A Unity of Eyewitnesses

(Scripture readings are included in full at the end of the message.)

It’s kind of unusual to read all four lectionary readings in one go, but our four lectionary readings for today shed light on each other, enhance each other, and speak to each other, so I didn’t want to leave any one of them out.

Since we have so many passages, to help us organize our thinking, I’d like to highlight two things as we look at these passages: (1) the unity of believers; and (2) the disciples’ very real, in-the-flesh eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus.

Starting off with Psalm 133, the psalmist writes: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like… oil on the head, running down… on the beard of Aaron, running over the collar of his robes.”

Oil in the Old Testament represented God’s anointing, and God’s blessing. And unity is a rich blessing from God.

Today we live in a nation that is deeply divided. And we worship in a church that is deeply divided, and which would be true no matter what church or denomination we were sitting in this morning. We so rarely witness Christian unity, when we do, it stands out. For me it was around 35 years ago, and I remember thinking to myself in that moment, “take a mental snapshot of this – use your mind like a camera (this is in the days before cell phones) because it’s not going to last long and you’re going to want to remember it.” And I was right – it didn’t last long. Not because people started fighting with each other but because people moved, were transferred, retired… within two or three years most of the group was gone.

There have been other experiences of unity since then, smaller ones, and I hope that’s true for you too. I hope we can all say together, from experience, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.”

The apostle Luke, in our reading from Acts, echoes this sentiment. He says: “the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul… everything they owned was held in common… and great grace was upon them all…”  This passage is often mistakenly interpreted to mean the early church was a sort of Christian commune, sharing all things together, but that’s not what the original Greek implies. What it implies is that the people in the early church provided for each other as needs arose – sometimes selling possessions or land in order to meet the needs of others. So no follower of Jesus went hungry. No follower of Jesus went without medicine. Everyone saw to it that needs were met. And their neighbors noticed, and they wanted to be part of this. Witnessing the unity of the believers, who were one in heart and soul attracted people to the faith.

And the unity of believers in the early church had its foundation in witnessing Jesus alive after the crucifixion. They all saw with their own eyes, and touched with their own hands, the prints of the nails and the scar from the Roman spear in Jesus’ side. They had seen him die, and they saw him alive after he’d been buried. They talked with him, ate with him, and spent time with him. Most members of the early church died a martyr’s death rather than deny that they had seen him alive.

You and I, of course, only have their word to go on. None of us have seen Jesus in the flesh. But I trust that those hundreds of early disciples would not have been willing to give their lives for a lie. I believe Jesus walked out of the grave alive, because they believed it. They stayed together even to death.

With this in mind, we now look at the story of “Doubting Thomas”. The Sunday after Good Friday, the disciples were together, and they were hiding inside a locked room, being afraid of the people who had killed Jesus, and then Jesus walked right through a locked door and said, “Peace be with you.” I would love to know more about this walking through locked doors… but for now, we focus on the fact that Jesus showed the disciples the scars in his hands and side. And the disciples were able to touch them and see that they were real.

But Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, wasn’t there that day. He missed it. The other disciples told him “Jesus is alive” and Thomas says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in his side, I will not believe it.”

Thomas has taken a lot of flack over the years for saying this. But when we look at what Thomas is saying, he’s not asking to see anything more than the other disciples had seen, or do anything more than the other disciples had done. And Jesus doesn’t criticize Thomas for this. The next time the disciples are all together, Thomas is there, and he sees the scars in Jesus’ hands, and he puts his hand in Jesus’ side, and he declares “My Lord and my God!”

And Jesus remarks: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Why? Because Jesus’ resurrection is the foundation of Christian unity.  It is the ground on which all of us stand. And John adds: “these things are written so that you (that is, us) may believe that Jesus is the Messiah… and through believing have life in his name.”

John defines the message which all Christians are given to share. He also defines the evangelistic challenge we all face, which is: how do we communicate the reality of Jesus’ resurrection to people who have not been eyewitnesses?

In these passages, Christian unity – the community of faith – bears witness to God’s truth and Jesus’ resurrection.

So does this mean that we as Christians always have to agree with each other, in order to bear witness to the world? No. Does it mean we have to do the things the same way or live the same way? No.

300 years ago John Wesley took up that question in a sermon he preached called On a Catholic Spirit. (By ‘catholic’ he means it the way we mean it in the Creed – in the sense of ‘the whole church’, not in the sense of Roman Catholic). The sermon On a Catholic Spirit can be found on the internet, and I recommend it, even though Wesley’s old-fashioned English makes for slow reading. But translating his core thought into modern English basically what he said is this:

First off, (1) all people are unaware of many things – that is, there’s a lot we don’t know; and (2) all people are mistaken about some things, that is, none of us is perfect. So Wesley’s question to people is always this: “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” In other words, if you love and believe God, as I do, then you and I stand together – no matter what any other differences may be. Wesley says:

“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion?” And he goes on to say: “I will not ask, therefore, questions like, Do you belong to my church? Do you have the same form of church government? Do pray the same way? […] (Wesley says) My only question to you is, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?”” – do we love and believe God?

With this in mind, we turn now to John’s epistle. John says to those reading his letter:

The things we share with you are things “we have looked at and touched with our hands” – and we are writing this to you, “so that our joy may be complete” – that is, so that you may become one with us and we may all know the same joy. John continues:

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness… if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.”

Furthermore, “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”  This is why the Cross was necessary. John says Jesus is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus is alive – death and sin couldn’t hold him – and he is the one who invites us to see his scars.

The challenge, back then and today, is how to share this good news with others: how to tell people that Jesus died and walked out of the grave alive? How to tell people this isn’t a fable, that men and women (including Thomas) have seen him alive and touched his scars? How do we share this unlikely story with people who doubt it, or who have never heard it?

The solution to the challenge is our unity: being of one heart and soul; showing the world a better way. If the message of Jesus is true – if, as our creed says, Jesus is the one and only unique son of God, who was crucified, died and was buried, and who rose again on the third day in fulfillment of the scriptures, then the Spirit of God who made this miracle happen will also bring about the miracle of Christian unity.

John Wesley asked, “May we not be of one heart, even if we are not of one opinion?” And Wesley’s answer to that question in daily life was the founding of the Methodist Church: a church known through its history for generosity, for members who minister to the poor and the sick and the suffering, and for willingness to study together and serve together. Being of one heart, even if we’re not of one opinion – through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection – shows the world something new and different. People notice.

May God make us one in our witness in our day, as John Wesley was in his day, and as the apostle John was in his day. AMEN.

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 4/11/21

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Psalm 133:1-3  A Song of Ascents

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!  ² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.  ³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

 Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  ³³ With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  ³⁵ They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

1 John 1:1 – 2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–  ² this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us–  ³ we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  ⁴ We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.  ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true;  ⁷ but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  ¹⁰ If we say that 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;  ² and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 20:19-31

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.”  ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  ²⁵ 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.”

²⁶ 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.”  ²⁷ 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.”  ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  ²⁹ 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.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  ³¹ 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.