"Bypassing Barricades of Fear, Shame, & Doubt"
Apr.27/03 Jn.20:19-31
Barricades? What Barricades?
At the end of April, we hope we've seen the last of the snow -- though there were a few flakes this past week. Part of the reason we're glad to see it go is that it can become an obstacle in great quantities. More than once this past winter, police have closed highways by erecting signs or barricades. This doesn't stop everyone, though; some dedicated (or foolish) souls have discovered back roads by which they can still drive to work legally (as long as they can see through the drifting). Living in rural areas, we refine the art of dodging drifts and bypassing barricades.
John's gospel tells us that the evening of the first Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead, the doors were shut where the disciples were in an attempt to barricade themselves from threat by Jesus' enemies. Yet somehow Jesus was able to come and stand among them (20:19); He bypassed the barricade. He did the same thing a week later, when they were gathered again with the doors locked (v.26). But the Bible tells us Jesus has bypassed more than simply barricades of shut doors. Of course, Easter season celebrates the fact that death and the tomb could not hold Him captive. This passage from John though suggests He helps His followers overcome barriers of a personal nature - barriers of Fear, Shame, and Doubt. In place of our fear, Jesus offers us Focus. For our shame, He offers Forgiveness. And in place of our doubt, He inspires Faith.
Focus instead of Fear
In exchange for our fears, the Risen Lord offers focus, purpose, a sense of boldness to carry out His mission. That first Sunday evening after the crucifixion a couple of days before, the ten disciples (Judas had died and Thomas was away somewhere) were hiding out together, with the doors shut as v.19 says, "for fear of the Jews". They were afraid of the Jewish authorities tracking them down and arresting them as they had so quickly disposed of Jesus; so the disciples had the door shut and securely barred. But they were still scared, shaking in their boots, terrified of the recent past and what the future might hold. Yet suddenly from out of nowhere, Jesus appeared. "Peace be with you," He said in v.21; "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." The word "mission" comes from the Latin verb missio "to send"; another way to translate it would be that Jesus said, "I am commissioning you.I'm giving a task to do, a charge to carry out." In place of their fears and reactionism, He was spurring them into proactive purpose, helping them focus on the Father's plan to spread the news of victory over sin and death.
Knowing Jesus was alive again changed the disciples' whole attitude. Shortly after, they were out on the streets, testifying in public to the events that had taken place. Their fears dissolved as they became so bold as to stand in front of the ruling council, the Sanhedrin, the legal court which had condemned their Master to capital punishment, and declare the council was responsible for putting Jesus to death. Christ's marvelous appearance in person had evaporated their fears and given them focus, purpose, something to live for.
What are our fears? What are we scared of at this time in our lives? What are the barricades keeping us locked up in frozen ineffectiveness? If our fears are economic, the Lord teaches us to say with Paul, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances" and "My God shall supply all your needs" (Php 4:11,19). If our fears have to do with physical health, Jesus encourages us to adopt the mindset, "To live is Christ, to die is gain" (Php 1:21). If our fears arise from conflict with certain people, with the Psalmist we can respond: "In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.What can mortal man do to me?" (Ps 56:4)
Currently the biggest scare in society seems to be the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic. Authorities say that a 5% death rate in an easily transmissible disease for which there is no cure IS something to be duly concerned about. When I showed up this week for my one afternoon shift as chaplain at the local hospital, I was met by someone wearing a mask who took me through the appropriate checklist. I'd gone through the questions before, but this was the first week someone was actually wearing a mask - it makes you stop and think. Then a co-worker was describing a couple of other diseases including one called VRE that health care staff have had to be careful about spreading - diseases I hadn't heard of before! That afternoon I was VERY careful to wash my hands in between patients!
Epidemics such as SARS are cause for caution amongst believers; they remind us of life's fragility, and how much we depend upon the wonderful immune system God's designed our bodies with. Yet even if we were to die, we have hope that non-believers don't, a hope based on Jesus who rose physically that first Easter. The body was gone to show this was no hallucination, no mere transmission of grieving thoughts. One man I visited had just suffered his 6th heart attack; yet when I asked if He was a Christian He said yes, and that he was not afraid of dying. The two go together. Jesus saves us from our fears and gives us focus and purpose in life.
