(Given in conjunction with a sermon on John 5:31-47, titled “Reasons to Believe”)

We humans can be a rather inconsistent lot. On the one hand we are prone to believe some pretty far-out conspiracy theories. On the other hand we refuse to accept things for which there are overwhelming evidence, if those things don’t happen to agree with our preconceived notions.

Let me give you an example. I have vivid memories of one evening when I was a teenager, living in Lahore, Pakistan. It was July 21st, 1969. My father and I were in a darkened room (as I recall the electricity was off). We were listening avidly to a short-wave broadcast of the Voice of America. I remember the thrill which passed through me when I heard Neil Armstrong say, as he set foot on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” My wife to be tells me that at the same time I was listening to those words, she was watching the event on live television, half a world away.

Many years later we were in a “life group” at church with a man who was a sailor on the aircraft carrier which recovered the space capsule. Some of the pictures he took of the recovery were published in the National Geographic.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence that the moon landing took place, there are still people today who refuse to believe that it ever happened. They think it was merely an elaborate hoax pulled off by the US government to boost its international prestige during the Cold War. However, when you start to analyze what happened, you soon discover that it would be far harder to fake the evidence than to actually land on the moon. To put it another way, it’s far more reasonable to believe that the moon landing happened than to maintain that it didn’t.

We shouldn’t be surprised at people’s skepticism. There really are some things which are hard to believe. They just don’t fit with our experience or our concept of what’s appropriate. On the Sunday morning after Jesus was crucified, something happened which was far outside the experience or expectations of the Apostles. However, as the evidence accumulated, they were forced to the conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead. They were still too stunned to process what Jesus’ resurrection meant, but after He appeared to Mary, Peter, the two men on the road to Emmaus and then to the whole group which was meeting behind locked doors, they pretty much had to accept as true that He had risen.

But not everyone was willing to accept the initial reports. Thomas just didn’t buy it. I can imagine him becoming upset with the others, “I don’t know what you guys are trying to pull, but knock it off! I watched Jesus die. I saw Him buried. There’s no way He can be alive now!” When the others persisted he said, “…Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:25 NIV)

It is to Thomas’ credit that when the risen Jesus confronted him a few days later, he accepted the evidence. His belief in the risen Lord was so strong that church history tells us he traveled as far as India preaching the Gospel. To this day there is a group of of Christians in South India who trace their heritage back to the Apostle Thomas.

Thomas believed because he saw. “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”” (John 20:29 NIV)

We’re gathered here today because we believe. Though we haven’t been privileged to see the risen Lord with our own eyes, our belief is not without evidence. No, we believe because of the testimony of people like Thomas who did see it for themselves. The Apostle John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3 NIV)

We believe because they saw and passed the evidence down to us. Each week we gather to eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of juice which reminds us of Jesus’ death and resurrection. When we eat and drink we are proclaiming that we believe. As incredible as the resurrection of Christ from the dead may seem, we accept the evidence. We believe.

The corollary to this is that if you do not believe, then the bread and the cup are not for you.

Let’s pray.