Skip to main content

My Lord and My God



          
Experiencing sound quality issues?  Please Click here My Lord and My God 

Taken from The Gospel according to John chapter 20 verses 19 through 28. The

 disciples who were gathered  together and they were afraid of their life because of the thrust that they had.  Because of the Disciples of being the Jesus.  So they were in a room with the doors locked and Jesus came and appeared to them after his resurrection. That's the first time that they see him.  And they were excited and Jesus gave him some comforting words. They were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  That's that we read that in John's gospel.

But we only see ten disciples there actually Judas was gone and Thomas was not there.  So it looks like Thomas was a little late in getting up on Easter morning. That's what I think. He probably slept a little late.  He woke up late, found hat he missed the whole party of resurrection. But when they told him later that they have seen the recent Christ, he didn't believe it. 

That's what happens when you wake up late not being in church on time.  He missed the church. He missed the group. I don't know where he was or what he was doing.  It doesn't say anywhere in the Bible. I don't want to speculate either because Jesus did not ask him where he was. But he was not with the crowd. He probably fell asleep. Like many people who  happenen to do that in the church and when they wake up find out that the church is over.

Someone shared a story with me that there used to be a guy who always come and sleep in the church and somewhere in the front and it didn't bother the preacher that much in the beginning.  But it started to become a problem for other people. So one day preacher decided to do something about this. He was telling a story about heaven and hell. So he wanted to play a trick on this guy and said, “whoever wants to go to hell, please stand up.” with loud voice and the guy who was sleeping only heard the last part “please stand up”. He stood up.  He stood up and looked around and everybody was sitting and he was the only one standing. Then he said, “Preacher I don't know why I'm standing but it appears that you and I are the only one standing. I think we are in the same boat.”

 It looks like something similar happened to Thomas. Thomas just woke up and found out that everybody had seen the Lord and he missed it. And then he said “well, I am not going to believe.”  He was a little too late for Easter experience, but it did not matter to Jesus. Jesus was not upset. He came and restored and comforted Thomas and strengthened him in his faith.  Jesus was not there when Thomas said he would not believe unless he touches him in his body and placed his hands in the wounds. But for some reason when Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him, “Thomas here I am.  And put your hands on my wound.”  But it doesn't say anywhere that he did put his hands on Jesus born or his body. When Jesus appeared to him and Thomas saw the risen  Christ he shouted out, “My Lord and my God.”

Even though Thomas was a little late to see the resurrected Christ, he was overwhelmed with the power of resurrection.  When would you say, “Oh my God”? Lately everybody says "oh my God" for everything, but it used to be like in something really surprising happens or something that unexpected happens. people used to say, “my God.” It is  like Eureka, you may recognize that word that probably many of you know that the great scientist  Archimedes who discovered the buoyancy. He was a Greek mathematician who lived in Italy in the third Century, BC. He found out the value of pi in mathematics. He is credited to have discovered how the water displacement makes things float. Why do things float in water? Because the displacement of water keeps the things floating. So that's how we have developed a lot of things in shipping and industry.

The King at that time wanted to make a crown of gold. So he gave a goldsmith some gold to make a crown. And while the crown was brought back the king had a suspicion that if the goldsmith had used all the gold that he gave him or added some copper or other metals.  So he wanted to find out. So he asked the mathematician of the time, Archimedes to find out how to determine pure gold in the crown. So he was thinking about how to evolve a theory behind it and how to prove that it was real gold.  One day while he was getting into the bath tub, he had a little more water in there and a lot of water just flowed out. He thought about it. A body totally or partially immersed in a fluid is subject to an upward force equal in magnitude to the weight of fluid it displaces. So pure gold, bieng higher in wiedht than other metals, will displace more water than an alloy. Archimedes, in a fit of jubilation, leapt straight out of the bath and ran naked down the streets shouting “Eureka!” – “I've found it!”. The goldsmith soon confessed and was dealt with by the King. Archimedes continued with this line of thought to arrive at the principle of buoyancy.

Thomas found out the resurrected Christ had shown him hint of wounds. He could relate what happened in the previous week because had seen the wounds.  So one thing that Jesus or this particular passage teaches is that we believe in the bodily resurrection. One day we will all rise from the dead. And we will have a body.  It will be a transformed body, but we will all have a body. Jesus Christ and shows Jesus had a body, a transformed body, but not a natural body like us. The wound in his hands and in his body were proofs that it is the same Jesus who was on the cross who actually died.  So he could relate all of these things and that's why he shouted out.  my Lord and my God, that was a Eureka moment for  

 Thomas gets usually a bad rap because a lot of times we think about Thomas being the doubting one.  Everybody thinks about that because we want to think of him as someone who would not take someone else's word or testimony to be truthful.  The other disciples or Jesus hands and feet it was when Jesus showed them to the disciples that they recognized him. So Thomas asked for nothing more than what the others had seen or give him.  Then he says that he wanted to test the wounds themselves, but the gospel doesn't say anywhere. This like is said.  So when he shouted out my Lord and my God, it declares the authority of Jesus lordship in his life.  Something that he did not accept until that moment.

