Second Presbyterian Church

"We Are Blessed"
April 27, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for April 2003

2^nd Sunday of Easter, Year B
by The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Psalm 133
• John 20: 19-31

One of the books that we enjoyed reading with Christine is by Judith Viorst. Its title is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The story goes something like this: one morning Alexander wakes up and realizes that the chewing gum that was in his mouth when he went to bed was now in his hair. And he knew that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! At breakfast his box of cereal was the only one that didn't have a prize in it, only cereal. At school his teacher did not like his drawing of the invisible castle. Alexander was told he sang too loud at singing time. And Paul, his best friend, informed him that they weren't best friends any more; that Alexander was only his third best friend. In the cafeteria Alexander learned that his mother had forgotten to put dessert in his lunch box. After school Alexander learned that he had a dentist appointment. He was the only one who had a cavity. Anthony, Alexander's older brother, made him fall in the mud and he got all muddy. There were lima beans for dinner, yucky kissing on TV, the bath water was too hot, he got soap in his eyes, his marble went down the drain, he had to wear his railroad PJ's (he hated his RR PJ's!) and the Mickey Mouse night light had burned out. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And several times Alexander wished that he could escape to Australia.

We all have those days when nothing goes very well. It's as if the day starts at the bottom, then goes down hill from there! And our world is rife with uncountable, often incomprehensible tragedies. All one has to do is read the newspaper, or watch the news broadcast to learn of tragedy after human tragedy, much of which is perpetrated by humans against humans. We remember the tragedies of the Columbine shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing and 911. Some of the human tragedies are so massive; we cannot seem to really take it in. There was the holocaust, the millions of people who died at the hands of Hitler, the millions upon millions of people who died in Cambodia and during the rule of Stalin in the Soviet Union. It has been noted that nearly 80% of all people killed by war, died during the twentieth century.

During the course of human history there have been terrible tragedies, tragedies that touch every dimension of human life. Some are global, some national, some regional, some familial and some were individual times of horror and pain. No particular group or person has lived exempt from tragedy, not one.

And yet, the title of my sermon remains: WE ARE BLESSED! How, one might ask, are we blessed when so much pain and tragedy exists in life? And to address that question I turn to Thomas, the Twin, the one who is more popularly known as "Doubting Thomas."

The story states that that evening, Easter day, the Lord appeared to the disciples who were in a house behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Temple leaders. But Thomas was not there. When the disciples saw Thomas they told him how they had "seen the Lord!" But Thomas must have been from Missouri, the "show me" state. Thomas would have to see it to believe it. "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." Thomas was adamant. He was not to be moved.

One week later the disciples were again gathered in the house and the doors were shut; this time Thomas was also present with them. Jesus appeared again and said, "peace be with you." Then he turned to Thomas and said, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe."

Thomas may have been a doubter, a person from Missouri, but John's version of the gospel has Thomas stating the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He saw Jesus' hands and side, perhaps even touched them and exclaimed, "MY LORD AND MY GOD!" From the mouth of doubting Thomas comes the confession of faith, that all Christians make when they encounter the Lord, Jesus Christ, "MY LORD AND MY GOD!" Thomas made this proclamation only after he witnessed the marks, the wounds that Jesus received from his suffering and death on the cross! And that is the key point that we must not forget. Our confession of Jesus Christ as our Lord and God is valid only when we worship the crucified Christ who died an excruciating form of execution and who was raised from the dead! Our life and our salvation is founded upon the suffering that God was willing to take upon God's self for our redemption!

After Jesus speaks to Thomas he continues to speak, I believe, to all who are willing to read and hear his words. And he gives the beatitude, "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE COME TO BELIEVE." Blessed are all of US, all Christians who have lived and who live and who shall live, because we have come to confess, that Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified Lord, the resurrected Lord, is OUR LORD AND OUR GOD! We are blessed because we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, even though we have not seen with our eyes the marks of the Crucifixion on the living body of Jesus. We have come to believe. Only through the eyes of faith, not by our sight have we seen the Lord - the one crucified.

What I find profoundly comforting in these words from the Gospel of John is that I can trust that my blessedness from Jesus Christ exists, regardless of what happens to me in life. I have experienced some tragedy and heartache in my life and yet I can see how the hand of God has blessed me, not only despite my tragedies, but even through my tragedies!

Each one of you has lived through times of pain and sorrow. And each time you lived through them you either found your faith growing stronger or you may have found your faith growing weaker. If it is the latter, that you found your faith actually weaker after a time of tragedy, then the odds are good that you tend to interpret what happens in this world like a daisy flower. You know the old saying, "He loves me, he loves me not" each time you pick a petal. If you find your faith threatened by tragedy, the chances are that each good thing that happens to you in this life is "God blesses me." And each bad, or painful incident is "God blesses me not." It is no different than the person who cries out in grief, "Why is God punishing me?" It is tempting to interpret bad experiences as God turning God's blessing away from us. It is tempting to believe at those times that God has removed God's care from us. Why is God punishing me!? Why has God abandoned me!? Our text today can give us the truth, and that truth comes through Jesus' words, three times in our lesson, "peace be with you." The truth is that God never abandons us, regardless of good or bad times!

The reason Thomas insisted upon seeing the marks of the cross upon Jesus is that it could only be the Messiah who was Jesus of Nazareth. It could only be the Messiah who had endured the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad suffering that Jesus endured! The true Messiah could only be the Messiah who, even as Lord and God, had experienced the epitome of evil.

There has been far too much suffering and pain in our world for us. We do not have the time, or patience for a Messiah that has not taken seriously the world's suffering and pain. We Christians do not understand why evil and suffering exist in a creation that was created by God and created as good. The Bible does not answer why evil exists. But it does accept its existence and the horrific toll it has placed upon humanity and God's good creation! The Bible does take evil and suffering seriously; there is no glib covering over the sin and evil that can happen in life. And we are grateful that our redemption in Jesus Christ takes seriously the price of evil and suffering. We need a Lord and God who can stand the rough times in life, in our lives. We need a Messiah who can be trusted to be there when no one else IS there! And in Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, we are blessed with such a Messiah. By Grace through faith we are so blessed that we no longer have to worry about being abandoned by God's love and presence. Even when we feel alone and lost, we know that God to is there, ready to respond to us and to our situation.

It is only by faith that we can accept this Great News; we cannot see it superficially; we cannot see it with our eyes. There is yet no real empirical evidence available to us. And regardless of who we are or what we have done, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ is ready to come into our lives and live with us forever!

Our belief in Jesus as the Son of God, has the power to makes us children of God. That's what John tells us. It had the power to transform the lives of the scared disciples into bold missionaries who traveled the known world. It has the power to transform your life and my life, too. And when we believe, we receive the beatitude that Jesus gave when he met with his disciples and Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." And that means us, you and me. Our challenge is to live in accordance to our belief, the belief that Jesus of Nazareth who suffered and died on the cross was raised from the dead and that he is the Son of God. I pray you continue to have a blessed Easter season. Amen.