Faith in Things Unseen John 20:24-31 Reverend Anthony R. Locke
April 11th, 2010 (1st Sunday after Easter) at the First Presbyterian Church of Tucker
John 20:24-31
English Standard Version
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 mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, 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 disbelieve, but believe.” 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 have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.1 When you chose to love you chose to become vulnerable. Jesus loved us so much, that he lowered His defenses. Jesus set aside His instincts of self preservation and He descended out of the heavenly glory that He might be close enough to embrace us. Jesus came as a baby. He was unarmed in the fight to conquer the slave master of our souls: sin, death and Hell itself. God Himself uttered a black and dark curse of death upon the whole universe, and especially humanity, when sin entered through Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, we all suffer loneliness, heart break, disappointment and hopelessness. But our sin would cost Jesus much more than that. For if Jesus would bind the strong man of sin and death then He himself had to enter the battle, crush the serpent's head, and suffer scars that appear to this day on the resurrected, ascended, glorified physical body of our Lord. Amazing love! How can it be, that Jesus should suffer for me? If the wages of our sin were to be paid, then there had to be a unique suffering, beyond the common human experience, within the body and soul of our Lord. By the incarnation the infinite eternal Word had taken on finite temporal flesh and awaited the poison of Death's stinger to sink deep into His soul, to release all its venom, and to turn the once Glorified One into the most Cursed One. We call this Good Friday. It wasn’t good for Jesus. Jesus descended into the full experience of our Hell while hanging on the cross. 1 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.