Easter 2B (2024)

Text: 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

That’s the hard thing about faith, isn’t it? Faith is about trusting what you do not see—in fact, trusting what you can not see. And yet, at the same time, there are some important things that the scriptures lay out for us that we can see. Let’s consider three things that we see— or, at least, should see— very clearly all around us. Let’s consider 3 things we see all around us and the one very important thing we don’t see.

The first thing we see— or should see— all around us is God’s handiwork.

I once overheard someone who said that they refused to believe in evolution because it requires too much faith. The idea that all of this happened by accident, even over billions of years is hard to swallow.

The evidence for God is all around us. The psalmist has written: “1The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1, ESV). How hardened does your heart need to be to look at the world around us and reject the idea that there was a creator? Even though people reject so much of what God’s word says, it is interesting to see the most vocal atheists in our day growing frustrated that the vast majority of people still continue to believe in a creator. (Not necessarily God, but a creator.) Human beings look around us and it’s clear that there is a God. I really don’t envy atheists trying to make the case that all of this came about by accident.

The second thing we see— or should see— all around us is the devil’s handiwork.

Too many people stop at the first point. It’s obvious to all that there is a creator, but creation says more to us. One of the solders who helped liberate the concentration camps in WWII is quoted as saying, “I’m still not sure if there is a God. I’m not sure if he is real. But I’ve seen for myself that the devil is real.” The heavens declare the glory of God. We also see the devil’s handiwork within the creation. Those concentration camps still stand as reminders of Satan’s handiwork. And they are not the only signs.

As wonderful and comfortable as our lives are, we live in a country where doctors and nurses have to be trained to spot the signs of human trafficking because it’s that common. The daily news reports of what one group of human beings is wiling to do to another group. It reports what parents are willing to do, or allow to be done, to their children. Just reading the headlines could make your head explode. What we see—what is glaringly obvious all around us—doesn’t paint a good picture. What we see would lead us to despair. Satan’s handiwork is clear around us, as well.

The third thing you and I should see is our own guilt.

The fact that God’s existence is written everywhere, for all to see—it condemns us. Paul writes to the Romans: “20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So [all people] are without excuse” (Romans 1:20, ESV).

As much as our culture tries to reject God and the 10 commandments, it is not a matter of ‘personal preference’ or ‘what works for you’. Another name for the 10 Commandments is ‘Natural Law’. That is simply how we were created to live. So many of the problems we see all around us are the consequences of people choosing to go against natural law. The cause and effect is so clear that even honest unbelievers are recognizing the harm we’re doing to ourselves.

I was floored a couple of years ago when I came across an article titled: “The Millennial Marriage Trend That Actually Increases Your Chances of Divorce, According to a Relationship Coach” (https://www.purewow.com/family/millennials-marriage-trend-divorce). The author is not Christian. The media outlet that published the article is not Christian. But what “millennial marriage trend” are they warning against? They’re warning against Cohabitation. They’re warning about the harm to unmarried couples who are living together. Our culture sees it as a healthy expression of our sexual freedom. Our culture presents it as a good first step toward a strong marriage. But it’s not. It’s the complete opposite. Let me read you just one line that sums up her point: “[According to Michaiah Dominguez, a mental health counselor and relationship coach]: “[Living together] actually decreases the likelihood that you will marry and increases your chances of divorce after five years.” Secular counselors see the harm that cohabitation— that living together outside of marriage— does.

Another woman, Louise Perry, who describes herself as a non-religious feminist, wrote a book called The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. Again, the majority of people look at the sexual revolution as a hugely positive movement— especially for women— they were “set free.” In her book, Perry shows “that sexual liberation has ultimately freed men to prey upon women more than it has freed women” (https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2022/12/15/review-louise-perry-sexual-revolution-244311).

Now, neither of these women come all the way back to the answers that God’s Word provides, but my point is that the harm we are doing to ourselves by rejecting the 10 Commandments— by rejecting Natural Law— is recognized by non-christians, as well. It would be nice if we could blame all the problems around us on the devil, but we can’t. The third thing you and I must see is our own guilt.

