said they met an angel or Jesus, which, however, was an experience of oneself only. Furthermore they rejected the orthodox faith that was transmitted from former Christians. How many megalomaniacs are there in the world who are uttering ignorant and absurd sayings after seeing vain visions! Jesus suddenly appeared among his disciples (Jn 20:19). What does this mean? The resurrected Jesus showed himself to his several disciples at the same time so that they might understand that his resurrection was real. Therefore his resurrection became an undeniable historical fact. My brethren, he really did arise from death. Believe that!

 

Of course, a man, Paul, alone met Jesus. But even this was not 'a pure one-to-one meeting.' Some people accompanied Paul, but they didn't see Jesus whom Paul was meeting. Nevertheless they certainly witnessed the moment of some religious experience of Paul. They saw Paul, not in a dream, talking personally with a mysterious person. Above all, Paul did not deny Jesus, the Lord of the apostles, whom the apostles that had together witnessed the resurrected Jesus talked about. So Jesus Paul met was the real Jesus. The God of Christianity is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of David, of Jesus, of Peter and Paul, of Luther and Calvin, and the God of pastor Gi-cheol Ju (주기철), a Korean. Like this, those who experienced the Divinity succeed and develope the religious assets transmitted from the former devout Christians. Christianity is like a building. The foundation stone is Jesus, and bricks are laid upon it, making a whole building. If you rashly remove the foundation stone or some of the bricks under you, the building, or the Christianity, will collapse.

 

What's the problem with Thomas? He refused to admit the fact that the resurrected Jesus had appeared where Thomas himself was not present. It is wrong not to admit as a truth what you haven't experienced. Many people in the world do not accept the words of Christians who have experienced God and Jesus, because they have a wrong attitude to the truth. If at least a great number of people who have no problems in personality and have healthy mentality confess the same faith in God and Jesus, you can't deny the object of their faith. When the disciples said that they had met Jesus together at one place, Thomas should have understood that the experience couldn't be a mere individual hallucination. Some may argue that the disciples fell under collective hypnosis, so that they together saw a phantom risen-Jesus. I wonder if there were hypnotists then. And the disciples had thought that Jesus died and disappeared from the world for ever before they met the risen Jesus. Even if under hallucination or hypnosis, can it be possible for an individual or for a group of people to have a hypnotic experience of fantasy they have never imagined?

 

What faith did Thomas have? Thomas showed an attitude that he would really believe if the evidence was clear. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe. (v. 25)” By the way, we must know that this saying tells a lot. Thomas wanted to find the evidence of the risen Jesus in the mark of the nails on Jesus' hands and the mark of the spear on his side. The marks were the result and the evidence of Jesus' love for his sheep. The one whom Thomas wanted to meet again indeed was Jesus who had sacrificed his life for his sheep. My brethren, when do the laymen respect the clergy as their true shepherds? They really recognize as their pastor him in whom they see the marks of the nail and the spear. You deserve to be called a pastor of the sheep of Jesus if you have bled for them and so sacrificed yourself for them as to get hurt. The character of a pastor should be sacrifice and love.

 

On the eighth day after the conversation between the disciples and Thomas, Jesus appeared in the room where there were all of them. Jesus said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing. (v. 27)" The Jesus appearing then had the very body that he had had when ministering in the world. Some Christians think that the resurrection of the believers will occur only on the spiritual level. But it's wrong. Our resurrection is a resurrection of the perfect body and spirit. But people will raise an objection, saying, "Humans and beasts all die, leaving ashes only. An atom that used to be a component of a man can now be that of other living things. Then how can a body that used to live on the earth be restored when the resurrection takes place?" If an atom has been absorbed into many living beings over some time, a question arises: To whose body does the atom belong on the day of resurrection? This contradiction can be overcome by my writing titled >God the Creator (https://blog.naver.com/stevision/221747893118) <. Jesus showed Thomas that he died, yet has really risen, and he admonished Thomas to believe his resurrection. When people are eagerly hoping for or expecting something, they have dreams or fantasies symbolizing the hope. Jesus appeared to Thomas when he had no hope for Jesus' resurrection and decided to go his way, or when he didn't expect to see Jesus again at all. Jesus showed plainly his resurrection to Thomas who would really believe if he could but had not believed because of lack of the evidence. God does not reveal his will to man in accordance with man's expectations or predictions. In order that man may have a firm faith, he reveals the hidden things to man, in the way outside the human will, expectation and prediction.

