Table Presence: Seeing Jesus

Backdrop: Resurrection

Our brains are prediction machines. Our beliefs, our circumstances, our experiences, all combine with our senses, especially sight and sound, to predict what we will experience in the next moment. We rely on this brain function all the time. If I see Karen walk in the door on Sunday, my stomach immediately says “donuts”. I get the warm fuzzies for a glazed donut. We depend on our brains to predict what’s being experienced so much that we have a cultural proverb: seeing is believing. But because we are human and finite and fallen, seeing is believing can get us into trouble. We pay entertainers like David Copperfield and Penn and Teller millions every year to challenge the notion that seeing is believing. While that’s all fun and games, new technology that allows us to manipulate pictures and videos increasingly calls into question whether or not seeing is believing. About a year ago, videos on TikTok went viral showing Tom Cruise golfing and doing magic coin tricks. Only it wasn’t Tom Cruise. It’s his image. It’s his voice. But it’s artificial intelligence making our eyes see things and then believe things that are not real. What are now known as “deepfakes” challenge the idea that our eyes can be trusted.

“Seeing is believing” has been around forever. Eyewitnesses are important to any great event. Their testimony, based on what they saw, establishes truth to be believed. For the next couple of Sundays we are going to spend some time considering the Table and its vision for 2022. What is it we are supposed to be this year? What is it we are supposed to do? We are looking at Table Presence for 2022 and we’re going to start in the book of John in a passage we read just moments ago.

Our gospel lesson is from John 20… in our passage today we find the disciples huddled together in Jerusalem behind locked doors. It’s not just the 11.. there are many followers of Jesus who are self-quarantining. They are sheltering-in-isolation because they are afraid.

It’s been three days since their best friend was executed by the Roman authorities in Jerusalem. These men and women are in hiding. John goes out of his way to note that they are on lockdown because they are afraid that the same crowd that had executed their prophetic rabbi would be coming after them shortly.

These people are also confused, because one of their most trusted friends, Mary Magdalene, has already burst into their sheltered huddle and announced that Jesus is alive. Peter and John were witnesses to an empty tomb, and while they had not seen Jesus, they began to believe he may in fact be risen… and here one of their community, Mary Magdalene, telling them Jesus is alive.

But… Mary’s not the only one who bursts into their room. In spite of the fact that the doors were locked… Jesus himself shows up and immediately their world is transformed. Jesus shows them his hands and his side and they believe for themselves.. Jesus is indeed alive. Their world will never be the same.

Here’s the center of all that is happening in this text:

John 20:20 “Jesus showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

The power of that moment can’t be understated. John tells us that when the disciples saw Jesus, they rejoiced. There was bedlam in that room. They move from fear and confusion to rancorous celebration in a matter of seconds. Cloudy to sunny in a heartbeat. The One who was dead on the world’s darkest day is alive. Stupendous. Their seeing is believing.

Seeing Jesus is a big deal in the story of the resurrection. Earlier in the day, John tells us that:

Mary Magdalene “saw the stone had been removed from the tomb.”

Peter and John “saw the linen cloths lying in the tomb.”

John “saw and believed”

They see the greatest event in the history of the world. Believing is tied to seeing. John wants us to “see” Jesus. He wants his own audience to “see” Jesus. Over 100 times in the book of John the word “see” is used in some form. John the Baptist on the shores of the Jordan invites the crowd to look, see, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A woman whose life is transformed by a conversation with Jesus next to a well runs and tells her neighbors to “come and see” the Messiah who told me all about my life. Jesus heals a man who was born blind, and when he is asked about who healed him, he says, I don’t know, but what I do know, is that once I was blind and now I see.

All of us are in that boat. Born blind. Blind to the reality of our sin. Blind to who Jesus really is and what He has done for us. It has been this way from the beginning. This blindness started in the garden. Adam and Eve were created by God to see God and know God and enjoy him in the garden. And in another conversation between the serpent and Eve, the serpent questions God’s speech and authority about whether or not it’s OK for Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. Here’s what Genesis 3 tells us:

Genesis 3:4-7 ““No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

You see those words.. your eyes will be opened. Eve saw the tree was good for food and delightful to look at. The eyes of both of them were opened. The eyes to see God and his goodness and his greatness have been blind ever since. The eyes were a key part of what made this world a mess. Seeing was unbelief. Seeing was believing the wrong thing. Seeing involved deception. The eyes are supposed to aid what is true and what is right. Instead, we cannot trust our eyes to help us know what is right and true and do what is right.

