1 Thing Matters

The gospel is the most inclusive message in the world. The benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are meant for every man, woman, and child who ever lived. 

The gospel is also the most exclusive message in the world, for it maintains that salvation can only be found in one place—the person of Jesus Christ. 

Pay attention to how Jesus speaks: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus doesn’t say, “I will show you the true way to eternal life.” Others could say that, but Jesus says, “I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life you crave.” And, he is not just “a” way/truth/life, but “the” way/truth/life. There is no other way than through faith in the One who died and rose again.  

Offensive or not, that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, is the very truth of Scripture upon which Christ builds his Church. 

Thomas had been taught and trained by Christ himself. He heard Jesus predict his death and resurrection. Yet, even after hearing the eyewitness testimony of friends, who all saw the resurrected Jesus, Thomas had doubts: "Rising from the dead. That can’t be possible!"

Today is a day of great comfort for any follower of Jesus who wrestles with doubt concerning Christ’s promises or doubts about God’s Word. Jesus does not come to rebuke Thomas’ weak faith. Jesus comes to strengthen Thomas’ faith, giving him proof of the mind-bending reality of the resurrection—to let him feel it, touch it, explore it. Jesus didn’t reject Thomas. Jesus engaged Thomas and gave him peace.

Still today, Jesus comes to his disciples in Word and sacrament. He lets us partake of his true body and blood. The living Lord speaks to us through his living Word. Let us listen so that his peace can dispel our doubts.

Imagine someone you love is near death. Their only hope of survival is a risky brain surgery, one so complicated that only one surgeon in the state will attempt it. The surgery is scheduled. But as that doctor drives to the hospital, he is killed in a car accident. Any hope you had for your loved one’s salvation died along with that surgeon. 

That is how Jesus’ disciples felt after his death. “We hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel,” they said (Luke 24:19). Their hope for a better life died along with Jesus. They had let their personal wants and expectations cloud their view of Scripture which said that the Messiah’s death and resurrection were actually the source of all hope! So, the living Lord appeared to his disciples. He explained. He opened their minds to the truth of God’s Word. And in doing so, he restored their hope. 

There is little worse than a feeling of hopelessness. Christ’s disciples have victory over that feeling. He died, but he is dead no longer. The one who can heal us and give us life to the full lives! He lives to restore our hope.

Walk through a cemetery at dusk. What do you feel? Is it sadness as you think of loved ones now gone? Is it fear as you sense that it will not be long before you too are buried deep in the ground? Those are natural emotions. For in the normal realm of human existence, dead is dead. Someone dies, and all you have are pictures and memories. Every day that goes by only brings you one step closer to the end of your story. So, it is natural that mortals would walk through a cemetery with tears and fears. 

But Jesus lives. That changes things. Jesus is the resurrection first fruits for the harvest of humanity. Dead is not dead forever. Death is not final at all! The one brought low by his mortality will be raised immortal! So, your deceased Christian loved ones are not gone. You will see them again, hug them again. When you walk through the doorway of death, that is not the end. It is the beginning. When we face death knowing that Christ is risen, we experience a completely different set of emotions—for our Conquering King lives to dry tears and remove fears.

Pick any head of state: the president, a prime minister, a king. Hopefully, they care about the people over whom they have authority. But even if they care, they live and operate above the people. The British royals live in a palace, not a three-bedroom ranch. The President does not fly coach. He sits in a recliner on Air Force One. There’s nothing wrong with this. Those offices are worthy of high respect. The point is these rulers live and operate above us. If a thief is breaking into your home, call 911 and see if your governor shows up. Your governor doesn’t even know your name! But, cut him some slack. He is only human.

Jesus is not. Jesus is the King of kings, God and man in one person. He knows you intimately. More! He is willing to do absolutely anything necessary to serve and protect you. We see that this Holy Week. It begins with Jesus riding a donkey colt into Jerusalem—as the prophet foretold. As this week nears its end, Jesus is given a crown of thorns. He carries a cross out of Jerusalem and is nailed to it. Placed on his cross was this sign: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The sign was partially right. Jesus is a king, just not of the Jews. He’s our King, infinitely mightier than any ruler in history, while also being infinitely humbler. King Jesus has come to save us. Those other heads of state can serve as blessings. But this is the greater type of king that we need most.

The author and poet George Eliot once wrote, “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” The Roman philosopher Cicero said much the same. He wrote, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” 

What second-rate comfort! 

But that is the best the unbelieving world can offer—the sappy sentiment that our dead loved ones somehow “live on” in our memories. It is a sad way to attempt to cope as you walk through the cemetery.

Jesus provides a better solution to death: He promises life. One day Jesus will give your faithful dead back to you—to love and to laugh and to hug and to dance. Body and soul, living and walking in the new heaven and the new earth. How do we know Jesus can and will keep that promise? Because the Son of God descended into the darkness of death himself and emerged on Easter Sunday as the first fruit of the resurrection of all God’s people. In the creed we confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Yet again, Jesus satisfies our greatest needs.

The Old Testament said that restoration of sight to the blind was one of the works of the Messiah. In his ministry, Jesus healed those who were physically blind. But even if our eyes work just fine, we still need Jesus to give us spiritual vision. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Christ comes to shine his light into our darkened eyes that we might see him and live. Jesus meets our greatest needs. He provides sight for the spiritually blind.

What is our greatest need in the face of suffering? Our initial response might be, “relief.” After all, when dealing with suffering in some capacity, what do our initial prayers for others or for ourselves tend to focus on? We want the Lord to diminish or take away any suffering. 

But what if God is actually accomplishing something better in us and for us through suffering that we wouldn’t otherwise experience if he simply took it away? Would we pray the same way? Perhaps not. Instead, we might begin to become aware of how God could use suffering to uniquely transform us for the better. Once we can perceive the good that God is able to bring about through suffering, we find great comfort in knowing that even when he doesn’t promise to remove suffering from us, what he does promise is to provide us with the hope necessary to endure it - a hope that clings to the good he will work through our suffering.

What do we need more than anything else? We need a pass. Permission. Access. We need a way to get in with God. Since God’s holiness keeps unholy sinners on the outside looking in, we don’t stand a chance of ever gaining access to his presence or residence in heaven on our own.

But God has not left us on our own. Instead, his love prompted him to leave his home to carry out everything necessary to give us access to him. Believe it. Only in that belief, that faith, lies the promise of entry for the excluded.

Our modern English word “champion” comes from an old English word that meant “warrior.” In ancient times, when two armies gathered to fight, sometimes as a prelude to the battle—and sometimes in place of the battle—each army would pick a mighty soldier, and these two men would fight each other. These elite warriors, these champions, would represent their people in battle. They would meet in the middle of the field. With everyone watching, they would fight to the death.

Today we are reminded of an ancient war that began in Eden. The perfect peace and prosperity of Paradise was lost when a fallen angel convinced mankind to follow the demons in rebelling against their Creator. When Adam fell, he condemned the world to darkness and death. The enemy of God claimed that the children of men now belonged to him. God was having none of it. He promised he would send forth his champion, his Son. And so, today we see a battle of champions. The demons send forth their strongest warrior—Satan. God sends forth the best of men, Jesus Christ. Jesus does what Adam and we could not. In crushing the devil, Jesus meets one of our greatest needs.