Forgiveness instead of Shame
Second, Christ offers us forgiveness in place of our shame. His greeting in vv 21 & 26 "Peace be with you" become far more than a usual greeting: He is extending to us real peace and wholeness in place of our failures and secret sins that would be so embarrassing before a Holy God. He died as a remedy, a means of taking away our sin. As 1Jn.1:7 says, "The blood of Jesus...cleanses us from all sin."
Think who it is that Jesus is addressing. This same group of ten fickle followers had pledged allegiance to Him a few days before, then turned and fled the night their leader was arrested. Peter had even denied Him 3 times. Jesus had every right to blast them for how they'd treated Him! He had lots of "f'rinstances" He could have used to rub their noses in shame all night long. But He didn't; He extended to them forgiveness in place of shame. His very coming amongst them, standing there speaking peace to them, is forgiveness fleshed-out, pardon in person. He had let His life-force, His soul, His very blood, ebb away on the cross so such sins as these could be written off. Thus with the slate clean He can say to them in vv.22f, "Receive the Holy Spirit.If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Forgiven themselves, they were cleared to receive God's Spirit inside who could help them extend that forgiveness to others who repented.
Forgiveness is so very important in relationships, between people as well as in our failures regarding the Lord. Unforgiveness is a somewhat unconscious attempt on our part to keep someone wrapped up in shame, the "grudge" or complaint we want to hold against them. Gary Smalley is a Christian psychologist who's written a book on marriage called Making Love Last Forever. Early on in the book he devotes a chapter to what he calls "the number one enemy of love", something that is the leading cause of divorce: unresolved anger. Smalley offers 7 steps in dealing with unresolved anger: define the offence; allow yourself to grieve; try to understand your offender; release your offender; look for pearls in the offence; put your feelings in writing; and 'reach out' to your offender. At the very centre, of course, is releasing one's offender, which involves just what we're talking about: forgiveness. Smalley says, "The original definition of forgiveness actually means that you untie or release someone. As long as you remain bitter and unforgiving, you're tied to that person with emotional knots. So being untied involves a conscious and deliberate release of the offender through an act of forgiveness."
Not only did Christ "untie" the disciples from their own knots of failure and shame, His great self-giving on the cross allowed them (and us) to begin forgiving one another.
Faith instead of Doubt
Third, Jesus offers us faith in place of our doubts. The disciples started out by doubting the resurrection. They were not predisposed to believe in such a supernatural event; these weren't dreamy idealists or sentimental softies, but practical, manage-in-the-gale fisherman, and even a tax collector. As Nicky Gumbel points out, "Tax collectors do NOT hallucinate!" So altogether they were a hard-nosed, skeptical bunch. Luke records that when the women reported about the empty tomb, the disciples didn't believe them; "their words seemed to them like nonsense" (Lk.24:11). After all, resurrection is unusual, improbable, absurd if you assume happenings must always follow the normal scheme of things.
Jesus made a point of convincing these skeptics he was really alive; he appeared, standing among them, spoke to them, then as v.20 says, "He showed them His hands and side". But Thomas wasn't there the first evening. So when the others told him, his response was (v.25): "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
So, Jesus came again the following week. Not only did He challenge Thomas to do as he'd demanded; the very fact that Jesus knew what Thomas' objections were when He hadn't been physically present demonstrated the Risen Lord now had some new and very wonderful abilities. I can imagine a shiver shot right up Thomas spine when He realized Jesus knew what his protests had been!
Jesus proved His risen reality to Thomas' satisfaction, transforming his doubt into faith. He said (v.27), "Reach out your hand and put it into my side.Stop doubting and believe!" Thomas' reaction charges past simple acknowledgement of Jesus' resurrection on into recognizing his divinity, the fact that He's God as well as man, part of the Trinity. Thomas said, "My Lord and my God!" (v.28) Jesus noted Thomas' newfound faith then remarked how those of us who haven't seen yet have believed are truly blessed. Our faith is based on the testimony of the first witnesses passed on down, rather than on personal physical contact. John in writing notes that this was a conscious task of the apostles, transmitting the news of Jesus' glorified life after the grave, so that others might come to have faith as Thomas did. Vv.30-31: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.But 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." Faith instead of doubt.
