Conquering our Tombs

John 20:19-31New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said,“Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

When I read a commentary about our scripture for this morning it talked about our tombs.  We all know that Jesus was resurrected, saved, taken out of his tomb.  While we know that this miracle happened it is still difficult for us to wrap our heads around mostly because we don’t really know how to relate or know what it would be like to be resurrected, saved or taken out of a tomb.  Christ’s tomb is obvious but Thomas’ tomb was that he doubted what the other disciples had seen and the fact that he separated himself from the group only perpetrated that doubt.  The other disciples had created for themselves a tomb of sorts because they locked themselves in the upper room for fear of death and persecution.  This got me to thinking about our tombs, the immovable objects that keep us from jumping in with both feet.  What is the obstacle that we cannot seem to shake?  What is keeping us from letting go and fulling realizing the glory, grace and love of God?  For some it is shame, for others it is a lack of confidence, for others it may be an addiction, for a few it may be how they think the world views them and the list could go on and on.  These “tombs” are the obstacles that keep us from becoming closer to God and it is my hope that by the end of this sermon we better understand what it means to be resurrected, saved and taken out of these tombs.  

While our fallen and sinful human nature is the biggest obstacle that we cannot do much about, God also conquered them.  He became human, he became fallible by taking on our human nature and Christ’s resurrection from the grips of death conquered and defeated that aspect of our human nature.  My tomb is a want and need to be perfect, especially when it comes to the public speaking aspect of preaching.  I have known for quite sometime this is an issue for me since I have a dependence on a script.  I am terrified that I will not say something that God wants me to say but more importantly, I am afraid I won’t say something that someone else needs to hear.  I feel like I may forget something that was necessary for the benefit of someone’s faith.  My biggest fear: I may forget to say something that could change the course of someone’s life.  That is my fear and it drives much of what I say and do.  This became extremely evident to me on Thursday evening when I was asked to give the invocation for the FFA banquet.  I stewed and worried about that prayer because I wanted to make sure I got everything in.  I had to make sure I said everything and said it perfectly because it may be my only shot to positively affect someone’s faith.  And I am terrified I may miss that opportunity.  So instead of sounding like a prayer being offered up in thanks what came out on Thursday night sounded more like a 2 minute sermon devoid of any feeling and emotion.  The biggest thing that seemed absent was God’s Spirit.  When I write, I believe God is as much with me as when I speak but I need to allow for more freedom of the Holy Spirit to move within me and within my written words.  While I have received the Holy Spirit I am not allowing it to move within me.  I am sure Cheyanne would tell you that she wishes I would strive for such perfection in folding and putting away laundry, or at least keep practicing until I reach that perfection.  I think about the energy I spend on trying to reach this goal of perfection and always saying the right things at the right time and I miss opportunities to be a better husband, father, preacher and employee because I am more worried about my correct response than I am the actual issue I am trying to address.  

This goal of perfection is not only unattainable  it is not logical.  I am only perfect to God.  He sees me for what I am and loves me unconditionally despite it.  That is perfection.  There is nothing I can do, no words I can say that changes that.  In the eyes of Thomas, Jesus’ resurrection was only real if he could see it first hand.  While Thomas catches a lot of flack for this we are no different.  At any given time, many of us have the same doubts.  We doubt God’s ability to help us escape the tomb just as Thomas doubted Christ’s ability to get out.  The resurrection is not just about becoming whole when we die but it is also about becoming whole as we live.  Everyday that we live and each challenge we face is a tomb of its very own therefore resurrections can happen daily and even multiple times daily.  When we look at all that we come against, when we explore the challenges and difficulties we face we can look at each of them as resurrections.  Undoubtedly, we see Christ’s resurrection as a miracle so it is not a stretch to say that miracles still happen everyday as God continues to help us escape the tombs of this life.

I recently read a story about the parents of Mark Becker, the young man that tragically shot and killed A-P beloved coach Ed Thomas in 2009 and I am reminded of the grace and forgiveness of those involved in that tragedy.  Think about the tombs of pain, heartache, and the innumerable questions surrounding that tragedy.  God takes the hand of those involved each day and leads them out of those tombs.  Even the perpetrator of the tragedy is loved by God.  Do we fully understand how big God’s grace really is?  We look at our striving to be perfect, our lack of confidence, our doubts, our addictions, and our not-that-bad-actions and think it is easy for God and others to forgive us of these simple mistakes.  They are minor.  Then we look at a guy like Mark Becker, the one who shot Coach Thomas, and think to ourselves that God does not forgive things like that.  Whether we will admit it publicly or not, we all think that there are those who do not deserve to be loved by God like that anymore.  Whether we admit it publicly or not we think it is possible to fall out of God’s grace.  Whether we admit it publicly or not, we believe there are those who God doesn’t love.  Do you know what often drives these feelings?  It is undoubtedly fear which leads us to believe that we possess the “perfect” understanding.  It is this fear drives our ethnocentrism, how we evaluate other cultures and beliefs based on the preconceptions, standards and customs of our own culture, and this belief drives us to think that our religion, that our way of life, our political ideology is superior to others’.  I know I have spoken about not letting fear shape who we are a lot lately but until I conquer my own fear and help others to do the same, we will continue to speak about it.  

Both the Thomas and Becker families could have let fear rule over them and there would still be barriers but since they allowed forgiveness and grace to surround both families they were able to move on and heal.  Resurrection is not just about a new life but it is also about healing.  Christ still had the wounds of death and even though there were scars, the wounds had healed.  The power of the resurrection is not just new life but it is also the healing of this life. Everyday has the potential for a miracle.  Everyday God’s love conquers fear if we allow it.  Attack each day knowing God has already won if we allow His love and grace to defeat fear.