"Too Good to Be True" Luke 24: 36-49; John 20: 19-21

The first sermon in the next preaching series, "Being in Touch."

In some respects, I really enjoyed this sermon because it dug into the two texts.  It was fun comparing the two different stories, although it left me with lots of thoughts that I never go to in the sermon:  1. Do the different audiences to which Luke and John  write cause them to tell these two stories in the way they do?  2. What might Thomas have been doing when the other disciples were gathered behind locked doors out of fear? 3. the disciples ability to forgive sins.  4. "Peace be with you."  Lots of interesting topics I did not touch (pun intended!).

When I think about "touch" stories, I end up thinking more about not touching stories, which may reflect my not being a very touchy person.  Sort of interesting to realize that I am going to be preaching on touch stories for the next six weeks or so.  If you have some stories about touching or being touched, please send them my way.

This sermon was probably just the prelude to what should have been the sermon. That is, the offer (or demand) to touch Jesus' wounds ushered the disciples into the world of new possibilities.  I spent most of the sermon leading up to the new possibilities, but did not spend much time,  In retrospect, that where the real sermon should have been.

“Too Good to Be True” Luke 24: 36-49; John 20: 19-31; FPC, Troy; April 19, 2015

introduction: stories about touch

This sermon begins the post-Easter sermon series entitled, "Being in Touch." All the stories being preached will involve touching in some way or another.

Included in the series will be a renewal of baptismal vows on the last Sunday in May, a gift related to being touched by God, and the anointing of the confirmands on the first Sunday in May when they profess their faith in Jesus Christ.

I invite you to consider how you have been touched by God, or how the literal touch of someone has carried with it the power of God, or how you have sought to reach out to touch God in your life.

This morning we see how the power of touch meets the miracle of resurrection and ushers in the new reality and the new call to faithfulness for the disciples (and for us).

Contrasting approaches – in Luke, Jesus invites the disciples to touch his wounds; in John, Thomas demands to touch.

Move 1: Let's look at the story in Luke first.

a. there he is, the resurrected Christ, standing among appears among the disciples offering for them to touch his wounds.

1. The gathered disciples are startled and terrified, as if they were seeing a ghost.

2. They have not demands to see the wounds like Thomas does in the gospel of John.

2. Jesus wants to show his wounds to the disciples.

3. he wants them to not only recognize him, but somehow comprehend what has happened.

4. “touch my wounds.” Know that this is really me, the resurrected Jesus.”

b. This will not be the first episode of "Touched by an Angel;"

1. The one standing before them is not some ghostly rendition of the one they knew as Jesus.

2. Standing before them is not some beyond human, next stage in life beyond death creation that God has cooked up.

3. this is the one who was dead, the one they watched killed on the cross, the one who was buried in the tomb.

4. And now he is standing before them with the wounds to show for it.

4. He is resurrected.

6. Believe it.

7. and if you are having trouble believing it, come touch my wounds.

8. even after they touch, they still have trouble believing, so Jesus eats something.

100. When Jesus invites them to touch his wounds, he invites them into a new reality.

1. the world has been changed.

3. They live with new possibilities.

4. Sin and death no longer rule.

5. But first, they have to touch and believe.

Move 2: Gospel of John

a. Emphasis is not on Jesus inviting them to touch his wounds, but on Thomas' demand to touch his wounds.

b. Not an apologist for Thomas.

1. Let's stop for a minute and remember Thomas.

2. Gospel of john is the only one that tells us anything about Thomas.

2. The other gospels only mention his name when the disciples are listed.

4. You may remember that earlier in the Gospel of John Thomas offers to go with Jesus when they hear that Lazarus has died.

5. the other disciples are not sure Jesus should go. There had been some issues with angry people, and they thought heading off to Lazarus' house put them in danger.