Hallucination Hogwash
I'm glad Thomas missed that first evening in a way; his refusal to accept the story of the others serves as an argument against the theory that says the resurrection didn't really happen, that the disciples were simply hallucinating.
Even today some preachers and professors teach that Jesus wasn't physically there, the disciples just thought they saw him and others were drawn in. In his book, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (pp.273-9), Josh McDowell debunks the "hallucination" theory on several grounds, because it contradicts certain laws and principles to which psychiatrists say visions must conform:
1) Generally, only particular kinds of people have hallucinations - those who could be described as "high-strung", highly imaginative and very nervous.
2) Hallucinations are linked in an individual's subconscious to his particular past experiences; thus, it's extremely unlikely that 2 people would have the same hallucination at the same time.
3) As two psychiatrists state, "[An illusion is] an erroneous perception, a false response to a sense-stimulation...But in a normal individual this false belief usually brings the desire to check often another sense or other senses may come to the rescue and satisfy him that it is merely an illusion." Luke, a physician, was used to methodically checking things out, and came to the conclusion that the Lord showed Himself alive after His passion in "many convincing proofs" (Acts 1:3).
4) Hallucinations are usually restricted in terms of when and where they occur; but the New Testament records a wide variety of times and places for Jesus' appearances (Mt.28:9f; Lk.24:13-33; 34; 1Cor.15:7; Jn.21:1-23; 1Cor.15:6).
5) Hallucinations require of people an anticipating spirit of hopeful expectancy that causes their wish to become father to the thought. But in the case of Christ's followers, they were caused to believe against their wills.
6) Hallucinations usually tend to recur over a long period of time with noticeable regularity; but in Jesus' case, the visions came suddenly to an end after 40 days, with the exception of Paul on the way to Damascus.
Winfried Corduan in summary says the problem with the hallucination theory is that "in the case of the Resurrection appearances, everything we know about hallucinations is violated. The appearances did not follow the patterns always present in hallucinations, for hallucinations are private and arise out of a state of extreme emotional instability in which the hallucination functions as a sort of wish-fulfilment. What occurred after the Resurrection was very different. The disciples had little trouble accepting Christ's departure; they decided to go back to their fishing. the appearances came as surprises while the disciples were intent on other things. Most importantly, the appearances came to groups of people, with each member seeing the same thing. That is simply not how hallucinations work. The the Resurrection appearances could not have been hallucinations."
John Stott observes, "The disciples were not gullible, but rather cautious, skeptical and 'slow of heart to believe'. [Lk.24:25] They were not susceptible to hallucinations. Nor would strange visions have satisfied them. Their faith was grounded upon the hard facts of verifiable experience." That's why Jesus repeatedly showed Himself to them, to convert their doubt into faith.
Course Adjustment Required
Accepting that Jesus is alive forever as Saviour, Lord, and Judge impacts one's life. We can like Thomas acknowledge that it's really true and find focus, forgiveness, and faith...OR we can persist in defiant unbelief, go our own way, and keep on wallowing in fear, shame, and doubt. But some day we too will give an account to Him, face to face.
A battleship was out cruising on a very foggy night. A lookout reported that he saw the light of another ship directly ahead. The captain ordered, "Radio that ship and tell it to turn 20 degrees to port." The call went out, but a message came back, "No, YOU turn 20 degrees to port." The captain was a little irritated by that, so he commanded, "Listen here. I'm the captain of a battleship, and if you don't veer off right now, I'll see that you're through in the navy." This time the message came back, "Sir, you may be a captain of a battleship, but I'm a seaman first class in charge of this lighthouse, and I'd suggest you veer off in a hurry, or you're all history! Sir."
Thomas recognized the lighthouse was for real, and turned his ship accordingly. Let's join him in the response he made to the Light of the World who stood before Him -- "My Lord and my God." Shall we pray?