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How would you summarise your life at the moment? Unbelief, sorrow and loss, fear, confusion and darkness, old age, uncertainty about the future? Or are you struggling to understand and believe the story of Jesus? We’re looking at Jesus resurrection –because it’s Easter Sunday. Maybe we’re used to sermons on ‘Did resurrection actually happen? What’s the evidence?’ But this passages is more about what are the implications of the resurrection? What does it mean for us?

This account followed what had happened earlier in the morning. Mary Magdalene came to the disciples distressed and worried because the body of Jesus was missing from the tomb. She had gone to the tomb early Sunday morning only to discover that Jesus body was missing. Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see for themselves if it was true. They had seen the linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head no body to be found. Then later that day, Mary Magdalene had come to the disciples once again, this time breathless with excitement and joy, that she has seen the Lord. I have three headings:

1. The risen Jesus brings the peace of knowing he has overcome everything we might fear

John 20.19-20:

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

The first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples were staying were locked. They all gathered in one place locked the door because of fear of the Jewish leaders who were behind the plot to kill Jesus. Why? Because they thought they will come after them next. We might expect that the disciples would be celebrating by now that Jesus is risen and that what Jesus said about himself is true. John says that the doors were locked for fear of the Jews.

I remember many years ago one of my aunties died and my parents had to travel that weekend to go and see my uncle and we were left with one of my older cousins to look after us. We were all afraid that night. Fear of what has happened and what will happen so we gathered together in our living room. That was the situation the disciples were in. But our Lord Jesus, will not be stopped by locked doors. What happened next cannot be explained ordinarily, Jesus came right through those locked doors and appeared before the frightened sheep – his disciples. Jesus is God, creator of everything and that is why the walls and locked doors will not be a barrier for him. Jesus said Peace be with you, and Jesus told his disciples in John 16.33:

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Jesus didn’t come to challenge his disciples about their failures or their fears, but to grant them peace, to help them, to show them that he has overcome the world. Peace be with you. This statement is more than a greeting. It’s a statement of complete understanding of the disciples plight- their failures, their fears, their inabilities. It’s a statement of hope, statement to address both their current problems and future problems. It’s a statement to encourage them to continue to believe in him. He’s promising that the unbelieving world will cause tribulation for believers (opposition, hostility, intolerance), but the encouragement is that by his death and resurrection he has overcome everything that stands against us – including death itself.

So, we have the peace of knowing that whatever happens, the risen Jesus is in control of it, and the risen Jesus ultimately wins and we are in that winning team. But to prove that it was Him not a ghost, Jesus shows his disciples his hands and his side, so that they can see that it is the real Jesus not a ghost, that he is flesh and blood standing before them. The disciples responded by rejoicing that they have seen the Lord, just as Jesus had told them that he would rise from the dead. Their joy should be put into action. It’s not to be contained within their hearts, it should be shared. And that takes me to my second heading:

2. The risen Jesus empowers and sends his disciples to go and preach the gospel to the world

John 20.21:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

The disciples were sent to continue the mission of revealing Jesus here on earth, through preaching and living out the gospel to the world. And Jesus knew that the task will not be easy and it is not something they can do on their own. Jesus knew that his disciples would need to be empowered. John 20.22 says:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will teach them, remind them of all that Jesus has said to them. The Holy Spirit will guide them into all truth. The Holy Spirit will empower them to speak boldly for him. How will they do the telling? Look at John 20.23:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

Jesus is not giving his disciples some special power to decide whose sins will be forgiven and whose will not. Rather, Jesus is emphasizing to them what it means to be sent, to make known the love of God that Jesus himself has made known through his death on the cross. These verses mean as the disciples go out to evangelise and speak God’s word to the world that anyone that come to believe and abide in Jesus that their sins will be forgiven by God and those that refuse will not be forgiven and they will remain enemies of God. This is also a mandate for us as Christians and as a church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, starting from where are now. Jesus said to them in John 20.23:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

That means the opportunity the world would have to hear the good news of the gospel and have their sins forgiven depends on Christians taking the gospel to them. We need to take the gospel out there. It’s our duty as Christians. And, if we are to preach the gospel to the world, we should be ready to experience oppositions in the form of unbelief.

