EASTER
2
April
11-13, 2026
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
John 20:19-31 (EHV)
“JESUS LIVES!”
1.
He
gives you peace.
2.
He
gives you proof.
Apparently I’m not much fun to watch
crime dramas with. I found that out recently. Just like when I’m watching
football and a running commentary/critique on the play and the announcers just
kind of spews out of my mouth, the same thing happens with TV shows when it’s
just not realistic. “So, nobody ever turns on the light when they go into a
darkened basement, really? Oh, she’s going to go into the abandoned warehouse
by herself without calling for backup. Just like they are taught. I wonder
what’s going to happen.” That’s when I heard it. “You know you kind of ruin the
fun of watching these shows!” says Chris. Well, at least I’m consistent. I find
myself doing it when reading the Bible. Easter gets me. “Guys, how many times
in the past few months did Jesus tell you that He was going up to Jerusalem
where He would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests, put to death
but after three days rise again?” It’s not like He used parables where you had to
figure it out. He didn’t use apocalyptic language like Revelation. So as things
kept happening just like Jesus said, why were they so slow to believe? Why are
we so slow to believe? Friends, Jesus lives! Our full service living Lord did
not just perfectly obey in our place so we are covered with His righteousness,
perfect in the sight of God. He did not just pay in full the punishment price
for all of our sins. He also rose from the dead and as our living Lord gives us
what we need. Peace and proof. Just like with His disciples.
It’s the evening of Easter Sunday. The
disciples have heard from the women that Jesus rose from the dead. Peter and
John have seen the empty tomb and folded grave clothes. The Emmaus disciples
have rushed in and told them how Jesus walked with them and taught them. So of
course they are rejoicing and celebrating and…No. They are behind locked doors
afraid of the Jewish leaders who had opposed and killed Jesus. Fear will do
that to you. It will make you act irrationally. It will paralyze your ability
to stay calm. Then Jesus appeared. “Peace
be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and
side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Jesus gave them
peace. That’s calmness even in difficult circumstances. A sense of well being
that even though things might be tough, the loving and all powerful God has a plan
and will work it out. This was a blessing the disciples needed as they
continued to serve their risen Lord. The chief priests and other enemies of
Jesus did not go way. Conflict among the Jewish believers as they navigated the
journey from being Old Testament believers to New Testament believers was
coming. So was persecution. But Jesus lives! So they had peace!
We do too! Fear comes into our lives.
Fear that seeks to rob you, the people of God, of the peace that is yours
because of Jesus. Shall I do my running commentary. How many times has God
personally fulfilled to you His promise that in all things He works for the
good? How many big and little financial crises have you lived through and here
you are still living in affluent America with more food than you need and more
clothes than you need? How many times has a problem come up and someone just
happens to there at the right time and right place to give you information or
help? For all of you who have had to deal with the death of a loved one, the
kind that shocked you and took your feet right out from under you so that you
did not know how you could carry on, yet you are, one day at a time. It’s not
like God made those promises in a parable or using apocalyptic revelation we
have to work to figure out. Our personal history proves the proverb “If God
brings you to it He will bring you through it.” We know these things. But then
the next cancer diagnosis or health scare comes. Then the job loss comes. Then
the next international crisis. Then the next national turmoil. Then the next
election. Then the___________________. We feel anxious. Fearful. Sad. Stressed.
Peace! Jesus lives! Lift your eyes from your own lap, your own hands to the
cross of your Lord. Remember how perfectly God plans things for you. Even
things that look terrible. Jesus lives and He is with you always just as He
said. And He will provide what you need. Peace be with you.
And proof. Poor Thomas. Doubting
Thomas. I don’t think we are going to call him that to his face in heaven! Yet
in the church stuck in this world he is probably always going to carry that
label. He didn’t always doubt. He was the one who urged the disciples to go die
with Jesus when He went to Jerusalem knowing full well the opposition he would
receive. He was the one who had the courage in the Upper Room to ask the
question all the others probably had too but didn’t want to look stupid. Jesus
had said, “You know the way to place where I am going.” “To which Thomas
replied, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?”
That’s when Jesus gave the simple answer we all need to know. “I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When you
get to heaven thank Thomas for his next speaking up for all of us act!
As you heard in the Gospel lesson Thomas
was not there on Easter evening when Jesus appeared. So of course they tell him
the Good News. Jesus lives! The response? “Unless
I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the
nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Now I know we
wanted to rush in there and try to stop him but it’s good for us that Thomas
went ahead with his bold skepticism. It’s good because while sometimes we are
like Thomas and are bold in our trust in Jesus at other times we are like
Thomas and we doubt even though all of the voices in the Bible are telling us
the truth, even though we can look back at the fingerprints of God in our lives
but when a time of testing or trial pops up we doubt. Look what Jesus gives to
the doubting. “Peace be with you,” he
said. 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my
hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but
believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus
gave proof. Not just any proof. The exact proof Thomas had boldly demanded,
proving that not only does Jesus live but He really is with us always and hears
our every word. Do you think it made an impact on the rest of Thomas’ life to
realize Jesus had been with him the whole time he was setting his conditions?
Jesus lives so Thomas got proof.
Good news for us. Because no matter
how many times Jesus gets us through another rough patch, no matter how many
times he provides in a way were not anticipating, the next time there is a
tight spot we find it so easy to doubt Jesus’ wisdom and power in our lives. We
spend our energy on anxiety over things out of our control. We fret. We worry. What
we need is proof that God will take care of us. Jesus lives and gives us that
proof.
Did you notice what Jesus did for all
of the disciples? At His first appearance on Easter Sunday evening Jesus
pointed those disciples to his hands and his side. Then again with Thomas. Touch
my hand and my side. Here is my body. Here is my blood. Do you want proof that
Jesus lives for you, that He is really present? Communion. The Lord’s Supper is
one of those ongoing proofs that Jesus gives. Your Baptism is another. Do you
want to know you are a child of God and the Father will treat you like His Son.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You
are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus lives and gives you
proof.
It’s blessed faith, not blind faith,
that God gives us. Jesus pointed that out when He said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have
believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And then He had John write these words, “Jesus, in the presence of his disciples,
did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. 31But
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Jesus lives!
Take hold of the gifts that come with that fact. Inner calmness through all of
life’s troubles. Confidence that God will prevail. Peace and Proof. Yours
because He lives. Amen.
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