Shalom,
As we know that the COVID-19 Task Force always reminds us to cope with this deadly virus through faith-safety-immunity. It was also added by Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin with the word ‘Amen’ since we also need protection from God. Through faith, we protect ourselves (mask – sterilization – social distancing); through faith stress can be overcome and therefore will result in body immunity. Through prayer we can tell God all of our anxieties to God and put our trust to Him. So let’s start with faith and end with amen.
We have so much terrifying news out there that can make us feel doubtful. But we must have these three: faith- safety-immunity and increase our prayer more and more. God wants to give us faith and empower our auto-immune system. Even though we do believe in Him and He will surely help us in time of need, it’s not a reason to neglect what the task force has already instructed. God also reminds us to always be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving that our requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6). Hence we can empower one another while believing in the preaching of the Word of God with today’s theme: Jesus Rose To Strengthen Our Faith (John 20:19-29).
Christmas is already in the air, but the Word of God today is about His resurrection. How is the relevance? Both Passover and Christmas require faith. 15 months prior to Christ’s birth, Zacharias needed faith when his wife was conceiving. So did with Joseph when faith was all he needed to accept Christ in Mary’s womb. It is obvious that the preaching of the resurrection of Christ during Christmas is acceptable because both require strong faith to be believed.
There were three powers given by Jesus who resurrected to strengthen our faith:
- Peace In Christ (V.19-23)
"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." (v.19).
At that moment, the disciples were deeply terrified. But Jesus came and strengthened their faith by giving them peace.
And what did Jesus do? “He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” (v.20)
The fear of the disciples suddenly disappeared when they saw their Master physically. Then Jesus gave them peace. He even repeated that by saying “Peace be unto you (v.21) with the purpose that faith to His Word would gain them peace which was more than His physical appearance.
His saying’ ‘Peace be unto you’ reminded His disciples to what Jesus had said about leaving them for a moment, just before He was captured. They would also be scattered and persecuted. Jesus said all these things so that they would remain in peace because He has conquered the world (John 16:33).
Application: We who believe in Him have been sealed with His blood. By persevering in reading the Scriptures on daily basis, we shall be strengthened in faith and peace will rule our hearts and minds. His victory in resurrection 2000 years ago is still all powerful to this day. He shall always prevail.
In Greek grammar, the peace of Christ is in singular form but it was given to His disciples who were plural. It means that in order to receive peace of Christ, we must have personal relationship with him.
Introspection: With the existence of COVID-19 virus, we can’t freely go anywhere because of partial lockdown. However, as soon as people were given a little chance for a long holiday, they went to places and got infected with this virus. Is it peace or fear that controls us? Do we need physical evidence to believe? Are we willing to open our heart and mind to receive peace from Him?
After Jesus gave peace to the disciples to strengthen their faith (v.21), He sent them and gave them Holy Spirit (v.22). What can we learn? When we read the Bible, even if we have not understood yet, as long as we are faithful in doing it, the Holy Spirit will eventually help us to understand (John 16:12-13a). He knows our condition, even before the world was created, He knows we need peace. Peace will enable us to do His purpose in us. All is started with ourselves being cleansed from sin (Jon 20:23). If we don’t have faith, we commit sin (Romans 14:23). For the daily food that He provides for us, we ought to give thanks. There is no need to worry because God’s providence is beyond those things. If having no faith is counted as sin (John 16:8), the Holy Spirit will convict us that we are forgiven by the sacrifice of Christ and He wants to use us to preach redemption.
- Scriptural Logic (v. 24-25)
“Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
Speaking of Thomas’ logic, though he already became one of the disciples of Jesus, his faith still depended on what he saw. In other words, his faith should be parallel with his logic.
Thomas’ logic was nobody’s fault, it was his personal issue. Here is why:
Mary Magdalene testified (verse 18); John who saw the empty tomb also testified (v.8) but their testimony didn’t work out the faith in the majority of the disciples, they turned out to be terrified until Jesus came and gave them peace. When all the disciples regained their faith (v. 25) they testified and strengthened each other but it was not the case with Thomas. This proved that faith is a personal matter because it is related to personal reasoning.
Introspection: Sometimes we simply feel fine when logic controls our minds and we try to think logically and humanely. For instance, after a church service we tend to blame the worship leader, the song of the church choir or the less-anointed preacher when we feel the service is dull and no one speaks in tongue, while actually the problem is from ourselves because we don’t keep the Word of God in our heart and we are lacking of faith. The Lord wants to replace our logic with a scriptural logic based on the Word of God. Sounds illogical, but that’s how faith works. Faith must come from our belief in Jesus’ Words personally, that in any condition, this scriptural logic shall control our mind and heart.
This is Thomas’ logic: When Jesus was physically with him, Thomas was zealous and dared to take any risk (John 11:16).
Question: Are our worship and ministry on fire when someone that we respect is among us? What if he is not around anymore? Are we still zealous or we tend to be slowing down and our deeds of faith become zero?
Who was Thomas Dydimus? Thomas was a Jewish name and Dydimus a Greek name. It reminds us of the logic of Jews; For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).
How about us, the Gentiles who turned to Christians? The grace of God falls upon us because Jesus is still rejected by the majority of the Jews. Is our conscience still controlled by Thomas Logic (Jews and Greek way of thinking)? Therefore, when we face problems our faith crippled? Beware, if we still emphasize on logic and evidence, we need to repent and replace it with Scriptural Logic.
What did Jesus do to Thomas the faithless?
- Supranatural testimony about Jesus (v.26-29)
“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.” (v.26)
Eight days means the Sabbath day had passed. We can take Sabbath day as the time to meditate and ponder on Christ’s death, remembering His promise of peace and to understand that He has defeated the world. When Jesus came by saying ‘Peace be unto you’, Thomas’personal relationship with Jesus was restored. We can see that from his confession by saying ‘My Lord and My God’ (v.28). The Holy Spirit worked that conviction for Thomas (1 Corinthians 12:3 ).
Application: When trouble comes, let’s take time to meditate our past experiences with God, pondering on His sacrifice and His death – resurrection that defeated the world. Through that, the Holy Spirit will give peace and help us to have scriptural logic and true testimony about Jesus.
Thomas experienced this supernatural event when Jesus appeared to him and told him to put his finger on His side (v.27). Indeed there are some people who have supernatural encounter with Jesus especially those who were non-Christian to have their paradigm about Jesus changed. They used to say that Jesus was only a figure, whereas they even have not read the Bible yet. We, however, do have the Bible. We should not ask for the same experience as theirs; instead, we have to be faithful in reading the Scripture and the Holy Spirit will always remind us based on the Bible.
Thomas personally realized and he eventually experienced the peace in Christ. He also realized that Jesus won against the world and the death; therefore, he confessed that Jesus was Lord and God for him.
John wrote in his letter that everyone born from God does not sin but God keeps him and the wicked one does not touch him, and the world lies under the wicked one (1 John 5:18-19). And the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true. This is the true God and eternal life. (v.20). And we must keep ourselves from idol (v.21) including idolizing our worldly logic and the ‘seeing is believing’ (John 20:29).
We might have heard that Thomas was evangelizing to Southern Asia zealously and dared to take any risk not because Jesus was with him physically but because he had faith that Jesus, who had won against death, was with him and peace was also with him along his journey. What about us? Are we ready to be sent?
The resurrection of Christ strengthens our faith and gives peace, changing our human logic to scriptural one and enables us to confess that He is our Lord. With strong faith, we can go through these difficult days while waiting for His second coming that will make the whole world His peaceful kingdom, Amen.