Sermon from April 7

Here is the sermon from this past Sunday, April 7.

Jesus Connects with Doubters

It’s early evening, and the phone rings.  You look at the number, but don’t recognize it.  But on a whim, you decided to answer it anyway.  On the other end, you hear some guy say, “Hi, I’m Harold with the Atlanta Braves.  We’ve decided to get in touch with our fans in the metro area, and one of the things we did was to have a drawing for a fan.  That fan plus five friends will receive free tickets to all the home games in June.  We picked your name.  The only thing that we need from you is the name of your five friends with whom you will be sharing this exciting experience.”  

You’ve just got some really good news, especially since the Braves are supposed to be more than a little decent this year.  So now, the ball is in your court.  You’ve got until Monday or Tuesday to get those five names back to the Braves.  You’ve got to get in touch with your friends.  So tell me, how are you going to go about connecting with them?  Yes, I’m really asking for you to speak out loud and tell me how you will go about getting in touch with these friends.

(Some suggestions that could be offered: text message, phone call, email)  Or, how about another one?  You drive over to their house and either knock on the door or ring the doorbell?  Or, you know you’re going to be talking to them in person sometime that weekend.  My friends, you have just listed out a few ways that we connect with others.

We are a people who connect with others.  That’s partly because that’s the way that God made us.  It’s rare to have someone who can survive without any contact with anyone else in the world.  God made us in such a way that we crave connection with others.  

So, if you get that phone call from the Atlanta Braves, you’re going to have to connect with your friends.  And there’s something very important in that which also fits what we’re focusing on today.  You have to be the one who instigates the connections with your friends.  Just imagine if you decided to take this approach.  I’d really like for Carrie to be one of the friends who goes to the games with me.  But I’ll just sit back and wait for her to call me and ask me if she can go along.  Do you see something wrong with that?  First, how does she even know that you won the tickets?  Second, does she even know that you would like for her to go along with you?  If you aren’t the one who instigates the connection, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for others to be the instigator.

In our little example, connection with others starts with one person.  If you don’t get in touch with your friends, then they simply will not know of the opportunity that has been dropped in your lap.  Connection starts with one person.  And wouldn’t you know it, that’s what we see in our Bible story from John today.

Jesus is the instigator when it comes to the connections with the disciples.  Now, I think it’ll be a little helpful to give a bit of background when it comes to our Bible reading from John today.  Remember, even though we’re reading it today, a week after Easter, this actually takes place the same day that Jesus rose from the dead.  That morning started off rather strange.  The women went to the tomb, but the rock was rolled away, the tomb was empty, and there were angels there, with the message that Jesus had risen.  Mary saw Jesus, who told her to go tell the disciples that He was going ahead of them.  Peter and John had raced to the tomb, only to find it empty and the grave cloths laying there.  And while a few of them may have remembered that Jesus said He would rise again on the third day, it’s also pretty likely that there was a lot of confusion.

So think of the disciples that day.  In some ways, their worst fears were coming to pass.  The tomb was empty, but they hadn’t seen Jesus yet.  Sure, some of the women had said that they had seen Him, but that’s just one of those things that you almost have to see to really believe.  On top of that, the story probably began to circulate from the guards that the disciples had broken into the tomb to steal the body.  That’s what the religious leaders were telling them to say.  It all seemed like a big set-up.  And if you were one of the disciples, you almost had to wonder.  Were the leaders going to try to cover all their bases by arresting the disciples, and then charging them with stealing the body?  What better way to cover up the things that had happened?  And then, you still had the real mystery.  What had actually happened with the body of Jesus?

No wonder that they were in the room with the doors locked that night.  They didn’t know who was coming for them, or what they were going to do.  And then, in the middle of their fear, Jesus connects with them.  Jesus instigates the connection.  Jesus shows up.  He talks to them.  He reassures them.  Jesus connects with them.  And as Jesus connects with them, their doubt gives way to faith.  They see, and they believe.

But not all of them were there that first night.  So, a week later, they’re back in the same place.  We don’t know what they did all week, but we know that they found Thomas, who had been somewhere else on the day Jesus rose from the dead.  This time, Thomas is with them, and once again, Jesus shows up to connect with them.  This time, He singles out Thomas, who had his doubts about what the other disciples were saying.  Jesus connects with the disciples, and then, Jesus connects with Thomas.

Jesus connects with people in their fear, and He connects with people in their doubts.  Yes, a significant part of that connection is to let them know that He was indeed alive and well.  He was showing them that He was true to what He had said.  He had told them that He would be put to death, but then would rise to life on the third day.  Jesus showed Himself to the disciples to show that He is indeed Lord not only of the living, but of death itself.  But Jesus didn’t only connect with them to show that He has risen from the dead.

