A sermon preached at
Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 19 April 2020, Second Sunday of
Easter, by
Timothy Chan. The scripture readings
that day were Psalm 16, John 20:19–31.
Good morning friends!
Happy Easter again! Last week, we were shouting “Christ is risen, Allelujah,
Christ is risen indeed!”, we were filled with joy and hope. Yet, we are also
aware of what’s happening around us now. In fact, things are still quite bad.
Soon enough, we might forget about the Easter joy, and let the Easter hope slip
away. However, the good news is that the message of resurrection is not only
for one week. Every day of our life, we need to be reminded of this Good news,
that Jesus said to his disciple before his death, “take courage! I have
conquered the world.” Today we read about Jesus appearing to his disciples in
the midst of fear. Let this Gospel reading inspire us and restore our faith in
God. Before we look into the scripture, let us pray:
God of life, open our
hearts this morning, through your word O Lord, let us receive your peace in
this troubled time, so that we can also bring your peace to this world. In
Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
1. In
the beginning of the scripture, the disciples locked themselves up at a place.
They were hiding from the Jewish leaders because they feared that they would
also arrest them because they were all Jesus’ disciples. However, on the same
day, earlier that morning, a few hours earlier. “Mary Magdalene went and
announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord””, Peter and the other
disciple also witnessed the empty grave and believed that Jesus was
resurrected! But the fact that Jesus was resurrected did not bring them peace
and hope. For they could not relate this event with what they are facing at
that moment. For the disciples, they could not imagine how the resurrection of
Jesus could save them from the Jewish religious leader. Jesus understood their
struggle, He did not blame them for having little faith. He recognized their
fear, and showed up among them, and greeted them saying “Peace be with you!”.
Not only that. He proved to them that he was really Jesus by showing them the
wounds of his hands and his side. At that moment, the disciples could finally
forget about the fear which overwhelmed them.
Sometime, in our Christian
life, we have learned a lot about faith, love and hope. However, when troubles
come, we would easily forget about the Good news that we have received. We
would forget that Jesus was with us through good times and bad times. Or we are
like the disciples, we would be consumed by fear, or be overwhelmed by
different emotions, that we let the heavenly peace slip away. It might not be
our fault, for life is filled with uncertainty, we have no idea what would
happen to ourselves, to the people we loved around us, and to the community we
belong to. Last Monday morning, the day after Easter, my mother received a call
from Mainland telling us that my elder cousin had passed away. He was young,
leaving his wife and son. My mother was shocked and was very upset. There are
just moments in our life that we feel hopeless and helpless. However, Jesus did
not blame us for that. Jesus understands our weakness, and He is the one who
reached out to us in such time. All the doors of the house were locked, but they
could not stop Jesus from reaching to his disciples. In the same ways, Jesus will meet us in our fear. Jesus will penetrate
through all our weakness and limitation, to reach our troubled heart, and say
“Peace be with you!”
Our God is a responsible God and He takes responsibility for our being
as his children. God is our parent God, loving and
forgiving, even if we doubted Him and walked away from faith, He would still
guide us and wait for us to return. Not only Jesus recognizes their fear, more
importantly, Jesus is showing them one more time how he died and suffered for
them. The wounds which were fatal and deadly became marks of victory and
salvation. Jesus calls us to follow Him, and he knows we are going to run into
challenges, and we would suffer. But the good news is, He is not leaving us
alone. God cares about us. He wants to share with us that peace the world could
not give. In this time of pandemic, there are a lot of things going out of
our control, but I wish when we are reading this story again, we would find the
same peace that the disciples have received.
2. Since
the outbreak of the coronavirus, we have been receiving a lot of news and
information every day. In the beginning, the Chinese government said that human
to human transmission is not possible. Then we found out they were lying. We
read more and more fake news, governments in different countries could not tell
whether they should believe in the WHO or not. Should the border be closed?
