The Lutheran Hour
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"Encounter with the Risen Christ"
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Text: John 20:19-31 and Acts 9:1-22
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It would be so easy to believe if only we could see the Risen Christ like Thomas and St. Paul did. They had encounters with the Risen Christ. We, too, can have an encounter with the Risen Christ, and today we will see how! We will focus on John 20, verse 29: Jesus said to him, “Thomas because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
PRAYER: Risen Lord, in this Easter season we remember how You came to Thomas and to the apostle Paul. So come to us this day through Your Word so we may believe in You and Your promises and receive the gift of eternal life with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Have you ever had an encounter with the Risen Christ? You probably don’t believe you have. You may long for it. Oh, if only He would appear to you. If only you could see the Risen Lord like the women and the disciples. Then you could really believe.
Saul was on his way to Damascus for the express purpose of persecuting anyone who believed in Jesus Christ. Saul was present giving approval when they stoned Stephen to death. Saul went through proper channels and obtained letters from the high priest to the synagogues in Damascus to come and hold his own version of a witch hunt. As he traveled, the Risen Lord appeared to Saul. “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Those with Saul heard sound but did not see anyone. Saul did. He saw plenty. He saw the Risen Christ and was struck blind. Saul had had an encounter with the Risen Christ. It changed his life.
Saul went from being the greatest persecutor of the church to the greatest preacher for the church. He traveled, suffered, was beaten, whipped, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and ultimately killed. Still, he preached “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He would not be deterred. Nothing could hold him back. He was fearless in His preaching of Jesus Christ. He started out just as fearlessly persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ. An encounter with the Risen Lord changed all that. It changed his life forever, literally. Oh, if only we could see the Risen Christ. Then we could really believe and really work for the Lord.
Thomas — we can identify with him. Doubt is the name of the game in this world. We doubt God and His promises almost daily. We doubt when things don’t go our way. We doubt when suffering or illness comes. We doubt in the midst of a world fraught with terrorism and hatred. We doubt in the hour of death. Doubt? We know all about it.
Thomas was called Didymus meaning twin. Why? Here is one way to look at Thomas. There were indeed two sides to Thomas. He could be a man of great devotion. When Jesus said He was going to Jerusalem for the last time, Thomas said, “Let us also go that we may die with Him.” On the other hand, there was the Thomas who said, “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.” There seemed to be two Thomases. One was a man of courage and devotion in his faith and one was a man of doubt. Sound familiar? We can identify with that in our lives. Sometimes we feel so strong in our faith. Sometimes we feel like we have none, and doubt comes so easy.
Thomas will not believe unless he sees. Then, Thomas is confronted with the Risen Christ. “Put your finger here. See My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” He saw the Risen Christ. He touched the sacred wounds in His hands and side for you and me — the wounds that paid for our sins; the wounds from which the blood of the Son of God poured forth to atone for your sins and mine. He believed. It changed his life forever. Oh, if only we could see the Risen Christ.
There are still encounters with Christ. In a lecture series given by a Catholic bishop, Bishop Niles, he finished by saying, “Let me conclude with a story told by a famous French bishop to his congregation. Three university students in Paris were walking along the road one Good Friday afternoon. They noticed crowds of people going in the churches to make their confession. The students began to discuss this custom of the unenlightened, and talked in rather cynical terms about the survival of religion which they described as superstition. Suddenly, two of the students turned to the third, who was the leader among them, and said, ‘Will you go into this church and tell the priests there what we have been saying to each other?” ‘Sure, I will,’ he said, and went in. He stood in the same line as those who were going to their confession, and when his turn came, he looked at the priest and said, ‘Father, I have come here merely to tell you that Christianity is a dying institution and that religion is a superstition.’ The priest looked at the young man keenly and said, ‘Why did you come here, my son, to tell me this?’ And the student told him of his conversation with his friends. The priest listened carefully and then said, ‘All right, I want you to do one thing for me before you go.’ You accepted the challenge of your friends and came here. Now accept my challenge to you. Walk up to the chancel and you will find there a large wooden cross and on it the figure of Jesus crucified. I want you to stand before that cross and say these words: ‘Jesus died for me and I don’t care.’ The student looked puzzled, but to save face he agreed. He went up and stood before that cross and said it. ‘Jesus died for me and I don’t care.’ He came back to the priest and said, ‘I have done it.’ “Do it once more,’ said the priest — ‘after all, it means nothing to you.’ The student went back and looked at the cross for some time and the figure on it, and then he stammered out: ‘Jesus died for me and I don’t care.’ He returned to the priest and said, ‘I have done it; I am going now.’ The priest stopped him. ‘Once more,’ he said, ‘just once more and you can go.’ The young man walked up to the chancel and looked at that cross again, and at the crucified. He stood there for a long time. Then he came back to the priest and said, ‘Father, can I make my confession now?’ The bishop concluded the story with these words, ‘And, my dear people, that young man was me.'”
