| ||
|
ABOUT US
ARTICLES MINISTRIES PHOTOGRAPHS STORIES VIDEOS CONTACT US WHAT'S NEW 
|
By Timothy AllenTim Allen is the husband of Rosalie Allen, formerly a teacher at Maranatha Christian School where I taught, and now at Grove City Christian School in Grove City, Ohio. Tim delivered this sermon at Southside Mennonite Church in Springfield, Ohio on Easter Sunday March 13, 2008. It is reproduced here with his permission. - tmpJesus has risen from the dead! Yes! Yes! It’s true! Jesus – Jesus of Nazareth - has risen from the dead! He has, He really, really has! I know, I know, it sounds incredible, and very hard to believe at first. I mean, he was beaten, horribly scourged and crucified to death, and now He’s alive again. I know I didn’t believe it when I first heard the news. Actually, I was very doubtful. But then, I’m kind of known for that. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. You good people don’t even know who I am. Let me introduce myself. I am called Didymus. I try to go by that name more often these days than by what most people call me. Yes, you probably know me best by that name – Thomas. Some of you probably can’t even think of my name without adding that infamous modifier in front of it, “doubting” – as in “doubting Thomas.” That’s why I mostly go by Didymus now. I hate that nickname. “Doubting Thomas!” I can almost hear the laughter in Simon Peter’s voice now when he calls after me, “hey doubting Thomas!” And what about Simon Peter himself? You never hear him called ”denying Simon” or “Simon the Denier.” Oh no, people don’t think of him as that, or even as his given name, Simon John’s son. No, people know him best as Peter. He gets called “the rock,” and I get called “doubting Thomas.” So out of all of the 12, nobody’s name is as infamous as mine. Okay, there is Iscariot. It’s not like anybody’s naming their sons Judas anymore. But let’s get back to the case at hand. So I refer to myself as Didymus, but most often I’m called “doubting Thomas,” and you all know why. I doubted the resurrection of Jesus. What can I say? I’m on the record for this now that my “friend” John has written it all down in his account of things. I know, you’re wondering how I, who followed Jesus so closely and witnessed all of his miracles could possibly doubt his resurrection. It’s a fair question, but the answer is not as crystal clear as you may think. Yes, I saw the miracles. I was at the wedding in Cana and saw plain water turned instantly into the finest of wines. I was there when Jesus had Peter catch a fish with a shekel in its mouth so he could pay the Temple Tax for himself and Jesus, which I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I saw a small lunch of fish and bread feed thousands, which was quite a sight to behold. I saw that wild demon possessed man in the Gadarenes become peaceful and whole – which was a wonderful thing to see, unless of course you were one of the guys who owned those pigs. Of course I saw the healings too. I saw a man who was blind from birth receive his sight. I saw those who had never taken a single step in their lives get up and run. I saw those who had been deaf gain their hearing. Jesus healed many sick and broken people with just the touch of his hand or a word from his mouth. I remember when a lady just touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak and received healing in her body. I even saw Lazarus, who had been dead and in the grave for a few days, walk from death to life at a few words from Jesus. So I know that Jesus was powerful and could do incredible, marvelous, unbelievable stuff. But yet when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden, He just let them. He seemed powerless to stop them from mocking and beating him beyond all recognition. And, it seemed to me, He was completely unable to stop them from killing him. Yes, they killed him! They killed him! They killed Jesus! I was there! I saw that! I was not up close to the cross so neither John nor the others who wrote their accounts saw me. But I was watching from a distance and I saw Him die! He did all kinds of miracles when He was alive. Like I said, I saw those so I don’t doubt them in the least. Bu He did all those things while he was living. I mentioned Lazarus earlier and I still remember that day, with Jesus raising him from the dead. It was amazing to see Lazarus walk out of that tomb at Jesus’ command, and it was a wonderful, joyous time for us and his sisters (not to mention Lazarus). But Jesus was alive when he did that too. The way I see it, our friend Lazarus got sick while we were away and died of natural causes and then Jesus came along and restored his body to life. Besides, I didn’t see Lazarus die. But I did see Jesus murdered. Let me tell you, seeing somebody die like that, especially somebody I loved as much as Jesus, when you see that with your own eyes, it makes an impact on you. You see them die and see the very life blood flowing out of them and you know that this is the end. Yes, the master had done many great things while he was alive. But, Jesus was dead now. You know, dead, having died, no longer amongst the living. Hey, I’m no physician, and I’m sure that the good Dr. Luke could probably do a better job than I can of describing the whole process of it all and what happens to the body at that time. But I know enough about death to know that when you’re dead you can’t do anything. The life force leaves your body and you just lie there stiff and motionless. You can’t even move your little finger, let alone raise your own self up and roll away a huge stone. Can’t happen. Not possible. I was trying to explain all of this to the rest of the twelve. Oops, I mean the eleven – I’m still having trouble getting used the fact that Iscariot is gone. Anyway, I was trying to explain this to the eleven, but they would have none of it. They kept insisting that Jesus was alive and had risen from the dead. Actually, I may be called “doubting Thomas,” but let me remind you that the rest of the eleven didn’t believe it at first either. The first people to tell us that Jesus was alive were the women – the Marys and Joanna. They said they saw and spoke to Jesus in the garden near his tomb. We all told them it was nonsense, that they probably saw the gardener there and in their grief thought it was Jesus. Next there were a couple of men who claimed to have walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They even claimed to have had lunch with Jesus. We didn’t believe them either – thinking that they must have been out in the noonday sun a bit too long. Later in that same afternoon I went out to the marketplace to get food for us all. We were all in hiding – trying to keep out of sight of the Sanhedrin and their spies. After they killed Jesus we knew we were next on their list. They sent me out for supplies because, unlike Peter “The Rock” and the “Sons of Thunder,” I was not that bold in public and they figured that I could go about more easily without being recognized. |
