A man used to fall asleep in the front row of the church during the sermons. One day while the pastor was preaching about heaven and hell, he said, "Any one here today who wants to go to hell may stand up." A teenager shook up the sleeping man and he woke up enough to hear the "stand up" part. He quickly jumped to his feet. After collecting himself for a moment, the man then looked at the pastor and said, "Preacher, I don’t know why I’m standing, but it appears that you and I are the only ones standing, I think we are in the same boat." The disciple Thomas woke up one morning and found out that he missed the story of Easter.
All the four Gospel s - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - include in their Resurrection narratives a series of episodes related to the appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples. In these episodes the disciples, after passing through a phase of doubt, unbelief, trouble, confusion and astonishment, come to the point of believing that Jesus has been risen indeed. They were all afraid and gathered together in closed doors.
Thomas was not there with the disciples when Jesus appeared after resurrection. We do not know where he had been and Jesus did not ask him about it. So we do not know what his excuses were. Most of all, the story is is not about Thomas. It is about the risen Christ. Jesus does not care where you had been or what you have done, rather He will come to where you are and will restore you. Gospel of John stands out in describing the appearance of the risen Lord came to them again just for Thomas (Jn. 20:24-29).
Thomas was a little 'late' for Easter. An adjective has been added to the apostle Thomas. People do not mention his name without the adjective 'doubting'. In his book, “Easter from the Backside’, Ellsworth Kalas, writes that the best descriptive word for Thomas is 'late'. The 'lateness' of Thomas was because of his absence from the group he was supposed to be with. His absence had led him to become the doubting person he came to be known. The doubting Thomas is also the 'absent' and 'late for Easter' Thomas. The two missing disciples were Thomas and Judas. Judas was absent because he killed himself. Thomas was absent because he was alive but was dead to the news of resurrection. Regardless of who you are, Jesus will come. Though Judas betrayed Jesus, I am sure Jesus would have appeared to him as well. Jesus appeared to Peter and restored him even though he denied knowing Jesus at his trial and crucifiction.
The 'absent' Thomas teaches us some good lessons. When you are absent from church and fellowship you miss the party. It will eventually become to the point of doubting and unbelieving. Thomas did not believe the others. And he did not believe that Jesua rose from the dead. Losing our church and fellowship will make us doubting and unhappy. Yesterday I read about a woman who committed suicide because of her husband's death a year ago and then she had stress at work. She was a loner with no church or fellowship. She thought she could make it on her own. If you make sure you stay close with the people of God, you have a lesser chance of missing Him. You would not have to doubt God in critical times. You never know what might happen when God's people gather together next time. You'd better be there. Otherwise, you will be a late comer to the news like Thomas, and may not get to the point until late.
I have heard people saying that going to church every Sunday is unnecessary. In a letter to the editor of a British newspaper, a man complained that he saw no sense in going to church every Sunday. "I have been attending services quite regularly for the past 30 years," he wrote, "and during that time I have listened to no less than 3,000 sermons. But, to my consternation, I discover that I cannot remember a single one of them. I wonder if a minister's time might be more profitably spent on something else." That letter sparked many responses. One, however, was interesting: "I have been married for 30 years. During that time I have eaten 32,850 meals—mostly of my wife's cooking. Suddenly I have discovered that I cannot remember the menu of a single meal. And yet, I received nourishment from every one of them. I have the distinct impression that without them I would have starved to death a long time ago."
The Bible assumes the importance of going to church and fellowship with other Christians because it strengthens our faith. In Hebrews 10:25, we read“Do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another”. Let’s stay close to each other in love, in our fellowship and in our prayers that we will not miss the blessings God has planned for us. Isn't it better for us to be together when Jesus comes? So let's stay close together more. Come to Sunday School, Come to the cooking class, or art class or come to the garage sale or other activities that we are doing on a regular basis. The more we are together the stronger we become. Do not become an island because you will become lonely and weak. You miss out on the encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ (Heb. 10:24-25), you miss the privilege of worshipping God with fellow believers (Jn. 4:23-24), you miss an opportunity to learn and grow in your knowledge of the Scriptures (II Pet. 3:17-18), you miss a chance to serve others (I Pet. 4:10-11), and most importantly, you miss an occasion to be with the Lord in His assembly (Mt. 18:20). This is not to shame anyone, but I just want to emphasize the immense blessing you lose when you are absent from worship and fellowship.
We miss God’s visitation in our lives for various reasons. We get too busy with our lives, we miss His appearance. Many times, He appears in our midst in the most unexpected times. Jesus told this story in the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the groom to appear. Five had oil in the lamp and in their bottles. The other five thought they could beg and borrow. That’s what capitalism teaches us. “Don’t worry, charge it on your credit card. You don’t have to pay.” Be ready all the time. We do not all experience the resurrected Christ in the same way or at the same time, but that Christ comes to us nevertheless. Thus we can experience the resurrection even in our current circumstances with the pandemic when we cannot freely go to church activities.
A lot of people miss God’s visitation, not because they are sinners, but because they are too busy. A friend of mine says, “Running here and there, hither and yonder, willy nilly, very busy, much ado about nothing”. I understand we are busy people with busy lives, and a lot of what we do is beyond our control, but many are in under our control. However, if we never squeeze some time in the run of our day to spend with God somehow in prayer, or to read the Bible, or just be quiet with God and listen. we will dry up and get cold and ineffective.
