May 1, 2011
Believe It or Not - John 20:19-31
Pastor: Luke Maybry
DownloadIt’s hard for me to think of Easter without remembering my last Easter as a student pastor in Mooreville, Texas, in 2005. Easter came early that year, and because the Church was a long way from where I lived, I just packed my bags and stayed up there with a couple in the Church the entire weekend. It had been a warm week, and it was Texas and all, so I didn’t bother to bring any warm clothes. Now I knew that Texas was prone to rapid temperature changes. Just that previous January, I went to a class wearing shorts because it was so warm, and during a break, I went outside and nearly froze to death. I knew that Texas was prone to that, but I obviously didn’t believe it because I sure didn’t pack for it. And sure enough, as soon as I got up there, the temperatures went from the eighties to the fifties, with wind chills easily in the 30s. We even had to move the sunrise service inside because it was just too cold and blustery on that hill in the cemetery where we normally met.
Now that’s obviously a very small and trite example of belief, or disbelief I should say. I obviously did not believe that it could get cold in Texas in late March. I knew it, the weather man even said it, and I would have said it, but I obviously did not believe it. Belief is huge in John. “Everybody who received Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God.” We often read that around Christmas, from John 1:12. From the very beginning, we see that John wanted us to believe. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not parish, but have everlasting life.” It’s all about belief, you see. Every chapter in John has that message. In fact, we even just read today that “these things are written so that we might come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing, we may have life in his name.” That’s what it’s about in John. In fact, the word “belief” or “faith” (which is the same word in Greek), or the verb form “to believe” is mentioned 75 times in John’s Gospel. It’s all about belief.
In which case, we’re golden. My very first memory was my mother holding me on the steps of the First Baptist Church in Campobello, SC. I was prone to earaches when I was little, and I had one then, and I was crying and she took me outside and held me. Now I can’t say that that little three year old had made a decision to follow Christ, or that I understood all that following Christ entailed (I’m not sure this 35 year old could say that either), but I believed as much as a three year old could. I can say that. I can also say that there has never, ever been a time in my life when I did not believe, or when I was not a Christian. I’ll bet that the same is true for most of us in this room. If the point of John’s Gospel is to get us to believe, than John accomplished his mission with us. And if belief leads to everlasting life, then we’re set.
But if that’s true, then why did I not bring any warm clothes up to Mooreville that Easter weekend? I knew that it could get cold in Texas, especially in March, really, really fast. I had seen that happen before. You may think that I’m pulling your chain on that, but you go down there sometime in March and leave your jacket at home, and you just might end up as miserable as I was. “The one who believes in me,” Jesus said in 14:12, “will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works that these.” Those who believe in Jesus will do the works that he did. See, if you really believe that it can get cold in Texas in March, you’ll bring a coat. If you really believe in Jesus, as we all claim to do, then we’ll really do the works that he did, which we don’t do all that well.
Belief can be very difficult. I’ve got three weddings in the next two months, so I have been thinking a lot about marriage lately. Getting married is like signing a blank check. You have absolutely no idea how many funds it will require to cash. And, in fact, there will be more than one occasion in your life where your funds will be insufficient. I have decided that it’s about belief, belief both in the vows that you make and the spouse to whom you make them. Now at some point, you’re going to have a very hard time believing in both. Those vows are hard to keep, and, to be honest with you, none of us ever do, because we never really fully believed them when we made them, and we don’t fully believe them now. “Forsaking all others,” for example, is hard to do. I understand forsaking all other women (although evidently 60% of married men don’t keep that vow), but what about my job, or my friends, or my hobbies. And what about the fact that my spouse hasn’t necessarily believed in her vows either, so it’s hard to believe in her? At some point in any marriage, you have to suspend reason and good sense, and just doggedly believe, regardless of what it might cost.
Belief in God can require the same thing. In fact, belief in God is so hard that we can’t even attain it. We cannot earn belief. “For by grace,” Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, “you have been saved through faith, and this is not your doing; it is the gift of God, not the results of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand be to our way of life.” Belief in God is a gift from God. The disciples were scared stiff after the Crucifixion, and apparently after the Resurrection. “I have seen the Lord,” Mary Magdalene said to the disciples, but they didn’t believe. They were scared stiff. In fact, they were holed in somebody’s house, with the doors locked, to keep the rest of the world, including Jesus, out. They wanted to be left alone. And then, an uninvited guest named Jesus stumbled through the door. We often make this story about “doubting Thomas,” but what do you with Jesus who comes anyway? That actually happened twice in this passage. Jesus came back to see the people who denied him and ran away when the going got tough. The disciples are going to believe whether they want to or not. Maybe this passage is about belief, and specifically about how God gave them belief, even though they certainly did not deserve it. Belief is a gift. If you believe anything all about God, then be grateful for that. A friend of mine claimed to be an agnostic, which I think was a cop out. But then he was playing golf one day and met God on the 9th hole. Somebody asked him a question on the 9th hole about the Resurrection that just really stuck in his mind, like a song that he couldn’t get out of his head, and it just prompted him further and further into faith. He did not earn that. Belief is a gift.
But it’s also a charge, too, isn’t it? We have to work at belief. I personally have the hardest time with belief when I get really, really busy. I get so wrapped up in me and what I think I have to do all the time, that God gets chunked out. I’m going to Montreat for a couple of days next week, though, and I’ll come back with a renewed faith. I’m meeting some friends up there who are pastors, and we’re going to share ideas with one another, and preach to one another, and read a book together, and grow in our faith together. Oh, and I’m taking my bike and my running shoes. All of that really helps grow my faith. For me, working on my faith means doing more and more of that. I normally put that off until all my important stuff gets finished. But maybe that is the important stuff.
This passage is largely about belief. The book of John is largely about belief. The Gospel is largely about belief. All of us believe, and that is a gift. But we’ve got to work on it. Not one of us believes as we should, so we have some work to do. But have some peace, because we may get busy with our lives and work and responsibilities, and our actions may not reflect well on our belief, we may lose sight of what’s important, we may think that we’ve outgrown belief in God, we may even intentionally lock God out. But God does not lock us out. In my experience, and as this story suggests, God has a way of getting in anyway, and giving us faith. And that’s very good news.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