Look at what Jesus does for them.  “Peace be with you.”  Not just once, but twice that first night, and then again when Thomas is with them a week later.  Jesus connected with them to bring them His peace.  Jesus connected with the disciples to show them that they didn’t need to fear.  Jesus connected with them to show that He knew they had their doubts, but that He still wanted to connect with them in spite of their doubts.  Jesus connected with them to show them what they needed in order to believe, to prepare them for the task at hand.

Jesus connected with the disciples to bring them His peace.  It’s not just the peace of mind in knowing that their fears and doubts were overcome.  It’s also the kind of peace that comes from having their sin forgiven.  It’s the kind of peace in knowing that they were valued by God.  It’s the kind of peace in knowing that God valued them enough that they could share in the ministry of Jesus.  And all of that is summed up in what Jesus said to them.  “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

Jesus was sent to forgive the sins of the world.  Jesus then proved that He alone could overcome the sin of the world by rising back to life.  And Jesus connected with the disciples to let them know that the task of paying the price of sin was finished, but the delivery of the message had only just begun.  Jesus had been sent to forgive the sin of the world, and now Jesus was connecting with His followers to send them, just like He had been sent, to connect with people, and to bring His peace, and to forgive the sin of the world.

That, my friends, is what Connecting Community And Christ is all about.  It all starts with the connection that Jesus instigates.  Jesus has connected with you, just like He took the initiative in connecting with the disciples.  He didn’t do it any of the ways that we talked about earlier.  Jesus looks for something far more sure and certain than through a mere phone call.  Jesus connects with you in an event that you can always turn back to, the event of your baptism.

Jesus instigated His connection with you through those washing waters.  In your baptism, you received the same peace that Jesus brought to the disciples that first resurrection night, and the following week.  You have the peace of having your sin forgiven, through His death and resurrection.  And that peace is yours, even when you have moments of fear.  That peace is yours, even when you have moments of doubt.  Jesus instigates His connection with you through an event that actually happens in your life, one which you can always point to as the assurance of His connection with you.

And, just like Jesus connected with His disciples those first couple of times, He still connects with you in the same way.  As Jesus was sent by the Father, so Jesus continued to connect with His followers to send them, just like He was sent.  Jesus connects with you, and values you enough to have you share in the ministry that He began.  Go, connect with others.  Reach them in their fear and doubt.  Let them know of the peace they have with God, through the connection that Jesus instigates in the water of baptism.  Jesus was sent to begin that connection, and now He sees value in you to ask you to continue that ministry as you are sent, just as He was sent.

That’s what we do as God’s people.  We have been connected with Jesus, and have been given the gifts He brings and purchased for you.  You have His forgiveness.  You have His peace.  You are connected to Christ, and that connection brings you into His new, perfect life.  It brings you into partnership with Him in His ministry.  It brings you into the connection of one who was sent, and who now sends, just as He was sent.

You are the sent ones of Jesus.  You are sent to connect community and Christ.  And as we think about what that means for us as a congregation of God’s people, we benefit by being reminded of how Jesus went about that connection.  We heard today about how Jesus connected with people who were trapped in fear, and in doubt.  Jesus didn’t hold that fear and doubt against them, but instead, connected with them to overcome that fear and doubt.  Jesus doesn’t hold it against them, but connects in order to bring them into connection with Him.

As we think about connecting community and Christ, that’s part of what it means for us to be sent, just as Jesus was sent.  We’re sent to connect with community who will undoubtedly have fear and doubt in life.  And we’re sent to connect with them, not to hold those things against them, but to connect them to the One who has overcome that fear and doubt.  We connect them to Christ, who has taken that which we call sin, and has forgiven it.  We connect them to Christ, who brings peace into their lives as they hear that their sin, both against God and against others, can and is forgiven, and doesn’t have to define who they are.  We connect our community to Christ, and in doing so, we connect them to the One who brings peace, and forgiveness.

It’s all instigated by Jesus, who was the first one to connect with the disciples, and who first connected with you in the water of baptism.  And now, you are sent, just as Jesus was sent, to instigate connections with people who have their fears and their doubts.  You are sent to people who need to know the peace of God, and of the forgiveness of their sin.  And as we start to think about this as a gathering of God’s people, I would encourage you to be thinking about this.  What are some of the places that you are being sent to instigate connections?  What connections are possible there?  What fears or doubts might you encounter?  And how can you connect them to the One who brings peace, and who brings forgiveness of their sin?  That, my friends, is what connecting community and Christ really is all about.  May we be about instigating connections, as people who are sent, just as our Lord was sent.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.