 He now accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He now accepted the accepted Jesus Christ as the one who rose from the dead who have power over that even though he had seen Miracles that Jesus Christ rose raised many people from that, but now he becomes a personal experience for Thomas.  And to and other disciples that it is real that the power of resurrection and our bodily Resurrection is real.  So to demand to seek Jesus body had two purpose one is to to reaffirm him and all the other disciples that Jesus Christ is the same Christ who died on the cross and also it is Jesus Christ who has a resurrected body and if transformed body, so the gospel writer adds a summary or conclusion to the story. They saying that these are written that you might come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That's what right after this chapter John closest a closer to the gospel of Jonah the end. He says that these are writtne so that you might come to believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah.  So this is what happened to the to the whole group of disciples.

Because of Thomas they were reaffirmed in their faith that Christ is the Messiah that they were waiting for the savior of the world and that's our happened the whole revolution of gospel around the world the because of this affirmation that happened on that day. They went out they went out to preach the gospel to all the world risking their lives and you and I know that all the disciples actually were Martyrs for the gospel in one part or other part of the world.

Death and resurrection are mystery to many. But because Jesus went through death, and Jesus rose from the dead, we know that we all have a resurrection. So we don't have to be afraid of death any more.  The mystery about death or resurrection is over if we believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible says that , “Though I walk through the valley of shadow of death you are with me and your presence will comfort me.” We believe htat there is a resurrection of the body because Jesus had gone through it.

 Christ bore on his body the sign of his suffering. It was this wounds that brought the recognition in the disciples eyes. The Risen and glorified Christ carried him the full Humanity. Our human Frailty and uncertainity have fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We will be joining the resurrected Christ and his kingdom to be part of his kingdom. So when we come before the Lord’s table, we are reminded of the suffering of Christ as we partake in this Holy Communion in our partaking of the bread we partake of the broken body of Christ. That is what Jesus said. "This is my body broken for you take and eat and be part of it." And so as we share the cup it is the cup of suffering that Jesus suffered. He suffered the cup of suffering on the cross.

He suffered the cup of separation of from the father because of the sin that he bore for you and me He took it upon himself. May we reflect on our lives and surrender our lives in the hands of God. My sins were forgiven because of his suffering and death. Because of His resurrection, we have a life in eternity with God


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Puzzle pieces or work of art?

Is life a puzzle or work of art? Life can look like a puzzle. Some get the prizes they expected, and some get suprised at what they get. What is the most exciting time in the process of solving a puzzle? the beginning? or as we get each piece? or is it at the end when all pieces are complete? Regardless of what excites you, the potential beauty that it can become is rewarding. When we first open the box, the puzzle looks nothing like the picture on the outside; it is simply jumbled pieces in a bag. If life is compared to a puzzle, it may be a simple puzzle with a hundred different pieces, or it may be a more complicated thousand-piece puzzle with a picture that’s rather tricky to put together. There may be unpleasant and uncomfortable pieces in life that you feel like not fitting in well. You have been able to put together everything well for years, and all of a sudden find yourself confused as to how to fit in the next event. But whatever the size of the challenge, those events can
Post a Comment
Read more

In Defense of a Disreputable Woman

Buy my book   " Joy in the Journey " on Amazon now 20% goes to missions               Experiencing sound quality issues?  Please Click here   In Defense of a Disreputable Woman      A woman in the Bible who has no name but being portrayed as deplorable and has been a victim of bad reputation. She has seen her life collapse - she has lost ten children, seen the family fortune disappear, and her husband has a rather disgusting disease with bad smells and slimy sores all over his body. There are only three verses in the Book of Job in reference to Job's wife; they are Job 2:9 (curse God and die), Job 19:17 (My breath is offensive to my wife}  and Job 31:10 (may my wife grind another man's grain). She is not looked upon as a good person. I've heard many preachers and theologians who use Job's wife as an example of a lousy wife. She is the one who told Job to deny God and die. Many Bible commentators have demonized her. Augustine labeled her &q
Post a Comment
Read more

Fathers Day

A father was hiking a mountain with his 3 year old son on his shoulders. After some time the dad said he was tired and asked the son to get down, to which the boy replied, “You can’t be tired. You’re my daddy!” We all have stories to tell about our fathers, or about being fathers. Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years." Our famiies are facing a great crisis today. More and more fathers are disappearing from the scenes. It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them. Statistics show 1 in 4 children live without a father figure in the household in t
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ugly child Economics

The Bible is a book that is brutally honest and unsentimentally realistic. We can read about the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the characters. We read about Abraham's strong faith, but also his weakness when lies about Sarah being his sister. We read about David's successes, but we cannot ignore the sins he committed including murder. We read about Jacob who seemed to delight in trickery and deceit to achieve success until he meets Laban. The one who cheated his own father now gets cheated by his father-in-law; not once, not twice, but ten times!!! (Gen 31:7). Jacob and Laban are portrayed as two shrewd business men in the story. Jacob negotiated seven years for Rachel, but ended up working for Laban fourteen years and ended up with two wives which was nowhere in in his business plan. Laban used the 'ugly child hostage' economics here. He thought that chances of Leah getting married was slim, may due to her 'cross or weak' eyes. So he used the princ
Post a Comment
Read more

