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Sunday of Easter
Sunday,
April 19, 2009
John 20: 19-31 The Things We Can't See When
it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the
doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of
the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you.”
20After he said this, he showed them his
hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
22When 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one
of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples told him, “We have
seen
the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in
his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in
his side, I will not believe.”
26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (Note: This week's sermon makes use of a can of compressed air. Compressed air is sold at office and photo supply stores for blowing dust off of computer and photo equipment.) I bought something special at the store. It's a can of air. Air seems like kind of a funny thing to buy, doesn't it? But sometimes you need to make sure that certain things are very clean - like the parts inside your computer. This can blows clean air to help move dust and dirt off of things you don't want to touch with your fingers or scratch with a cloth. Watch, I'm going to let some of the air out. (Release into an open space, away from anyone or anything.) Did you see it? Hmm. I didn't either. If we can't see the air, how do we know its there? You don't think they sold me an empty can, do you?! Let's try again. (Release air toward your own palm.) Wait. Something happened that time! I still couldn't see the air. But I could feel it! It blew on my hand! Who would like to feel this for themselves? (Blast each child with a quick burst onto his/her palm.) Some things we just can't see. But we know they're there anyway. Like the air. In this week's Gospel story, Jesus comes back to visit his disciples after his death. But when this happens, Thomas - one of the disciples - isn't there. When the others tell him what happened, he doesn't believe them. He wants to see Jesus with his very own eyes! Eventually Jesus comes back again - and Thomas does believe. But Jesus reminds him of something very important. Sometimes we just have to believe in things that we can't see. We have a special name for that. We call it "faith." God's love is sort of like the air, isn't it? It fills us up - and even though we can't see it - we can feel it in our hearts. Will you pray with me? Dear God, Sometimes its hard to believe in things that we can't see. But like the air, we know that you surround us with your presence and your love. Help us to live faithful lives, now and forever. Amen |