Oh, if only I could see the Risen Christ. We want to stake our faith on what we see, what we can hold onto. Unless I see it for myself, I will not believe.
Paul reminds us, ‘For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.’ Listen to Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” No, you have not seen with your physical eyes the Risen Lord. Still, He comes to you.
Yes, He comes to you this day. He comes to you and tenderly invites you to listen to Him, to His comforting words. He tells you, “I know how you feel. I came down and lived in the world. I know the trials you bear. I know the frustrations you feel. I know the temptations you have. I know you doubt what I say. Listen. I love you. I loved you so much I did come to earth for you. I even went to the cross of Calvary to die for you. I died to pay for all you have done wrong, for all your doubts and all your fears. I died to pay for all the times you gave into temptation. God tenderly invites you as ones living in a world of fear and death. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Your encounter with Christ is this very day as He speaks to you in His Word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “He who believes has eternal life.” He makes you so many promises. His Word invites you to believe in Him. His Word speaks to us and we, too, have an encounter with the Risen Christ. For He rose from the dead and gives to all who believe in Him everlasting life — heaven itself.
You have an encounter with the Risen Lord every time you hear His Word. Jesus comes to you and encounters you with His Word — His precious promises. You do not see Him with physical eyes but with eyes of faith trusting in His promises. He promised the disciples He would rise from the grave. He did. He promises you He comes to you in His Word. He does. It is a Word that you can count on. “Heaven and earth will pass away but My Word will never pass away.” “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” When He said that, He was talking to you. He encounters you this day with His Word. It is an encounter with the Risen Christ that will change your life forever. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for April 7, 2002
ANNOUNCER: I’m Mark Eischer. Joining me today in the studio is Dr. James Lamb. He is the executive director of Lutherans for Life based in Nevada, Iowa. Dr. Lamb, welcome.
LAMB: Thank you. It’s good to be here.
ANNOUNCER: What is Lutherans for Life?
LAMB: Lutherans for Life is an educational pro-life resource organization. We are opposed to abortion because we’re for the lives of those pre-born children. We’re also for the life of the pregnant teenager carrying a child. We want her to know we love her just as much as (we love) her baby, and we not only desire she choose life for her child, but we’ll support her in that choice in any way we can.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Lamb, how have pro-life concerns broadened in recent years as the so-called “culture of death” seems to spread and metastasize?
LAMB: Well, back in 1973 when abortion was legalized, there were many people at that point saying, “Look, when you start devaluing life at any stage of development, you start devaluing life. And that’s going to lead to other things, like assisted suicide and euthanasia. We need to get back to the idea that life has inherent value because it’s created by God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. In recent times, this whole devaluing of life has gone to the embryo itself. The whole idea of biotechnology has placed new challenges before God’s people and before Lutherans for Life.
ANNOUNCER: Using cloning as the example, how is language once again being manipulated in order to “sell” this technology?
LAMB: We’ve gone from talking about cloning to saying therapeutic cloning. And now in the one bill in the Senate they define cloning not as the production of a human being, but as implanting that human being in the uterus. So, in their prohibition of human cloning what they’re really prohibiting is implanting an already cloned embryonic child into the uterus.
ANNOUNCER: So we become lulled into inaction by thinking that something else is taking place other than what is really happening.
LAMB: Yes. We’re talking about cloning humans and that sounds bad to us. We don’t want to do that. But when we talk about cloning for the purposes of therapy, therapeutic cloning, well, that’s appealing, so maybe that’s OK. They don’t use the word “cloning” anymore. We’ve had senators who write back and say, “Well, we’re opposed to human cloning but we’re in favor of somatic nuclear cell transfer.” That’s the same thing! So either they’re being deceived or they’re trying to deceive their constituents.
ANNOUNCER: They’re saying, “We’re opposed to human cloning but we support human cloning.”
LAMB: Yes, and then they might add, for the purposes of therapy or for treating disease.
ANNOUNCER: Getting back to your original point, Dr. Lamb. You’re still talking about playing games and experimenting with human life.
LAMB: Yes, we’re talking about producing human life, not in the way that is pleasing to God. It’s out of the context completely of what God has given us for procreation. So we’re opposed to human cloning on that ground. But it’s even more horrific to think of creating these little human beings for the sole purpose of destroying them to obtain stem cells to be used in research.
ANNOUNCER: How do you relate life issues and the message of your organization to the message of the Gospel?
LAMB: As I said, it’s more than “don’t do this because it’s bad.” We can tell people they don’t have to do this because God is good and God has promised good to us. He has promised good and assured us of that good through the cross of Jesus Christ. Even in the midst of struggle and bad circumstances, God is there. He’s at work and we don’t have to turn to death as a solution to the problems of life.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you. Join us next week for more of our conversation with Dr. James Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life.