6. But Thomas is ready to go with Jesus. “let us go that we might can die with him,” he says.

7. That does not sound like the words of an unfaithful disciple.

8. or you may remember that Thomas is the one who spoke up when Jesus told the disciples that he was going ahead of them, but not to worry because they knew where they were going. And Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

8. Maybe a bit of doubt, but it sounds more like someone trying to get a concrete answer out of Jesus.

b. And then there is the passage we read today.

1. Thomas misses out on the moment when Jesus first appears to the disciples.

2. Do you ever wonder where Thomas was when all the others were there to see Jesus?

3. They were gathered together behind closed doors afraid, but Thomas was not with them.

4. Could he have been going about his business, instead of paralyzed by fear? That's another sermon waiting to be preached!

100. Back to the story. There is Jesus, meeting Thomas' demand and offering his wounds for Thomas to touch.
     1. Do you notice that the text does not tell us if Thomas actually touched the wounds?

2. . We know that Jesus makes the offers.

3. “Go ahead. Touch”

4. but the story immediately shifts to Thomas blurting out, “My Lord and my God.”

5. It reminds me of what N. T. Wright says about the resurrection: “”Rather, the meaning of the resurrection must begin with the validation of Jesus as messiah...” (The Meaning few Jesus: Two Visions, Marcus J. Borg and N. T. Wright, 125-126)

6. That's what Thomas does.

7. He professes Jesus as the Messiah.

8. Part of me like this ambiguity in the text because it invites people like us to believe in the resurrection and profess Christ as our Lord without having to touch the wound.

9. it makes it easier to be one of those believers who never gets to actually see the Risen Christ.

Move 3: this is where we enter the story.

a. What does it take to move us to that new place?

1. A touch.

1. My first girlfriend is one of my Holy Week memories. Funny how things get tied together in memories.

But I remember her because Good Friday we were off from school, and I saw her at the Good Friday service at church.

I also spent part of that afternoon talking to her on the phone and going out and getting her a chocolate bunny to give her for Easter.

We did not last very long as a couple. A short-lived, two or three week relationship.

Our first “real” date after talking on the phone or at church for a couples of weeks, was to meet at the roller skating rink. She went to one Jr. High in town and I went to the other Jr. High, so I guess this was the neutral dating ground.

Skating was fun, although I could not impress her with my expertise. No backward skating for me. But things were going pretty well.

But then we got to the date skate when they dimmed the lights and you skated around with your date. Sort of like slow dancing on skates, I guess.

This led, of course, to holding hands, which I suppose made some sense while we were skating together, but then she wanted to go off to the semi-dark corner of the skating rink whee all the couples congregated. And she kept want to hold hands.

That was the next step in Jr. High dating. You held hands all night. I didn't really want to hold hands all night. Felt kind of restrictive, and sweaty.

That didn't sit too well with her. She called me the next day and told me that I was a nice guy and all, but that she wanted a boyfriend who would hold her hand, so she was moving on to someone else.

Presumably someone who could hold her hands and move on to the next level.

b. A touch.

1. The touch of Christ's wounds., or the possibility of touching Christ’s wounds, are an invitation to move to the next level for the disciples.

1. they had seen what Christ could do when we was alive.

2. They had experienced what it felt like to know he was dead.

3. Now are they ready for the new life of faith and discipleship as they give their lives over to the God of resurrection?

c. Are you ready and willing to do the same?

1. the triumph and glory of Easter and its resurrection are gone. We wait another 50 weeks to celebrate that again.

2. Are you ready to live your life believing that the God of resurrection is calling you to a new life?

3. Ruth Stilwell's granddaughter would walk through the cemetery and play there with her parents. She would ask them to read the names of the people off the gravestones. One person was named “Lord.” When her mother told her that the person 's name was Lord, she replied, “So that's where Jesus is buried!”

4. It might be easier to follow Jesus if he had stayed in the tomb.

5. we could go by and visit the grave and tell stories and share some great memories.

6. But Christ is alive. They have touched his wounds to prove it.

And now we are called to live in that new world of possibilities.