God of Jacob

Buy my book   " Joy in the Journey " on Amazon now 20% goes to missions  There are several Psalms in the Bible that are attributed to the 'Sons of Korah' as the author. We dont know the writer of specific chapters because there were more than one sons to Korah. The Korahites in the Bible were that portion of the Kohathites that descended from the Sons of Korah. They were an important branch of the singers of the Kohathite division (2 Chronicles 20:19). The Sons of Korah were the sons of Moses' cousin Korah. The story of Korah is found in Numbers 16. Korah led a revolt against Moses; he died, along with all his co-conspirators, when God caused "the earth to open her mouth and swallow him and all that appertained to them" (Numbers 16:31-33). However, "the children of Korah did not die" (Numbers 26:11). Several psalms are described in their opening verses as being by the Sons of Korah: numbers 42, 44–49, 84, 85, 87 and 88. It i
Post a Comment
Read more

Baptism

Mile markers are stones buried on the sides of highways that help us to determine direction and distance when we travel. In the USA, they generally increase from the South to the North,and from the West towards East. The exit numbers are generally lined up with mile markers so that you can calculate how long you have travelled and how much distance is left to the destination. Without them, we become lost and vulnerable. If you call for emergency help, they will ask your location about your mile marker or exit number to get to you quickly. These exit numbers give us a sense of comfort and peace in knowing where we are and what direction we are heading. The prophet Samuel set up a stone to commemorate the victory over the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:12). He called it Ebenezer which means 'thus far the Lord has helped us.' It is a mile marker in his life and the peoples' lives. We all have mile markers like birthday, firstday of school, sweet 16, graduation, marr
Post a Comment
Read more

Where is God when it hurts?

A man looked agitated during Sunday School. When he got out and and started pacing up and down the hallway, a friend asked him, “What’s the trouble?”. He replied, “The trouble is, I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t.” It is not uncommon to feel like God is taking a long time or not even paying attention. Silence of God can be scary and frustrating for a believer. David wrote a number of Psalms including Psalm 13 when 'God seemed to be distant in his life. We can see Asaph in Psalm 79 and Elihu in the book of Job asking similar questions. Most of us believe that where God is, there is no misery. We think that all is well when we have faith. But Jesus came to this world to turn that around when He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst and mourn". As believers in Christ, we can rest assured that ‘Where there is misery, there is God’. Jesus voluntarily embraced misery in order to share ours. A great author puts it like this, "Where misery is, there is the Messi
Post a Comment
Read more

Raging Waters

"Faith rests on a firmer basis, and is not to be moved by swelling seas" (Charles Spurgeon). In Psalm 124 David sings “if the Lord had not been on our side the flood would have engulfed us,the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.” A mother got paid to nurse and care for her own son. Jochebed, the mother of Moses was the lucky woman to make history (Exodus 2). Her story is a message of a heartbroken woman who turned over her dreams to God. You may have desired a happy marriage, a successful career, developing their talent, or some other worthwhile goal, yet circumstances prevented it. We can only get through that kind of disappointment by turning it over to God. Whenever I passed through raging waters my Redeemer had been with me, sheltering me against the rising tide (Isa. 43:2, Psal 124). When I came out on the other side, which I always did, I was able to say with joy and confidence, “He is a faithful God!” Are you in the middle
Post a Comment
Read more

A touch of faith

A man went to see a psychiatrist because he was extremely depressed. The psychiatrist just could not get him to snap out of it. So he said to the man, “Tonight I want you to go to the circus in town because they have a clown named the Great Rinaldi, he is the funniest clown I have ever seen. Whenever I go to see the Great Rinaldi it always lifts my spirits.” The man responded. “You don’t understand doctor, I am the Great Rinaldi.” Life is made of joys and sorrows. The saying is that misery loves company and, if that’s true, there’s plenty of company. But the Bible teaches that you don’t have to be a victim. God wants you to have victory over them. We read in all the synoptic gospels about Jesus healing a woman with the issue of bleeding (Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48). She had been in pain for a long 12 years, physially, emotionally and spiritually. She must have been under a lot of physical pain with the loss of blood feeling pale and tired. She definitely had a lo
Post a Comment
Read more

Song in the night

"It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by" Charles Spurgeon. We all go through difficulties and hardships: illness, broken relationships, loss of loved ones, conflicts, stress, and many other challenges. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed and discouraged. But as Christians, we can go through these dark times like the saints of old, who sang in the darkness of their lives. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can live with the assurance that the best is yet to come. We can look forward to an eternal life of joy and peace with our Lord and Savior. Asaph, the song writer sings in Psalm 77, "in the time of trouble, I remembered my song in the night".  To brood on sorrow is to be broken and disheartened. We can see the light of God's hope in the songs we sing in the dark. Full sermon: Mathew Philip Blessings Mathew Philip
Post a Comment
Read more