John 20,19-31. Quasimodogeniti

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ 

John 20,19-29 [30-31] 2315

Quasimodogeniti (1. Sonntag nach Ostern)  036  weiß

Julius, Bishop of Rome, ✠ 352. Sabas the Goth, Martyr 372 

12. Apil 2015  

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, our resurrected Lord and God. You are the Peace, the Truth and the Life. We pray: Draw near and comfort us, so that our disbelief turns to belief in Your resurrected life, and ours.  Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for Quasimodogeniti  § 1) 

2. »On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: „Peace be with you.“ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again: „Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.“ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them: „Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.“ Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus arrived. So the other disciples told him: „We have seen the Lord.“ But he said to them: „Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.“ Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus arrived and stood among them and said: „Peace be with you.“ Then He said to Thomas: „Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.“ Thomas answered Him: „My Lord and my God!“ ²⁹Jesus said to him: „Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.“ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.« 

3. The Apostle John tells us why he wrote his Gospel:  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name (20,30-31). The greatest sign Jesus performed was rising from the dead, and the evidence for this great sign of the resurrection is Jesus’ many appearances to His disciples and even unbelievers during a 40-day period of time. Our Gospel pericope for today tells us about Thomas’ first experience with the risen Jesus. 

4. Thomas had heard the proclamation from his fellow apostles that Jesus is risen from the dead and that they had seen Him with their own eyes. Thomas has become infamous with his reply: »Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.« Eight days later Jesus gave Thomas the proof he had asked for. Thomas saw the mark of the nails and the side that had been pierced by the legionnaires’ spear, but John does not tell us whether Thomas actually put his finger into the mark and his hand into Jesus side. But John recorded another of Thomas’ infamous phrases: »My Lord and my God!« Thomas moved from adamant unbelief in the resurrection to adoring faith in the risen Jesus. Jesus wants all people to have this same faith. His apostles and disciples wrote the Gospels and the Epistles to proclaim the gospel of Easter and in hearing this gospel faith would be created by the working of the Holy Spirit. 

5. The apostles went forth throughout the world proclaiming the risen Jesus of Easter Sunday so that people may have faith. This faith is faith in Jesus Christ who was crucified for us and our sins; on the third day He rose in victory over hades, death and the grave. The 27 books of the New Testament bear eyewitness testimony to the risen Jesus. He is not a ghost or a spirit, but a real flesh and blood body risen from the dead. The historical records admit that the tomb was empty on Easter morning. We believe and confess what the apostles taught and passed down: Jesus rose from the dead. In turn, we pass this gospel on to the succeeding generation of Christians. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah! Faith believes it, and the historical records attest to its truth.  

6. Faith in Jesus’ resurrection is based on the testimony of the Holy Scripture. Historical evidence, furthermore, supports the Biblical and apostolic claims of Jesus’ resurrection. The Biblical and historic testimonies account for more information surviving about Jesus Christ than almost any other person who has lived. In fact, if somehow the entire Bible was lost or destroyed we could replicate every verse in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation using other books in any given library. 

7. There are several historians who record Jesus, His death and resurrection. Flavius Josephus (ad 37-97), 1. century court historian for Emperor Vespasian wrote: „Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works – a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the Divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day“ (Josephus 480 §§ 63-64). Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian in the early 2. century ad, writes: „Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular“ (Annals 15,44). 

8. Over 39 extra-biblical sources attest to more than 100 facts regarding the life and teachings of Jesus (reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/04/evidence-for-the-resurrection-in-a-nutshell). There are numerous 1. and 2. century extra-biblical writings that witness to the fact that Christians believed that Christ did extraordinary things, died on a cross and rose from the grave, including: Josephus, Clement, Papias, the Didache, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, (reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/04/evidence-for-the-resurrection-in-a-nutshell) the Talmud, Plinius Secoundus, Gaius Seutonius Tranquillas, and Lucian. Even the earliest Jewish arguments against Christianity admit the empty tomb. The Toledoth Yeshu, a 5. century compilation of early Jewish writings, acknowledges this historical fact and posit the theory the gardener took body of Jesus from His tomb and buried it somewhere else in the  cemetery garden (Toledoth Yeshu ¶ 24). The Gospel according to Matthew records another Jewish theory: The Jewish elders told their temple guards who had watched over Jesus’ tomb to tell people hat His disciples had stolen the body from the tomb while they slept (Mathew 28,11-15). The Jewish and Roman sources admit that Jesus’ tomb was empty. 

