This is the message that I gave for the Second Sunday of Easter, 11 April 1999, at the Neon (KY) United Methodist Church.  The Scriptures for this Sunday were Acts 2: 14, 22 – 32; 1 Peter 1: 3 – 9; and John 20: 19 – 31.

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If there ever was a passage on the meaning of faith in everyday life, I think it has to be the Gospel reading for today. All the disciples except for Thomas are gathered in a closed room when Jesus appears to them. I think it is very easy for us today to imagine how the disciples must have felt on that day when Jesus appears to them, seemingly out of nowhere.

Easter and the resurrection of Jesus is just a week past and the disciples still fear for their own safety. That is why the room was locked and the meeting somewhat secret. And how are the disciples to feel upon seeing Jesus again? After all, to the greatest extent, they abandoned Him at the time when He needed them most. If the disciples were not scared, they had every right to be that way.

Yet, Jesus’ first words to His disciples were “Peace be with you!” Though this was a traditional greeting, Jesus has always used this in a slightly different manner. No longer a simple greeting, it becomes a means of speaking about the salvation that Christ’s redemptive work will achieve for the disciples – total well being and inner rest of the spirit, in fellowship with God. When Jesus greeted his disciples, he sought to calm their fears and tell them that there was a true peace.

But, as the Gospel reading tells us, Thomas (the Twin, as the Greek word Didymus tell us), wasn’t there. And despite the joy that must have been in the voices of those who spoke to him, Thomas wasn’t buying it. Now, for us today, just as it is easy for understand the fears of the disciples on seeing Jesus appear without warning, it is just as easy to understand Thomas’ reaction to his friends’ exclamation of joy. Don’t we want to see things before we too believe?

Several years ago, the junior bowling program that I directed held its awards program. Earlier that year, the manager of the bowling center had hosted a dinner for his two grandsons’ basketball team. At that dinner, he had given the coach a plaque in appreciation for the work that he had done that year.

Now, as we were gathering for our awards ceremony, I saw that he had brought a box about the size of an appreciation plaque. As we ended the evening, I challenged Claude to give me the plaque that I was certain he had brought with him.

To make the story short, Claude pulled a fast one on me and gave me the empty box. That, of course, deflated me, for I was certain that he had a plaque to give me. Of course, after playing the joke, he did give me the plaque to honor me for the work I had done that year. How many times do we think we are getting something, only to come up short? And how many times do we get something when we least expect it?

My commentary noted that hardheaded skepticism could hardly go father than Thomas’ response that day. But Jesus response to Thomas is a response to all of us who feel the necessity to see the resurrection in order to believe, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

If we do not believe in the empty tomb, then Jesus’ task on earth was in vain. It is interesting to note that action of the Pharisees when they were told that the tomb was empty. Remember that they had put a guard on the tomb to prevent the disciples from stealing the body

“The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (Matthew 27: 62 –65)

After the Resurrection, the Pharisees circulated the story that the tomb had been robbed.

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling the, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. (Matthew 28: 11 – 15a)

As is the case in many things, it is easy to understand why the Pharisees would feel this way. After all, they did not believe in what Jesus said to them. As Jesus pointed out, “the blind cannot lead the blind.” If you do not believe, then you cannot understand.

There are those today who do not believe that the tomb was empty that Sunday morning one week ago. They look around and see the wars, the poverty, and the crime and ask where is God in this world. If God so loved us, why does this all occur? I cannot answer the question of why God allows bad things to happen other than to say that the answer to the question lies in what we do after we come to Christ.

But I do know that we have to come to Christ; that we have to believe that Christ died for our sins. For the hardest part of being a Christian is not what we do in our lives but simply believing. When Christ came to this world, salvation was seen in terms of following the rules, of obeying the laws. What makes Christianity stand out from all the religions in the world is that replaces one’ behavior with one’s belief and it replaces rulekeeping and rituals with the single, all-embracing motive of love.

Christ’s presence in the world changes how we view the world. It is interesting to note that the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus reported that their hearts were burning when they talked to Him. Did not John Wesley report the same burning feeling in his heart when he came to realize that Christ died for his sins?

As Peter spoke to the people, he quoted David

“’I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope,

Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

Peter continued,

“Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

We know that Christ died to save us from sin. We do not need to see the tomb to know that it is empty. For we know in our heart that it is so. When Jesus came from the tomb, even His disciples did not recognize Him. When He came into the room, they did not recognize Him. But when the Spirit guided them, the disciples recognized him. It is the same for us today.

Like Wesley at Aldersgate, we must come to know that Christ died for us. And we know that by a simple act of faith, our lives will change. What did Peter write in his letter?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even thought refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him know, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of you faith, the salvation of your souls.

Our lives change because Christ died for us. We do not need to see the empty tomb to know that Christ is alive for we know he is alive in our hearts.