Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries Radio and Podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cud. Thank you for tuning in.
So today we're going to continue our look at some of the appearances of Jesus after the crucifixion, but before the day of Pentecost and Him ascending into heaven.
So last week we talked about some of the evidences of the resurrection, leaving the world to answer one question: Where's the body of Jesus? Where is it? We looked at Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene while she was mourning. We looked at Jesus appearing to the two followers on the road, and we looked at Jesus appearing to the eleven when they were locked in a room. Building on that, we're going to be looking at a couple more.
The main takeaway today, if you get anything from this sermon, is this. Jesus draws near to those who doubt, those who have fallen short, those who backslide, not to condemn, but to call to commission.
So today we're going to look at three texts. We're going to look at three appearances of Jesus, not to a crowd, but to individuals, to those who are crushed. We're going to be looking at doubting Thomas, as we call him. We're going to be looking at his appearance to the disciples as they're fishing, and to Peter, the one who denied Jesus. And you'll see in a moment, Jesus doesn't just reappear; he restores and he calls them.
So, with our first text here, turn with me in your Bibles to John. Chapter 20, verses 24 through 29. John chapter 20, verses 24 through 29. We're going to be looking at Jesus's appearance to Thomas. We all there?
Every single person.
Okay, good, good. All right. Chapter 24.
Now Thomas. Also known as Didymus, one of the twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus had came. We looked at where he came previously. Thomas was not there. Verse twenty five.
So the other disciples told him, "We've seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hand and put my finger where the nails were, put my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later. His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Through though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." And then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it to my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God." Then Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and have yet believed." All right, we're going to stop there.
So when I was but a young lad, my parents were very intentional with teaching me how to swim. It was scary at first, and you know I had my hesitations. But eventually, I grew to love swimming. I joined the swim team. I like going scuba diving when we get the chance.
I really like swimming now. The first time I remember standing on the diving board, and let me just say I was scared. I had my doubts. But my dad got down in the pool. And patiently invited me, encouraged me to jump.
Come on, you can do it. I'm right here. It's going to be all right. And my dad didn't pick me up and throw me off the diving board into the pool. At least not then.
That came later. My dad didn't throw me into the pool. He invited me to jump. It had to be my decision. Jesus is doing the same thing with Thomas here, patiently inviting him to believe.
Come and see.
Now, doubt. Doubt is an interesting thing, and I don't think that doubt, in and of itself. Is sinful or bad or anything like that. Frankly, we want people, especially judges, to look at evidence with a skeptical eye. Yet we want them to be fair.
Honestly, I think the only way that we could never doubt is if we knew everything. If I knew everything, I would have nothing to doubt. But since we don't know everything, there's a risk. With believing something, and it turning out to be untrue, Matthew ten sixteen, Jesus tells us the disciples, "Be as shrewd as a snake, yet as innocent as a dove." That's to be good, to be different, to be holy, to be set apart. But don't be gullible, don't be deceived, or have the wool pulled over your eyes.
The first part of that verse, he says, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves." He's sending the disciples out two by two. You are going where there is snakes. Don't be a snake yourself. But if you were to ever hope to deal with a snake, you have to know how does a snake move? How could it strike?
Where do snakes hide? It's the same thing with people. We're called to be set apart, as innocent as a dove, but we need to know how to handle wickedness, what it looks like. Otherwise, wicked people will go to depths of evil you didn't see coming and outmaneuver, be as shrewd as a serpent, yet innocent as a dove. I don't know how we can do that without a healthy level of skepticism.
If we never doubt anything, if we're never skeptical of anything, we will believe everything, right?
Okay, so we look at this passage, doubting Thomas.
Well, how are we supposed to understand this final verse here, verse twenty-nine? Then Jesus told them, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed." Well, I mean, that sounds like. Maybe it would have been better for Thomas not to have doubted. It sounds like his doubt was not good.
Rather, Jesus is just graciously tolerating it. But I'm not sure if that's the case. Verse 25, Thomas tells the disciples, "Unless I see the nail marks, put my fingers where he was wounded in his side, I will not believe." But verse 26, Jesus comes. And immediately, without prompting, says to Thomas, "Put your finger here. See my hands.