3. The risen Jesus gives evidence on which we can believe in him

Thomas was not there the first time Jesus appeared. The reason he was not there is unknown but it seems that Thomas was not afraid of the Jews or maybe he has gone to buy bread for the rest of the disciples. But when Thomas came back the other disciples told him about Jesus appearance to them. He didn’t agree with them rather he demanded for evidence and said (John 20.25):

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.

This remark has earned Thomas the name ‘doubting Thomas’. The question is was he really doubting God’s ability to raise Jesus from the dead. This label implies he should have believed the witness of his fellow-apostles. But Jesus graciously gives him the level of evidence he asked for. Look at John 20.26:

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.”

Jesus appeared again to them like before and greeted them with the same greeting Peace be with you. John 20.27:

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.”

This shows he specifically appeared again for the sake of Thomas to clear any doubt that anyone may have or people thinking that the other disciples were dreaming or they just saw a ghost not Christ. Jesus said to Thomas put your finger here and feel where the spear pierced my body, see my hands where the nails pierced. John 20.28:

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

That response is the highest Christological confession of anyone in the Gospel. Thomas is not simply saying a doctrinal confession, but a statement of trust and relationship: My Lord and my God! - a statement of total surrender, a statement of total admission that Jesus is His Lord and His God. John 20.29:

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas came to believe because he has seen the risen Jesus, but Jesus did not commend Thomas pathway to faith on the other hand he didn’t condemn it either. The point is Jesus made clear it would not be everyone’s pathway to faith. The apostles had to witness the risen Jesus with their own eyes, to be eye-witnesses for us; we don’t need to witness with our own eyes because they’ve written down their witness for us. But Jesus pronounced a blessing upon those who have not seen the risen Jesus yet have come to believe. These will be those that will read or hear the account of Jesus ministry on earth and believe. This includes all of us who have come to believe in him after the apostles and those that will yet come to believe in him. John 20.30-31:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.

John explained further the purpose of documenting these accounts in the Gospel of John. He said there are many other signs Jesus performed which were not documented in the book of John but the ones he wrote down was to enable us believe that Jesus is Christ and through believing we may have life both now and in the life to come. These accounts are for us, to help us believe, to help us to continue to believe.

4. What should be our response in the light of Jesus resurrection from the dead?

The Easter season is a season of tremendous victory because the death and resurrection of Jesus is our only hope to overcoming sin and death. But instead of celebrating, the disciples were in a locked house in fear and Thomas was in disbelief and demanded for more evidence to be able to believe that Jesus is risen. The resurrection morning marks a new starting point for all of them and for us. The work of salvation is complete. It is a new dawn, a new starting point for everyone including the disciples. The starting point for the disciples is fear and anxieties and Thomas was unbelief so whatever your circumstances are the resurrection marks a new beginning for you. So, if you’re faced with deep loneliness, sorrow, and loss, that’s your starting point, that is where you are at the moment and that’s the door through which Jesus wants to come in to your life today.

Are you locked behind the closed doors of fear, confusion, or darkness, that’s your starting point and the place in which Jesus stands? Are you ill, are you in your old age and you can’t do as much as you do before, is it disability or are you faced with uncertainty of the future, jobs uncertainty, relationship uncertainty, that is your starting point this evening and that is the gate for Jesus to come in. Are joy, gratitude, and celebration the facts of your life today, that is the starting point for Jesus to step in? All those that I have mentioned whether good or bad are the many ways we try to lock out Jesus in our lives. Whatever it might be for you it is just a starting point. The resurrection is clear victory we have over those challenges both here and now and ultimately when Jesus returns. Maybe you are still investigating Christianity or you don’t know much about Christianity and you struggling to believe the story of Resurrection, we have many ways we can help you one of them is through several courses we run here in JPC- please speak to us for details. We have this book at the back of the church you can pick it up free. It will be a good starting point for you. Please feel free to grab any of the church leaders if you have questions.

The walls, the locked doors of their house and unbelief could not keep Jesus out. And the walls and locked doors of your house will not keep him out. He steps into the midst of our house, through the locked doors, and breathes peace and life into us. He breathes peace and hope into us. He breathes peace and courage into us. He breathes peace and strength into us. So brothers and sisters, let us keep trusting Jesus. He has conquered death on our behalf and one day all these things that trouble us will finally be conquered and that is when he returns again. Let’s pray.