Along comes Jesus and he is the divine healer. He comes to restore sight. The man born blind who can now see is exactly what is happening to the disciples that night of Jesus’ resurrection. John saw and believed. Mary Magdalene sees and runs to tell the disciples, I’ve seen him. And now the disciples’ world is turned upside down because they can see Jesus. No longer are the eyes agents of unbelief, but part of the eyewitness of truth and the gospel.

After all the disciples have seen Jesus, a week later, Jesus says this:

John 20:29 “Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.””

Seeing is believing. Not seeing is also part of believing. It’s not about the physical eyes. It’s about the eyes of faith. Both those who have seen Jesus face to face and those who have not share in the reality of

What does this mean for the Table in 2022?

We have not seen Jesus face to face and yet we believe. Jesus has given us sight. He has also given us ways to see him in 2022. Jesus can be seen. Not physically, in the sense of seeing him face to face, but he has given us promises that can be seen. Here are three ways to see Jesus in 2022:

His Word

Over and over again in the Bible, Jesus Promises to reveal himself and be seen in His Word. Jesus is seen when He and His Story are preached from the Bible. That happens every Sunday here at The Table. But He can also be seen when the Word is read. Jesus is on every page of the Bible. The entire Bible is about him. So when we read the Bible, we are seeing Jesus. One of the ways we can stay focused on Jesus and connected to Jesus is through the reading of the Bible. I encourage you to read the Bible through this year.

YouVersion app

Bible Project plan

I have downloaded the YouVersion app on my phone and I have selected the Bible Project plan. And I plan to read the Bible through the entire year. We can have some printed off for next week. 15-20 minutes a day seeing Jesus and spending time with Jesus in His Word. The Bible Project plan is helpful because many of the readings come with a video that explains the text or some word in the passage for the day. And the Bible Project plan is helpful because it is organized in a way to tell the one complete story of the Bible. The entire Bible is about Jesus. It is one story. Jesus’ story. And that Bible reading plan is helpful tracing that one story.

His Sacraments

The second way we will see Jesus this year is through the sacraments. Jesus is present among us in baptism and in the Table. During the conversation with the crowd when Jesus fed more than five thousand with five loaves and two fish, the people told Jesus:

John 6:30 ““What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked.

Note the rhythm again… the crowd wants to see and believe. And here’s how Jesus answers them:

John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.”

Doing the will of God, accomplishing what he wants us to do involves one thing: to see the Son and believe in him. Later in the conversation, Jesus explains what it means to see the Son:

John 6:54 “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

You want to see Jesus? Be present at His table, where He meets us in, with, and under the bread and wine as His body broken and blood poured out for us.

His People

Jesus promises to be with and among wherever his people are gathered. At one point Jesus tells his best friends, in a discussion about church that:

Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.””

The context of that comment is what the church does in resolving conflict in the church life. But the wider principle is also true. Wherever Jesus’ people are gathered together in his name, which means for the purposes of Word and Sacrament, there Jesus is among us. One question that we are going to answer next week is being answered in this verse. It’s popular these days to suggest that because Jesus is with us all of the time, church isn’t necessary. This verse right here ties Jesus’ presence to the gathering of His people. There are ways Jesus is present in the gathering that he is not present elsewhere.

The Word. The Sacraments. His People. Jesus can be seen. The Table is and will continue to be a place where Jesus can be seen. Our presence for our community begins with Jesus. Jesus at The Table. Preaching Jesus in The Word and baptism and His Table. Being with Jesus as he meets us here when we gather.

Let’s pray.

We’ve already talked about the bread and the wine. Jesus is here in the Promise of the Table. At one point in Jesus’ ministry some religious leaders come to Jesus’ best friends and they say, “we want to see Jesus”. And, of course, the disciples, take these visitors to Jesus. This Table is the answer to that statement. You want to see Jesus? Show up to the gathering. Be here at His Table, where He gives forgiveness and life every week. This is where we can see, and hear, and taste, and touch, and smell Jesus. In the bread and in the wine. His broken body and his shed blood for us.