Post Resurrection Options

John 11:25-26

Introduction: Now that Resurrection Sunday is behind us, what’s next?

Question: What happened with the people and the disciples after the ‘dust had settled?’

1. Some Demand Additional Proof! Doubting Thomas – John 20:

“Doubting Thomas” refers to Thomas the Apostle, one of Jesus’ disciples who famously doubted the resurrected Jesus’s presence. He initially refused to believe the other apostles’ claims of seeing Jesus resurrected until he could personally see and feel the wounds of Jesus’s crucifixion. This story is found in the Gospel of John.

• The Elaboration:

After Jesus’s resurrection, he appeared to ten of the disciples in a locked room, but Thomas was not present. The other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, but he refused to believe them without physical proof.

• The Demand for Proof:

Thomas stated that he would not believe unless he could see the nail marks in Jesus’s hands, touch them with his finger, and place his hand in Jesus’s side.

• Jesus’s Appearance to Thomas:
• A week later, Jesus reappeared to the disciples, now including Thomas. Jesus allowed Thomas to touch the wounds, and after doing so, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”.
• Incredulity: The term “doubting Thomas” is often used to describe someone who is skeptical, unbelieving, or requires physical proof before accepting something.

• Theological Significance: The story of Doubting Thomas highlights the importance of faith and the role of evidence in faith. While Thomas initially doubted, his faith was ultimately strengthened through the experience.

• Thomas’s Final Words: After touching Jesus’s wounds, Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God!” This confession of faith marked a significant moment in Thomas’s life and in the history of Christianity.

• Cultural / Spiritual Impact: The phrase “doubting Thomas” has become a common idiom to describe someone who is hesitant to accept something without concrete evidence, or who is skeptical or incredulous.

Application: This makes me think of people/individuals who unless God answers (gives proof) everytime, they just decline God’s invitation to live in/by faith.

Transition: Let’s look at a second option (that people may take after experiencing the Resurrection.

II. Some Return to ‘Old Ways’ Back to Fishing – John 21:3-19

John 21:3-19 – Peter told them, “I’m going fishing. …

• Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.” And they all replied, “We’ll go with you.” So, they went out and fished through the night but caught nothing.

Application: I do think it’s worth noting that Peter and the others who went back to fish had no success!                                                          

Application: Going back to our old way(s) is never a good choice!

Going Back to Egypt: the Israelites expressed a desire to return to Egypt, even after being freed from slavery.

• This desire arose from a combination of factors including hardship in the wilderness,
• lack of trust in God’s provision,
• and nostalgia for the familiar life they once knew in Egypt, despite the suffering.
• They yearned for the comforts of their former life, even though it was one of oppression and slavery.

• They expressed a desire to return to Egypt, saying “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!” and “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.

Transition: A third possibility is a New and Genuine Encounter with the Lord.

III. A New and Genuine Encounter with the Lord – Road to Emmaus – Luke 24:32 – The Curious / The effected

Some were still curious and wondering / contemplating.
‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us…”

[Did not our heart burn within us] His word was in our heart as a burning fire, Jer 20:9.-

• Our hearts waxed hot within us, and while we were musing the fire burned, Ps 39:3.
• In some such way as this the words of the disciples may be understood:

** but there is a very remarkable reading here in the Codex Bezae; instead of kaiomenee, burned, it has

kekalummenee, veiled;

** and one of the Itala has, fuit excaecatum, was blinded.

• Was not our heart veiled (blinded) when he conversed with us on the way, and while he unfolded the Scriptures to us, seeing we did not know him?