See my side. Stop doubting and believe." Jesus wastes no time in meeting Thomas right where he's at. Jesus wasn't in the room when Thomas expressed his doubt. He just knew his heart already. And so, what we don't see is this moment of Jesus appearing and giving Thomas a second to reconsider his doubt.
We don't see that Jesus immediately provides what he needs.
So, how do we understand verse twenty-nine? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
Well, the physical evidence of the nails and the pierced side—you and I don't have that. We don't have the luxury of getting to physically see or meet Jesus on this side of heaven. What Jesus is doing is pronouncing a special blessing on all of us who don't have the privilege that Thomas did. Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. He's talking about us because the next two verses, verse thirty and verse thirty-one, Jesus.
It says Jesus performed other signs not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah. It's a continuation of thought. We have to look at this in context. Jesus is talking about us. I've heard it preached that Thomas's doubt was a sinful failure.
I'm not sure if it's that simple, though. See the two disciples on the road that we talked about last week. They meet Jesus. They do not recognize him until the end, where their eyes are opened. But they were told by the two women at the tomb, angels pronounced Jesus was alive, and then Jesus explained how all of this was a fulfillment of Scripture.
It was only when Jesus broke bread, their eyes were opened. They recognized him, and they believed. They too still needed, and we're looking for physical proof and confirmation. How is that different than Thomas? I think it's I think it's kind of sad that we remember Thomas as doubting Thomas because before this we see with the event of Lazarus, John eleven, that Jesus wanted to return to Judea to heal him, but the other disciples were scared.
Jesus, the Jews just tried to stone you.
Now you want to go back, and Thomas said. Let us also go, that we may die with him. When Thomas is certain, he might be the bravest of them all.
Now, what Thomas's doubt? Does show us is that the disciples had to be convinced of the resurrected Christ. This is an important part when we're talking about evidences for the resurrection. The disciples were not gullible. They were not going to have the wool pulled over their eyes and believe something just because it's comfortable or just because they wanted to.
And you and I shouldn't either.
Some of the running theories of those who deny the resurrection, trying to explain how all this came to be, might say the disciples hallucinated Jesus, or they just straight up made it up. They made it up, and it's a lie. But what we see here is, even with evidence, they are reluctant to believe. They weren't going to buy a lie, and mass hallucination—multiple people having the same hallucination—is an impossibility. Hallucinations are individual, so 500 people witnessing Jesus the same hallucination—that's literally impossible.
Now, I want to nuance this: doubt can be sinful. I don't know if Thomas is a good example of it. I think a better example would be Luke five seventeen, where four men lower their friend through the ceiling to Jesus. Jesus heals him and forgives him right in front of the Pharisees. They see with their own eyes this man stand up and walk, and they still refuse to believe.
Sinful doubt. Is a willful blindness to the evidence. It isn't just hesitation; it's hardness of heart. I don't think we see that with Thomas. What we do see with Thomas is the character of God put on display for us.
You don't need to have everything figured out. It's okay to still have questions. It's okay to have doubt and hesitation. Jesus meets us right where we are at. Jesus doesn't even give Thomas a chance to reconsider.
He immediately reaches Thomas right where he's at. He sits there patiently in the water, saying, "It's all right. You can jump. I'm right here." Something else interesting about Thomas: what he goes on to do. Give you guys a little history here.
Well, Paul he went west to Rome on his missionary journeys. Peter witnessed to the Jews; that was his mission. Thomas took his missionary journey east to India.
Now, most of the churches he planted in India weren't really affected by Catholicism, tradition, the development of the European church history and theology. They were kind of isolated from that. They developed their own tradition with their own culture, and it still exists today. It's called Syriac Christianity. And you know what's so interesting?
Isolated from the development of European church history, the culture and tradition is different, but is the exact same gospel. Jesus died, rose again three days later, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to us.
So, what does that mean? We can't say. Christianity developed over hundreds of years based on a myth. We can't say that some king in the past changed and edited the gospel. Why?
Because Syriac Christianity from Thomas in India was isolated from any chance of that happening. And what do we have? The exact same gospel. The only explanation is the gospel we have today. Is the same gospel Thomas took with him to India two thousand years ago?
