A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on April 11, 2021 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on 1 John 1:1-2:2. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the First Epistle of John, the first and second chapters:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! John says, if you have heard us, it is better than if you have seen Jesus. Now, it’s a strange thing for us to consider that by hearing about Jesus, we have a better understanding of Jesus than those who saw him. But John plainly says that this is the case. In fact, even he echoes this in his own gospel today, where he says that these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. And so it is John wrote all of these things down and even writes his letters so that you are able indeed to believe in the one who was sent from the father for you. And, as he was sent, he lived, he died and was resurrected. There is no better news than this.
I've often sat back and I've wondered what I would do if I had seen Jesus. If I had walked with him and learned from him, if I be able to, with time travel, go back and hear his words and see all of his actions, what that would be like. But I have to trust that because the scriptures are God-breathed, because the Holy spirit inspired these men to write these words down, I have to believe that what I have now, 2000 years after the resurrection, is better than what John and the apostles had that day in the upper room.
It's a strange thing, but it is true. And it's true for a very real reason. We see Thomas today doubting. In fact, the word that is used in the scriptures to describe Thomas is apistis, pistis meaning faith, and with the, that little a in front of it, it makes it no faith. Thomas had no faith. It's not that he doubted the apostles; it's that he did not believe the apostles. And notice his words, I will not believe unless I put my hands in his side, unless I see him with my own eyes. You could almost say, unless I can breathe his scent into my nostrils, I will not believe.
I think Thomas sometimes gets a bad rap. It's easy to understand why he would not believe this incredible news. After all, what man raises himself from the dead? But still Thomas is there eight days later, and, certainly in those eight days, Jesus interacts with his apostles in other ways, as we know that from the other gospels, but Thomas is there again in the upper room, eight days later, when everyone is gathered back there, and Jesus appears and says, Thomas, put your hand here. If you need to, take your hand and put it here, put your hand into my side. If you need to play with my organs, go ahead and play with my organs. If that's what's going to make you believe, do it. And Thomas gives a wonderful confession of faith that I think he would rather be remembered for than his disbelief. And that is when he says, my Lord and my God. But notice, notice when he says this, that he is looking at Jesus who appears in front of him; he’s looking at Jesus and, not having heard about Jesus, by seeing, he has faith.
And that's not a bad thing, to see Jesus and have faith in him. That isn't a bad thing, right? But Jesus says, blessed are those who have not seen and yet will believe. Jesus calls you, 2000 years after Thomas, more blessed because you have not seen him. You should believe John is right. It is better for us to have heard the word of God and believe in Jesus than to see him and believe in Jesus, for if we see him, we get confused and we think it is a work of our own eyes that we're able then to believe in Jesus. But if we've heard of Jesus and believe, we know that it is a work of the Holy Spirit for we cannot force ourselves to believe. We cannot choose to believe in Jesus, but it must be something that is apprehended by faith to believe in.
Jesus comes by faith and faith, the scriptures tell us, comes by hearing the word of God, and specifically the word of Christ. John tells us it is better to believe having heard of Jesus. I mean, if you look at everything that's gone on in the life of Christ, we have it all in front of us from four different perspectives, five, if you include Paul, as he was taught personally by Jesus. We have five men's perspectives of what it is to see Jesus with their own two eyes. For us, if we were to see Jesus, we would only have two eyes. Instead we have 10. And that is a blessed thing. We find different perspectives and different things that Jesus did all over the place. Things that Jesus did when he was in front of some disciples and not others, when he was with just a couple of them as opposed to the rest. We find all of these wonderful things from hearing about Jesus. And so it is that it is better for us to hear.
Did you hear then today of the good news of Jesus Christ risen from the dead? He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And he is risen for you! That’s good news. And more good news, John says that he is from the beginning. And in fact, when he says he is from the beginning, he means literally Jesus is the God from the very beginning of all things, and Thomas echoes this. When he says my Lord and my God, especially when he says my Lord, he is referring specifically to the name of God found in the Old Testament. The Jews were afraid to say the name for fear of abusing it. But God invites us to use his name. And, in fact, has given us a new name by which we should call upon God: Jesus Christ. But if we were to look at the Old Testament, the name of God would be Yahweh or Jehovah. They were afraid to say that name, so instead of saying the name of God, the Jews would say Lord. So, when Thomas says my Lord and my God, he is saying my Yahweh, my God, who has been there walking with Adam and Eve, my God, who gave the promise to Abraham and to his offspring, my God who wrestled with Jacob, my God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, my God who saved David and Solomon, all the saints of the old Testament, my God is Jesus. We find then great comfort in this, that Jesus has been here since the beginning. And he will be here through the very end of all time. Jesus is our Lord and our God.
John says that he's seen him with his eyes and he's touched him with his hands, but more importantly, it is better to believe in this Jesus concerning the word of life, because it is through the preaching of Jesus and his work for you that you find life, that you find redemption from all of your grievous sins. Again, if you just touched Jesus, there's no forgiveness there for you. If you just hear Jesus, there's no forgiveness there for you. If you smell Jesus, if you went up to him and licked Jesus, there would be no forgiveness there for you. Instead, it is the preaching of Christ that does forgive your sins, that brings to you life and delivers to you salvation. By the hearing of the word of Christ, you are saved. By seeing Christ, you cannot be saved.
In fact, we should think of seeing Christ as a fearsome thing. We find that when Christ comes back, the world will fear God. They will fear Jesus. The rulers and kings of this world will run under the mountains and beg for the mountains to fall down on them rather than stand before their Holy God and face the consequences of their actions. Seeing Christ is a fearsome thing, but fearing Christ by faith is a good and glorious thing. To fear him rightly is the thing that brings to us salvation for we find that when we fear God that is the beginning of wisdom. And what is wisdom but to rely on Jesus Christ for our salvation, knowing that we cannot win it for ourselves, relying fully on him and all of his work.
It is better for us to have heard about Jesus than to have seen him, but make no mistake, we will see Jesus one day, but it will not be in a fear that begs the mountains to fall on us. It will be a fear that begs us to fall on our knees and worship our God who has come to redeem us, the one who brings us up out of our graves, the one who makes all things new, the one who reunites us with those that we love, who have died in him, the one who will bring us into life everlasting in joy. And we can have hope in this, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! It is better for us to have heard of Jesus, but we shall see him face to face. He will call you by your name and you will know then the love of God was true. Always.
When we hear about Jesus, that is where we end up. It is true that we must hear of God and his Holy word, how his law accuses us of our sins. It is true that we must stand and face the judgment of the law. But when we look at Christ, when we see him, we will know that he has borne the punishment that was our own. We will know that he has redeemed us and brought us to safety in him forever. It is good to hear about Jesus, for in our hearing, we have faith and our faith at the end will be vindicated in our resurrection from the dead, just as Christ was vindicated in his resurrection from the dead. And you may know this, for indeed, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In his name, Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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