9. Our Lord’s resurrection created faith in James the brother of Jesus and Paul of Tarsus, both enemies of Jesus and the gospel before Jesus appeared to them. James became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote the New Testament epistle that bears his name and he was later martyred at Jerusalem in ad 62. Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles, was an evangelical missionary who traversed the Roman Empire four times, was a prolific writer who penned 13 of the 27 New Testament books of the Bible and his traveling companion Luke wrote the Gospel that bears his name and the Book of Acts. In ad 68 Paul was beheaded at Rome by Emperor Nero’s order.  

10. Peter was an apostle to the Jews, the author of two New Testament epistles. He eventually preached in Rome, and Mark the Evangelist wrote the Gospel that bears his name based on Peter’s sermons. In ad 68 Peter was crucified by Emperor Nero’s order. Andrew was severely whipped and tied by ropes on an x-shaped cross where he hung 2 days to expire in Edessa or Patras, Greece, in the mid to late 1. century. James bar-Zebedee was the first apostle to be martyred when King Herod ordered him beheaded with a sword at Jerusalem in ad 44 (Acts 12,1-2). Philip was crucified at Hierapolis, Turkey in ad 80. Nathanael/Bartholomew was beaten, flayed and crucified head down in Albania, Armenia, India or Persia in the 1. century. Thomas, who first did not believe but a week later did believe that Jesus rose from the tomb, preached the gospel in southern India. Indian Christians from the west coast Kerala area claim they were evangelized by Thomas. Later he was speared to death near Madras, India on the east coast in ad 72. Matthew wrote the Gospel that bears his name; he was later axed to death with a halberd in Nadabah, Ethiopia in ad 60. James Alphaeus was thrown down from the temple and clubbed to death with a fullers club at age 94 at Jerusalem in ad 66. Jude/Thaddaeus was crucified in Edessa, Greece or Persia in ad 72. Simon the Cananaean was crucified in Brittainnia, Europe. Matthias was stoned and then beheaded at Jerusalem in ad 80. 

11. John bar-Zebedee wrote the Gospel that bears his name, the book of Revelation and three New Testament epistles. He miraculously survived being boiled with oil before the Latin Gate at Rome in ad 95 and was summarily exiled to the Turkish island of Patmos for a couple of years. He died of natural causes in Ephesus, Turkey in 98 or 100; he was the last of the apostles to enter Paradise. Important Early Church disciples of John the Apostle are Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Turkey (Martyr 108), Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Turkey (Martyr 155) and Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, France (Martyr 202); Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp. 

12. The apostles and the historical records attest to Jesus crucifixion and the empty tomb. The apostles proclaimed that the tomb is empty because Jesus rose from the dead. They all saw the risen Jesus. Thomas beheld the nail marks and His side. Several women saw Jesus on Easter morning (28,9), and Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name in all four Gospel accounts of Easter and she even held the risen Jesus (John 20, 17). Paul lists others who saw Jesus during the 40 days before His ascension: »For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that He appeared to Peter, then to the apostles. Then He  appeared to more than five hundred Christians at one time. Then he appeared to James, the brother of Jesus, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, Paul« (1. Corinthians 15,3-8). 

13. If we are honest with ourselves, then we will admit that there may have been a time at some point in our Christian life where we questioned the validity of Jesus’ resurrection.  Perhaps we could not comprehend the event when reading it in the Bible. Perhaps someone raised some questions about the event that made us wonder if we were wrong in believing the truth. The event does defy all reason and experience, and we are in good company for all the apostles and disciples of Jesus did not believe He rose from the dead at first. All the women, Mary Magdalene, Peter, John and all the apostles did not believe at first. Thomas was not unique among them for his disbelief, but all of them, including Thomas, believed when Jesus appeared to them in His risen, physical body. 

13. Yet the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection abounds in the Bible and numerous other historical documents. The Holy Spirit has given us more than enough testimony to prove the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus’ statement to Thomas refers to us: »Thomas, have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen Me and yet have believed.« Jesus is talking about you, me and all Christians for the past 1900 years. John and the other Gospel evangelists wrote their Gospels so that we could read their testimony and believe in the risen Jesus. We believe even when the world refuses to believe the gospel. We believe in spite of the persecution and mockery the world heaps upon us for having faith in the risen Jesus. We believe as Thomas believes, and we confess as he confesses: Jesus, You are my Lord and my God!  Amen and Amen.  

14. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou has done great things for us, particularly rising from the grave, so that believing in Your resurrection from the dead we hope in our own resurrection by Your hand on the last day.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm 

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#44. Translation based on Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (1876). 

Josephus, Flavius. The Works of Josephus. William Whiston, Tr. Copyright © 1987 Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.