 

Thomas made an exceptional confession of faith after he had seen the solid evidence. “My Lord and my God! (v. 28)” Once upon a time, Aristotle claimed that heavy bodies fell quickly while light bodies slowly. And most people believed that. However Galileo said that all objects fell at the same velocity irrespective of their weight, when he observed that the big hailstones and the small hailstones fell alike, at the same time. So he concluded that an object does not has the velocity in proportion to its weight but that all objects fall at the same velocity regardless of their weight. According to Aristotle's theory, small hailstones must fall only after big hailstones. But as it was they didn't. Having seen a manifest evidence, Galileo suggested a new theory, rejecting the old wrong one. My brethren, if you have seen a manifest evidence, please believe the truth the evidences refer to. Thomas, who liked to see evidences and was suspicious about anything, gave up an inaccurate knowledge that Jesus was a godly religioner and confessed Jesus was his God, after he had seen a manifest proof. "Jesus is the God!" This is the conclusion Thomas made when he met a clear evidence. Thomas confessed that before many disciples.

 

What are the grounds for Thomas to find Jesus the God? Humans cannot escape death, but Jesus overcame death and rose again. A common man is not able to listen to others from afar, but Jesus knew all words between Thomas and the other disciples. An ordinary man can't come into a room when the door is closed, but the wall of the room was nothing with Jesus. No man that had crucified to death has ever come to life again until now. Thomas discovered the divinity of Jesus who appeared in front of him. He found that Jesus was not a mere human being but a God who became a man. His conclusion was this: Jesus accomplished what a human being cannot do, so he is not a mere man but the God. My brethren, there are lots of proofs that Jesus is the God, not merely a man, so be sure to believe this truth. The essence of Christianity lies in believing that Jesus is God, not just an ordinary human being who lived a good life and died. It is profanity itself to call a man a God. However Jesus, listening to Thomas' confession of faith, didn't rebuke him, for it is a truth that Jesus is God.

 

When he heard Thomas' great confession of faith, Jesus said, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. (v. 29)" My brethren, who are blessed? Blessed are those who love Jesus and believe in Jesus' sincerity even when sick. Blessed are those who trust in Jesus even when they have lost a lot of money. Blessed are those who can say that Jesus is their Lord and their God, even when they fail in business or meet accidents. Miserable are those who leave the church and Jesus when they suffer a small loss or a small failure. However, blessed are those who believe in the love and faithfulness of God even when they are whipped by God thanks to their sins. Blessed are you if you always believe and follow Jesus whether you are happy or not. Blessed are those who believe that Jesus loves them, that Jesus is the Savior who takes up their sins, and that they will arise after death like him; even if they can't see something certain before their eyes or don't grab something good in their hands. You have not a blessed faith if you can't believe that the God is your God unless you've been blessed a lot in this world. Your faith will please God if you believe in God's love and sincerity in any situations. We Christians are believers who look forward to God's promises, not those who live a life of Christian based on something visible. Thomas' attitude that he would not believe unless he saw some visible evidences meant that he could not trust Jesus' prediction made before the crucifixion that he would arise 3 days after his death, which is an attitude of unbelief in Jesus' personality, so Jesus was not satisfied with him. He who seeks evidence for everything leads a very uncertain wavering Christian life. Such a man easily becomes a target of Devil's attack. When the Devil shows him a false evidence that suits his taste or his expectations, such a man thinks that it is the answer of God to his prayer. And he begins to live as a servant of Devil. But he who firmly believes that God loves him and that God will surely lead him to heaven will never leave him or doubt his love even if he walks in the way of ordeal. Blessed are those who believe even if they do not see, because their faith is a genuine faith attaining to salvation. He who says he will believe if he sees the evidence can perhaps never have a true faith until his death, because he is always 'not yet'. Many Jews pressed Jesus to show the evidence that he was the Savior sent by God. However not a few people didn't believe in Jesus although they saw the evidence that Jesus was the Savior, such as the miracle of 'five loaves of bread and two fish', the empty tomb of Jesus, and many eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. The visible evidences can not always convince everyone, for the faith by the evidence (or the reaction to the evidence) depends on the subjective judgment of a man. Some have the faith in God the Creator when they see the beautiful world, others do not believe in such God even when they see such an evidence. After all, he who could believe in and trust in Jesus without seeing him could believe in the risen Jesus. My brethren, Jesus is the Son of God. And he was raised three days after his death. He is your Savior and will surely bring you to heaven. Keep this faith. The blessing of peace will be with him who believes without seeing (v. 26). He who has a perfect faith in God enjoys always peace and delight under any circumstances. Complete peace comes from complete faith. My brethren, how happy and refreshed I am if there is just one person who trusts in me despite my some faults and mistakes! A man who, without seeing Jesus, believes in Jesus' divinity and his holy character makes him refreshed a lot.

 

May your faith in Jesus be true and firm, and may you enjoy the blessing of peace.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                  - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -