Sometimes there is more I wish we had time to share in a
sermon. So last night, at our last “Evening Prayer at the Piano” for the spring
season, I shared a few more thoughts about John 20, reading the remainder of
the chapter. I would like to share these thoughts with you.
In John chapters 20 and 21, several amazing resurrection
appearances are reported. It begins with disciples running to see the empty
tomb and Mary Magdalene weeping outside, mistaking Jesus for the gardener. Then
Jesus appears and breathes on them, inviting them to receive the Holy Spirit …
and Thomas wasn’t there. Then there was the story of Thomas, who did not
believe until he saw for himself, a story which ends with Jesus’s words “Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Then John pushed the pause button. Woah!
He paused before he tells of Jesus appearing by the
lakeside, telling the disciples where to find fish and inviting them to the
fire to eat breakfast. He paused before he reports on Jesus telling Peter three
times to “feed my sheep” after asking if he loved him, and before the book
closed with John’s confession that he is the beloved disciple he had been
referring to (and clearing up the rumor that he would not die).
He paused right between chapters 20 and 21, in the middle of
these amazing stories, to say this: “Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. But 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.”
Why hit the pause button? Why insert commentary there?
Look at the setup. He hit the pause button right after John
told us what Jesus said to Thomas, “blessed
are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.” He is speaking of you and me, and he is speaking to
you and me. We are blessed because though we did not see the risen Christ
for ourselves, we believe. And through believing, we find life in his name. This
is the whole point of the resurrection!
