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In 1993 FBI agents conducted a raid of Southwood psychiatric hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing medical records, the agents had worked up an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.
Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We’re over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That’s right. I’m an FBI agent.
Pizza Man: You’re an FBI agent?
Agent: That’s correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Man: And you’re at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That’s correct. And make sure you don’t go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Man: And you say you’re all FBI agents?
Agent: That’s right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?
Agent: That’s right. We’ve been here all day and we’re starving.
Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Man: And you’re all FBI agents?
Agent: That’s right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Man: I don’t think so.
** Click **
If we would have been the pizza man, I think we would have been a little skeptical about the validity of that pizza order too. Doubt and skepticism are the subjects of today’s text.
Doubt Turns Into Belief (24-28)
Remember, it is still Easter evening. Jesus had risen from the dead early that morning and appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb and had told the other disciples. Later that evening Jesus appeared to them and gave them the Holy Spirit.
Now when Jesus appeared to the disciples, we know it was the Ten and not the Twelve. Judas had already betrayed Jesus and had committed suicide and now verse 24 tells us that Thomas was not with them either. The text doesn’t tell us why Thomas was not with the other disciples, but it may be as simple as Thomas was of the personality that liked to be alone while he mourned. When grieving, some people are comforted by the presence of others, while some prefer to be alone.
Since Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus had appeared to them, the other disciples told him everything that had happened. But as you can imagine, if someone told you that a friend of yours who had died rose from the dead a walked through a wall and spoke to them, you might be just a little skeptical as well.
Thomas responded to the disciples’ testimony with pessimistic skepticism. Even though he witnessed the raising of Lazarus, he could not conceive of the possibility of Jesus raising himself from the dead. Perhaps he thought the other disciples had given in to wishful thinking or had overactive imaginations.
Thomas declares his conditions for belief. He not only must see the resurrected Jesus and the scars from the nails, but he demands the tangible evidence of putting his fingers in the nail marks and his hand in the spear mark in Jesus’ side.
One week later on the following Sunday Jesus once again appeared to his disciples in the house behind locked doors. Again his resurrection body allowed him to pass right through the walls of the house. This miraculous appearance would have evoked fear from the disciples, especially from Thomas because he had not witnessed this before as the other disciples had. The greeting was intended to calm their fear.
Jesus’ rebuke shows that he hears his disciples even when he is not physically present. This rebuke blew Thomas’ doubt away. Since he saw Jesus with his eyes and heard him with his ears, he had no more need to touch him with his hands. Jesus’ rebuke redefined Thomas’ categories for belief. Jesus offered to have Thomas touch him, but it was no longer necessary. Sight itself proved sufficient.
Jesus’ words “stop doubting and believe” are even meant for future disciples who might doubt Jesus’ resurrection. This phrase serves as a rebuke to the modern world which has dismissed the resurrection.
There are many doubting Thomas’s’ in our world today who are skeptical about Christ’s resurrection. I would bet that there are even a few in the congregation this morning who have serious doubts about Christ being raised from the dead. They say, “I’ve never seen Jesus Christ, so how do I know if he really exists.” Or “I have never seen a resurrection, so how do I really know whether or not it can happen.” If you are a doubting Thomas, I challenge you with the same words Jesus used, “Stop doubting and believe!”
Even thought their may be a few who are struggling with skepticism about the existence or resurrection of Christ, I bet there are a lot more who like Thomas put conditions on our faith. Thomas said that he would not believe unless he put his finger in the nail whole in Jesus’ hand. Have you ever done that? Have you ever put a condition on your faith? Have you ever said, “I won’t believe unless you do this or that for me?”
This is utter foolishness! Sometimes Jesus doesn’t meet our conditions for faith. Then what? Would we really risk our souls for some silly deal we try to work out with God? I hope not! Jesus demands unconditional faith!
Carl Rogers, the U.S. psychologist, was 22 years old when he entered Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1924. While there, he participated in a seminar organized to explore religious doubts. Rogers later said of the group, “The majority of members…in thinking their way through questions they had raised, thought themselves right out of religious work. I was one.”
Faith without Sight (29)
Jesus’ mild rebuke to Thomas is intended to show the limitation of a faith in Jesus based on seeing him risen and to signal the transition from such faith to believing in the apostles’ testimony. Even Thomas should have believed his fellow disciples’ testimony rather than demanding further proof. Hence, Jesus’ blessing really pertains to John’s readers. Such a believing response to Jesus, in turn, is the pathway to eternal life, which transcends living merely in terms of physical presence and earthly relationships.
In Thomas’ case Jesus did give him tangible evidence of the resurrection, but he certainly doesn’t promise this to everyone. Here Jesus pronounces a blessing on all who put their faith in him even though they have never seen him. Why does Jesus emphasize faith over sight? Because he is a spiritual king who reigns over a spiritual kingdom! It cannot be seen with the eye or touched with the hand.
Harriet, the church gossip and self-appointed supervisor of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business. Several residents were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.
She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked all afternoon in front of the town’s only bar. She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know that he was an alcoholic.
George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and then just walked away. He said nothing. Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Harriet’s house and left it there all night.
Sometimes sight is not the best sense to use in order to determine what is real and what is not. Our eyes cannot always determine truth. Something may look real and not be, like George and Harriet; but something else may not be seen at all but be very real, like the air you breathe. And it requires faith to turn doubts into action.
Let us keep believing, even though we don’t see!
Faith Produces Eternal Life (30-31)
Now John puts his whole gospel in perspective. The flow of thought is: Thos who have not seen the risen Christ and yet have believed are blessed; therefore this book has been composed, to the end that you may believe. John tells his readers that there were many more signs of Jesus he could have recorded, but these are sufficient to produce adequate faith.
The goal of this gospel is to produce saving faith. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that produces eternal life. John is trying to evangelize his readers.
Now John is speaking directly to us. He knows that Jesus is the only one who can give us eternal life. The whole reason he wrote this gospel was that every generation who reads it would be persuaded that Jesus Christ is God and that we would have salvation through him.
As you have read this gospel and have heard it preached, have you become convinced that Jesus really is God? Are you convinced that he really is the Messiah? Are you convinced that he really died on the cross and rose on the third day for the forgiveness of our sins? Are you really convinced that he is the only way to have spiritual salvation and eternal life in heaven? Has John accomplished his purpose in your heart? I hope so!
John uses this story about Thomas to spur his readers on to faith in Jesus Christ. John knew that many of his readers would be skeptical about the resurrection of Jesus Christ because they did not personally witness it. Thomas’ transformation from skepticism to genuine faith becomes a model for transformation in every age. John climaxes the scene with Jesus’ blessing on those who have not seen him but have believed.
John records all of this to convince his readers that Jesus really is God and that eternal life comes through him. Let us follow in Thomas’ footsteps and stop doubting and start believing!