When I got back to the house I could tell right away that the rest of them were all excited about something. I could hear them from two houses away and, for a group of men in hiding, something big must be going on for them to risk losing their cover. Well, I had not but barely set foot in the room when they all came up to me and said they’d seen Jesus, right there in that very room. I was stunned. First the women, then the two from Emmaus and now these guys! Was everybody going crazy except for me? Was I the sole remaining sane person in this whole group? I proceeded to remind them that the house had been locked and that I’d taken the only key to that big old lock with me. They said they knew that but that Jesus just “appeared” in the room there with them. With this I was convinced that their fears, possibly combined with grief and their empty stomachs, were causing them to see things. So I figured that after they had a good meal and had taken some time to sort through things that they would come to their senses. Didn’t happen. Oh no, if anything my trying to convince them otherwise just made them work harder and harder to convince me that they’d actually seen Jesus right there where I was standing. “He’s alive!” they’d tell me. Over and over. Day and night. Day after day after day. All the while I kept trying to show them that it was impossible. He was dead. I saw him die and no amount of wishing, hoping or imagining would make that not true. I tried to tell them that, sure, while Jesus was alive he could perform great wonders and that I’d seen it all too. But dead was dead and not only do dead men tell no tales, but they don’t get up and go around performing miracles after they die either. This was becoming an endless cycle – they trying to convince me that they’d seen Jesus after he’d been dead and three days in the tomb, and me expressing my doubts about it. It was going absolutely nowhere. Finally I said to them all, “look, you can talk until you’re blue in the face about having seen the Lord, but unless I see him standing right here before me; unless I see the nail marks in his hands; until I can stand right here and put my very own finger into where I saw them pound those cruel nails; and until I can take my own hand and put it to the wound in his side, I will not believe.” This went on for a week and no matter how sincere and convincing each one was I would not believe. And no matter how much I loved and trusted each and every one of them – for it was not their character or honesty I was doubting, only their eyes – no matter how much i wanted in my heart to believe these dear brothers and sisters, I would still not believe. Like I said, this went on continually for a week, first one person then the other, with neither side giving any ground. On and on it went. Then, suddenly it stopped. No, I did not convince them – or they me. It was something altogether different. Or, should I say “Someone?” We were all together still, locked in the house as before, and all of a sudden there He was. Yes, that “He.” Jesus. Jesus was standing there among us just as plainly as I’m standing here before you today. Jesus, right there with us in the flesh. He looked at us all, smiled and said, “Peace be with you.” Wow! How wonderful it was to see the Lord again! Alive and well and back with us. What a horrible week it had been and how I had longed for His presence. And here He was, standing right there before my very eyes and saying, “Peace be with you.” “Peace be with you!” Oh, what sweet, glorious music to my ears. I was floating on air. Thing is though, floating on air isn’t something that one easily does for any great length of time – like big old Simon the rock walking on water! Sorry, Peter! No, just as I was beginning to float, Jesus brought me back to earth again. It was not but a few fleeting seconds later and I noticed that Jesus was looking right at me. His smile was still there, but it was something of a sadder smile now. As He was looking my way, He addressed His next remark squarely at me. He said to me, pointing at his hands, “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Ouch! His rebuke was gentle, but it hit me right where I lived. It was what I needed to hear and it was from the only One who could speak it to me so I would truly hear it. Then it hit me. Only God can bring life where there was death. It was beginning to break through my doubting mind that all that Jesus had said about how He and God the Father are one was true. I also recalled again all that Jesus said about His dying and rising again. Well, Jesus had told us so many things using parables. I guess I thought that Jesus’ talk of dying and rising again was just another parable. So many thoughts came rushing into my head and I still don’t comprehend it all yet, but I’m working on it. Well, the only thing I could do in response to this was fall down before Jesus, look up at him in complete and total awe and simply proclaim, “My Lord and my God!” I had seen Jesus and in that seeing, really seeing, I believed. (I didn’t’ actually need to put my finger in the nail prints and all now – I was convinced.) Then Jesus said to me, “Because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Not seeing and still believing. What an amazing thing! Such people Jesus called “blessed.” He said those words to me, but do you know who Jesus was talking about? Who are these unseeing believers? It was you! I saw Jesus and believed. Yet, you have not seen Jesus like I did – and yet you believe! You believe that Jesus did die and was raised to life again. And do you know what that makes you? Jesus said it makes you “blessed!” You are blessed! You believe in Jesus and are blessed! So, you’re blessed. That’s great, but it doesn’t end there. If you are blessed, go do something about it. Go tell others so they can be blessed too. Don’t’ keep it all to yourselves! For as Jesus told us later, we’re now supposed to go out and make disciples of everyone – “of all nations” He said. So, if you’re blessed, you’ve got some disciple making to do. If you are here today and don’t believe, I urge you to take a look a Jesus. Look at Jesus and see who He is and what He did for you. Look at Jesus and see His wounded hands and feet. Look at Jesus and see His boundless love for you. As you look at Jesus, listen to Jesus. Hear Him say, “Peace be with you,” and know that it’s a Peace that only Jesus can give to you. As you look at Jesus and as you listen to Jesus – believe in Jesus. Believe in Jesus, and be blessed. You can do it this very day. Jesus is alive and He is here in this place this very day – I don’t know how anybody could doubt it.
|
| Copyright © 2008, Timothy Allen, All Rights Reserved. Used by permission - 122 | ||