Experiencing the Cross - Thomas

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Experiencing The Cross - Thomas

Text: John 20:24-29

Good Morning Church! What a great morning we have had already in worship. I’m so proud of this next generation of worship leaders who have led us into the presence of God. I’m grateful for our youth leaders who have been working hard at learning how to play! I just have a big smile on my face! God’s doing great things!

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This morning we are going to be closing our our Experiencing the Cross series. If you recall this series has been taking a look at those who had a direct experience with the cross of Christ.  We started with Barabbas or Barney as Ben called him (I loved that). We saw that Jesus traded places with Barabbas just like he does with us for our sin!

We then looked at Pilate. From Pilate we saw…

Next we turned to one of Jesus disciples, Peter. Jon Perkins shared that through Peter’s experience we can know that Jesus knows us fully, he forgives us despite our denials of him, and through his work on the cross, Jesus restores us to a right relationship with him.

Then we looked at the Centurion - Pastor Jared showed us the Centurion, a soldier

On Good Friday we found ourselves around the cross of Christ. We thanked Jesus for his suffering on our behalf. He took OUR sin, he paid OUR debt, and by HIS wounds we are healed.

We then turned our eyes to the Women at the Tomb. The first to proclaim the good news of the Risen Christ! We get to proclaim with them that JESUS IS RISEN! (Come on church one more time!…HE IS RISEN INDEED!)

I hope you have seen through this series that everyone is invited to experience the cross. Everyone has an opportunity to answer the question, what does the cross of Jesus mean for me? 

Today we are going to talk about one more experience we see in scripture around the cross. You may know this guy…One of Jesus’ disciples - Thomas. We don’t just know him by that name though right? What’s the nickname he is best known by? Let’s say it together. “Doubting Thomas”, That’s right.

Have you ever had nickname just stick? Have you liked the names given to you? I had one given to me in Jr. High I didn’t like so much. Now before I tell you this story, I can tell you I’ve healed through on-going counseling and on going mental health work. And I don’t need this one to pick back up again. 

One day in English class, which was right after lunch, we were preparing to read something out of our textbooks so the class was really quiet. I felt the need to sneeze and didn’t want to make a giant noise so I decided to hold the sneeze back. Science class will teach you that pressure needs to go someplace right? So instead of sneezing loudly, I ended up loudly passing gas in a very echoey classroom. I could have died. I did my hair spiky back then so the nickname I was given that lasted for MONTHS was “Sonic Boom”. Come to think of it, I think I had to move from New Mexico to Utah for that name to go away.

So that, or Doubting Thomas…I think I would stick with Doubting Thomas.

So what do we know about Thomas other than his nickname? Unlike Peter or John, we don’t have a lot of scripture that tells us about Thomas. We see him in the lists of the disciples in Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6, and Acts 1. Its mainly in the Gospel of John chapter 11, 14, and 20, we see Thomas.

We know Thomas was a twin.  Most of the time when he is referenced in scripture we see “called the twin” or “didymus”.  We have ultrasounds today so we know twins are coming and we can prepare.  When Thomas was born, twins were more of a surprise, often the twin was given the name “Thomas” which means twin.  It is likely Thomas’s actual name was Judas and was later full on given to “Thomas” to separate him from the Judas who betrayed Jesus.

So if you would grab your Bible, open your YouVersion Bible App, or grab one of the bibles in the chair in front of you and turn to the New Testament Gospel of John.  We are going to experience the cross through the eyes of Thomas in John 20:24-29

We’ll start with 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “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.”

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.” 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.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

The period of time between Jesus death and resurrection had to be one of the most confusing and scary times for Jesus disciples.  We can see it over and over in the gospel accounts, Jesus tried to warn them but also gave them the best spoiler alert possible.  He was coming back, death would not defeat him, and he would return holding the very keys of sin and death making a way for each of us to have a life saving, eternal life rendering relationship with the Triune God of all Creation.  If anything these disciples should have been waiting outside the tomb with the centurions ready to welcome him back. 

Thats not where we meet the disciples here.  We meet them hiding.  We meet them scared for their own lives.  We meet them confused