Paul the apostle was another late comer like Thomas. He was formerly known as Saul who came so late that people would not consider him as an apostle. He says in 1 Cor 15:8 "Last of all, Jesus also appeared to me, I am unfit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church.". Paul calls himself, "who was untimely born" meaning, he didn’t come to faith on time like the other apostles. (1 Corinth. 15:8,9).
He was a highly educated Jewish scholar, coming from a very prestigious family that possessed Roman citizenship, which was not an easy thing to obtain. He joined a group that was committed to wipe out Christians who were called the people of the "WAY". Saul was the keeper of the garments of those who were stoning Stephen to death. The Bible says, "Saul approved of Stephen's killing." Acts 8:1. For him his doctrine was no casual matter, he went around dragging men and women simply because of what they believed.
And one day, Saul himself was apprehended by the very one whose followers he had been seeking to destroy. (Acts 9). On his way to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. When he met the resurrected Christ, the power of resurrection changed an angry killer of Christians to a committed follower of Christ who eventually gave his life for that very cause. Even though Paul came to Jesus later than the disciples, no one was ever more convinced than him about the events of Easter that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He writes "if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is in vain." He writes to Corinthians in 1 Cor 15:50-54, "Death has been swallowed up in victory and time is coming when the dead shall rise with imperishable body."
Jesus spoke a parable about the laborers who came in different times of the day to work in the yard. At the end, the landlord paid them the same wages as the ones who started early in the day. They could not understand. In some parts of the world, the people gather daily in the town square looking for work in the hope that they will earn enough to feed their family for that day. To not find work is to go hungry. It is the strongest and the young who are chosen first. They get the full day’s pay. But the others, the old and the lame, remain in hope that someone will still choose them for work. If more workers are required the employers will come back. The strong who are still waiting are chosen first and just maybe there will be enough work for the old and the lame.
God’s kingdom is not based on who came in first or who came in late. It is not based on what is fair either. It is based on what a person needs at that moment his or her life. Grace overlooks all we are and all that we have done and said. If I were to ask for fairness form God, I would be more like the 5:00 p.m. worker than the 5:00 a.m. worker. Fairness is not what we want. We want grace. We do not want to get what we deserve. Jesus called tweleve disciples to be in his team. None of them had a degeree in theology from Oxford or Cambridge. Four of them were simple fishermen who would never have passed the Board of Ordained Ministry selection process. Two of them were Zealots – the Zealots were first century Jewish terrorists. Another was a tax collector who extorted his own people to benefit the Romans. And another one was a traitor.
Someone asked British pastor Joseph Parker was asked, “Why did Jesus choose Judas to be one of His disciples?” He thought deeply about the question for a while but could not come up with an answer. He said that he kept running into an even more baffling question: “Why did He choose me?” “Out of all the people in the world who are greater and smarter than I am, why did God choose me?” Grace is a mystery. We do not understand it.
Many of us have been born and brought up in the privileged situations of Christian parents. For those who have been faithful for so many years, there is the joy of living a faithful life. Not everyone has had this opportunity. For those who have come to faith later in life, God’s grace is no less wonderful, they only regret the years of not being able to live as God’s people. God’s grace has room for even the thief on the cross. Easter is not simply a celebration, with church attendance and dinners once a year. It is a a powerful experience of a new life that raised up from the dead, a power to live a new life.
God gives everyone a chance; the least and latest all have still a chance. God gives chances after chances to come and join the family. Jesus Christ is so alive, real and so present today that we can know him as certain as Mary Magdalene or Peter or the first disciples. It would be the same life transforming experience if you see the resurrected Christ today.
Daniel Whittle wrote over 200 songs (including "There shall be showers of blessings") had such story of coming late for Easter. He rose to the rank of Major in the Army in the 1800s. While leading a charge, he was wounded that resulted in the amputation of his arm and then a stay in a prisoner of war camp. It was while he was in this POW camp that he began to search for something to read. He found in his personal bag, the little New Testament that his Mother had placed when he left for the military. He read through the New Testament in a matter of days and started through it again. One night the nurse woke him up and told him that one of his coworkers was dying and the man had been begging for someone to pray for him. The nurse told Major Whittle that she could not do it as she was not good enough. She asked if he could do it. He said he could not do that as he was not a good man. Major Whittle confessed that he too was not good enough with with many sins in his own life and could not pray either. The nurse said that he thought Major Whittle was a Christian because he had observed him constantly reading the Scripture. The nurse begged Major Whittle to at least go and see the dying man. Moved with compassion, Major Whittle reluctantly agreed. Major Whittle’s own words reads: “I dropped on my knees and held the boy’s hand in mine. In a few broken words I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgivee. Then I prayed earnestly for the boy. He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed. When I arose from my knees, he was gone from this world. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior, used me to lead him to trust Christ’s precious blood and find pardon. I hope to meet him in heaven.” A few years later Major Whittle committed to full time ministry. One of his songs titled, "I know whom I have believed." is a song of gratitude of receiving mercy.
I know not why God's wondrous grace, To me He hath made known;
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love, Redeemed me for His own.
But “I know Whom I have believed, And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed Unto Him against that day.
Easter is the beginning of a story and not the end. It is the very event in which death, the last enemy has been defeated. You may be a doubting Thomas who missed the first Easter, or you could be angry Saul who was late for Easter, your invitation is open from Jesus. It doesn’t matter how late you have been, or how long you had been putting it off. Today is the Indeed, the "right time". Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)
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