Should we wear masks? Should we stock up toilet papers? It is important to do a
fact check. Before you share a post or news online, make sure you check if it
is real or not. I was tricked one time. When the Italy government ordered
everyone to stay home, people started to upload pictures of how clean Venice
has become! And then there was one picture showing a crocodile swimming in the
canal in Venice and I shared it. But then a friend commented and said it was a
photoshop picture! I was embarrassed and had quickly deleted that post!
That is what Thomas, the
disciple, was doing! When Jesus appeared to them the first time, he was not
there, so he asked the same thing, “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.” Many people would label Thomas for having little faith or
calling him names like “the doubter”. He was asking what the other disciples
have seen. We have no idea why Thomas was not with them earlier and why he
showed up eight days later, but what we know is Jesus did the same for Thomas.
He appeared to him and greeted him peace. More than that, he invited Thomas to
put his hand to touch his wounds! Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Sometimes
it’s more than just seeing or hearing, but also with touching. Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Today we
may not be seeing God with our physical sight, but we are all touched by the
love of God. When Thomas cried out “My Lord and my God!” it is more than just
saying “Oh you are really Jesus” Thomas’ life was being touched, not only by
the wounds, but also by his love, by their friendship, by stories and memories
they shared together. Do we have this courage to reach out to God when we have
doubt and questions?
We are also responsible for our faith, to cultivate it and deepen our
understanding of it. I remember in the first class of
systematic theology, our teacher was telling us, theology is “Faith seeking
understanding”, which means, we began our journey of Christian life in faith,
and on this basis, we seek understanding of what it means to be a Christian
gradually. For me, what Thomas was asking is not a sign of doubt, but a
demonstration of courage and trust. Sometimes, knowing the answer could be
painful, especially if the answer is not what we wanted to hear. Asking
questions about faith could be an exhausting experience. When what we have
experienced is different from what we have been learning about this faith, I
think it is the best time to reflect what we are believing.
Asking questions and
seeking understanding of our faith is a journey which helps us to combine what
we experienced with what we believe! It is like a bridge connecting our world
to the church. For example, if we believe that God is justice, then how should
we explain the injustice we have experienced? Only if we have the courage to
ask, then God would reveal to us his will, and help us to understand. I wish
we would all be Thomas, that our faith will grow stronger through encountering
God in our doubt and question.
3. We
learn that God is responsible for our being, and we are responsible for our
faith. God also gives us all a responsibility. In verse 21 Jesus said to
them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When
he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Jesus appeared to them not only to
consolidate their faith and cast out their fear. Jesus breathed on them and
empowered them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so they could be early
Christian community leaders, and evangelists, to preach the Gospel of Jesus’
resurrection to the world. As for Thomas, the church tradition tells that he
became a missionary to bring the Gospels to India and was later martyred. Today
we are living in a generation where Christianity seems irrelevant to this
world. People would say religion has no place in the secular world. However,
our faith is not only a personal faith, but a faith which can still impact the
world and show the world how we should live.
The disciples were given
the power to forgive sins and to retain sins. It reminds us that the love of
God is not to condemn the world, but to save the world. We are not preaching to
condemn, we are not believing so that we could look down on people living a
lifestyle different from us. In this world of diversity, we learn how to be
forgiving and understanding. We learn to accept each other, and welcome
everyone to experience the forgiveness of God. On the other hand, when I read
about “retaining sin”, I think of how we should speak up for justice and
equality. Even if we are called to be a forgiving community, it does not mean
we are silent in front of what is wrong and evil. As people of God, we have the
responsibility to voice out for the voiceless, and to preach the message of
repentance to this world.
Friends, the task God has
entrusted us is not easy at all. We have to remind ourselves that we are not
doing all these alone, the Holy Spirit is with us, not only individually, but
also in our community and in our church. We are all sharing this
responsibility. Knowing that God is responsible for our being, we trust that he
cares for us and He will guide us. With the love of God, and the power of the
Holy Spirit, we can do it, so that, as what the Gospel of John concluded in
verse 31, people “may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that through believing they may have life in his name”. Christ is
risen, Christ is risen indeed. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, April 19, 2020
