{"id":2563,"date":"2020-04-15T09:43:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T07:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/static\/wp\/?p=2563"},"modified":"2020-04-17T09:28:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T07:28:48","slug":"easter-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/easter-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easter Two – April 19, 2020 | A sermon on John 20:19-31 | by The Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS |<\/span><\/h3>\n

John 20:19-31<\/p>\n

19<\/sup> When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, „Peace be with you.“<\/p>\n

20<\/sup> After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.<\/p>\n

21<\/sup> Jesus said to them again, „Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.“<\/p>\n

22<\/sup> When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, „Receive the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

23<\/sup> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.“<\/p>\n

24<\/sup> But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.<\/p>\n

25<\/sup> So the other disciples told him, „We have seen the Lord.“ But he said to them, „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.“<\/p>\n

26<\/sup> A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, „Peace be with you.“<\/p>\n

27<\/sup> Then he said to Thomas, „Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.“<\/p>\n

28<\/sup> Thomas answered him, „My Lord and my God!“<\/p>\n

29<\/sup> Jesus said to him, „Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.“<\/p>\n

30<\/sup> Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.<\/p>\n

31<\/sup> 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.<\/p>\n

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

We may never experience another time such as this.\u00a0 For weeks now the church has strived to find ways in which we reach our members with the proclamation of the Word.\u00a0 Last week I stood in the chancel and celebrated Easter with an empty sanctuary.\u00a0 You all watched on Facebook Live.\u00a0 It was different.\u00a0 It felt a little like being in a locked room, cut off from the world around me.\u00a0 These are trying times for the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to do ministry when we have to maintain 6\u2019 between us.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to do ministry when the pews are empty.\u00a0 But one thing remains easier than it ever has:\u00a0 Proclaiming the Word.\u00a0 Here in the church we talk about the Means of Grace and how we use them.\u00a0 This includes our sacraments.\u00a0 But it also includes the proclamation of the Word.\u00a0 Proclaiming the Word is the only Means of Grace that isn\u2019t bound in some way to bodily action.\u00a0 Yes, it is different to preach to a camera and microphone, as I am sure it is different for you to be sitting in the comforts of your home and watch church on a phone or a tablet.\u00a0 The proclamation of the Word has become the frontrunner in how the church does ministry in these unusual times.\u00a0 The Eucharist, Funerals, Baptisms, and even weddings have to change, but the proclamation of the Word remains.\u00a0 It is where we can look for comfort and hope; it provides strength for our faith.\u00a0 To hear the proclamation of the Word in and of itself is a great help to us, but thankfully technology also allows us to see the proclamation of the Word.<\/p>\n

There is that old saying \u201cSeeing is believing.\u201d\u00a0 We need to see that the church continues to be a rock.\u00a0 While for some it is enough to hear, others need to see.\u00a0 As mentioned in our Gospel today, Thomas is one that needs to see.\u00a0 Absent from being with the other disciples, Thomas does not see the Lord appear in that locked room.\u00a0 Even after hearing about this encounter, Thomas is adamant that he must not only see but touch Jesus\u2019 wounds in order to believe.\u00a0 Our inclination is to tear down Thomas for his doubt.\u00a0 However, having watched how the church has handled our current situation, I have to say that I get it.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 disciples have been locking themselves in this room because of the fear they have that the Jews will do to them what they did to Jesus.\u00a0 It is hard to overcome fear, and we all know our world still has a lot of fear right now.\u00a0 We want to have concrete solutions to fear, to know that there is something that can overcome it.\u00a0 Thomas needed a concrete solution, because for him hearing was not enough.\u00a0 And so John tells us that a week later they are gathered again, and this time Thomas is with them.\u00a0 Again, the doors are shut, and Jesus comes among them.\u00a0 His word of peace calms fear, but it is the opportunity to see and touch that truly changes Thomas.\u00a0 His fear, coupled with doubt, blinds his faith.\u00a0 Now none of us were in that room so we have to rely on John\u2019s account as to how this really happened.\u00a0 John doesn\u2019t tell us that Thomas even touched Jesus.\u00a0 The account from John tells us that Thomas answered Jesus with \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d; making it seem as though the hearing and the seeing overcame the doubt, fear, and need to touch.\u00a0 The seeing and hearing restored\u00a0 and confirmed Thomas\u2019 faith.\u00a0 And Jesus\u2019 reply speaks to this:\u00a0 \u201cHave you believed because you have seen me?\u00a0 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this difficult time, there are Christians among us who need faith confirmation.\u00a0 For some they get that confirmation simply by hearing.\u00a0 Others need to hear and see.\u00a0 Still others proclaim that they need to see, hear, and touch, just like Thomas.\u00a0 I am thankful the church is able to proclaim the Word in a way in which it can be heard and seen.\u00a0 When we get down to it, the church is able to remain a solid rock for the faith of the world, so that those who have not heard the gospel may hear it and believe.\u00a0 That is our task for the moment, to continue to proclaim the Word.\u00a0 During this Easter season we proclaim the resurrection of our Lord, the defeat of sin and death, so that the entire world may be reconciled to God.\u00a0 We proclaim this so that people may come to believe that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, through the proclamation of the Word by the church we hear \u201cthat through believing you may have life in his name.\u201d\u00a0 This is a life of peace, a life absent of fear of the unknown, a life absent of hardships.\u00a0 As we continue doing worship in this new way, may we always remember that God is at work building our faith and giving us the strength to do things in a new way, so that the living Word may be proclaimed to all who hear.<\/p>\n

In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Easter Two – April 19, 2020 | A sermon on John 20:19-31 | by The Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS | John 20:19-31 19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,157,108,110,235,299,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-2563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-judson-f-merrell","category-kapitel-20-chapter-20-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2583,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563\/revisions\/2583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=2563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}