St. Paul writes: “1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things” (Romans 2:1, ESV). He’s not saying that it’s wrong to pass judgment on others. He’s saying that the same law condemns you, too. It condemns them and it condemns you and me. “8 If we say we have no sin,” John writes, “we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). What else should we be able to see quite clearly? Our own sin. So much so that to say we have no sin would be to deceive ourselves.

Again, as the psalmist writes, “4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Psalm 51:4, ESV).

But, again, there is one very important thing that you can not see.

Against all of this, standing against everything that we can see, God places what we cannot see. He puts before us the wounds of Christ. Many people had asked Jesus for signs to ‘prove’ who He was. Thomas was one of a few who received one from Jesus. What does Jesus point him to? His wounds. His scars. That is the sign that He wants to give us. Each one of those scars speaks to His suffering, His bleeding and dying love for you. Some of it we can relate to. But some we can not.

There is the physical pain He suffered. The physical suffering of the whip, the crown of thorns, the blows struck by the soldiers. The physical suffering of the cross, the nails, the agony of your lungs filling with fluid as you fight for another breath.

Then there is the shame He suffered. The second suffering is the shame of the mockery and abuse heaped upon Him at every step of His arrest and trial. The shame of the cross: continued mockery, the spit, the hanging on the cross naked, the blasphemy.

But then there is the suffering of God’s Wrath. This suffering is unique to the cross where Jesus suffers the wrath of God over sin. He is rejected by God, forsaken (Psalm 22:1), smitten (Isaiah 53:4). The righteous wrath of God suffered in your place. Jesus suffers this spiritual affliction so that you will never know it; so that you will never be forsaken by God.

This is the bleeding and dying love that His scars remind us of. They are the eternal, unchanging evidence that “1 …having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1, ESV).

Against the consistent testimony of the evil that we see around us and within us, God places what we can not see. “8 If [you] say [you] have no sin, [you] deceive [yourself], and the truth is not in [you]. 9 [But if you] confess [your] sins, he is faithful and just to forgive [you your] sins and to cleanse [you] from all unrighteousness.” The first part is perfectly obvious. The second part is written only on the cross. It’s written only in Jesus’ scars.

Unlike Thomas, you can’t see His scars. But that is still where He points you to. What is the very first thing He does after He comes down from the cross to rise from the grave? He tells the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

How many times have you heard those words spoken, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? What you see is a regular person speaking a few words. What you don’t see is that, each time, it is still Jesus’ voice speaking: “I forgive you all your sins.” Those words are still, in a very real sense, spoken from the cross. They are powerful because they were written on His head where the crown of thorns pierced His flesh. They are effective because they are inscribed on His back in the scars from the whip. They are sure and certain because they were engraved in His side by the soldier’s spear and in the palms of His hands by the nails. They are signed and sealed in His blood so that they can be spoken to you, as well: “I forgive you all of your sins.”

In those wounds is your true freedom. In a few minutes, in our adult Bible study, we’ll talk about what a Biblical response to homosexuality looks like. One of the last points we’ll get to is a quote from a woman who had been caught in that lifestyle for years before being brought to faith. One lesson that she learned from that incredibly difficult experience is that “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is not a restriction on us. Marriage and family are His gifts to us. She writes “God is not arbitrarily withholding something good from me. He is showing me what leads to life and human flourishing and is keeping me from that which will harm me” (https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/12/14149/).

The freedom in Christ’s wounds is the freedom to truly love and care for those around you just as He created us to live in the Garden of Eden. That is what God desires for you.

There is much that we must see, quite clearly, all around us and within us or else we’re really just deceiving ourselves. The picture it paints is not a flattering one. And yet, in the wounds of Christ, what we don’t see is just as true and trustworthy as what we see. Just as He did for Thomas, Jesus points you to the wounds in His hands and in His side and says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”