How is that for preservation?
So Jesus appears to Thomas. He meets him right where he is at, and he whitewashes his doubt in truth. He does the same for us.
So the next passage we're going to look at. We're going to be looking at John chapter twenty one, John chapter twenty one, verses one through fourteen, and this is Jesus appearing to the disciples as they're out fishing. John twenty one, starting here at verse one. Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter.
Thomas, also known as Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and the two other disciples were together. I am going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." Sounds like a good idea to me.
So they went out. They got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" No, they answered. He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say this, it is the Lord. He wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and then he jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from the shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there, with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore.
It was full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them. But even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
All right, so some might read this and say the disciples without Jesus, they are just going back to what they know. They're fishermen. They're going back to what they know, fishing the same way. Maybe we could backslide, but Jesus has already appeared to them twice. They know what's up.
They've met Jesus. They've seen him in his resurrected state, and Jesus said to them, Matthew twenty-eight sixteen, "Go and meet me in Galilee." That's where they're at. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to. What a guy just can't fish for the fun of it.
Well, what we have here is a poetic parallel to the first time Jesus called Peter. We have a parallel. Luke five one through ten is where that happened. Luke five, Jesus has Peter cast the nets on the boat. They cast the net out.
They catch a large number of fish, and the nets begin to break, and the boat begins to sink. And then what it says: When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at his knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man." And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. For now you will fish for people." So here we are again, on a sea in a boat with a net and a miracle. Only this time something's different.
In the first one, the net begins to break; the boat begins to sink. In the second one here, verse thirteen, it says, "Even with so many fish, the net was not torn." Something's different. The first call, "Become fishers of men," this was too great of a call for the disciples alone. Their nets will break. With this next call, the Great Commission that's coming.
Now the disciples are working from the victory of the cross. The Holy Spirit will be with them. Jesus has completed the work on the cross. They will be fully equipped. Their nets will hold.
We also have echoes of the feeding of the five thousand here. With Jesus, not only is there provision, there is abundance. One hundred and fifty-three fish they catch. That's not just breakfast. That's their.
That's providing for their financial needs. They can sell them. One hundred and fifty-three fish. That's a pretty specific number. Like John didn't round up.
One hundred and fifty-three fish. It gives credibility to John. I think it was one hundred and fifty-three. I counted. But 153 has something else interesting to it.
This is going to blow your mind. Each letter in the Hebrew language is assigned a specific number value. Spelling words and counting in the Hebrew is the same. A hundred and fifty-three. It's the same number as the Hebrew phrase "Ani Elohim." Which means I am God.
It goes deep, y'all. John counts one hundred and fifty-three fish. The Hebrew phrase "I am God" is the number one hundred and fifty-three. You know what else? John didn't speak Hebrew; he spoke Aramaic.
Did he even know? God may use human writers. But God is the author of the Bible. Its beauty, its intricacy, surpasses anything a human could muster. Read the Bible, guys.
Treasure it. It's alive. It's living. God speaks through it. Because the Bible is the mind of God revealed, God speaks through it.
You can spend your whole life reading the Bible and never reach the bottom, because God is without end. Yet God comes down to us; He makes Himself knowable. Just like this passage, the eternal, mighty God of the universe says to the disciples, "Come, have breakfast with me." Our God is far beyond us, but He draws so near, and His love for you is near, but it stretches so far. And you gotta love Peter in this story. You gotta love him.
He's diving off the boat at just the chance that this person is Jesus. He's courageous. He's headlong, but he's still fresh off the heels of denying Jesus. Peter's gonna have to decide. He knows who Jesus is, but Peter has to decide: Who am I going to be in light of Jesus?
What kind of man will I be? Am I going to die for this? Because the commission is coming.
So let's continue here. We're going to be at the same place and just continue in John twenty-one, verse fifteen to nineteen. I don't want you guys to miss this here. Look out of here, John twenty one, starting here at verse fifteen. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Now the Greek for love that Jesus is using is a parsing of agape, and what is agape?
It is godly love, self-sacrificial love. Peter, do you agape love me? More than these, and what does Peter say? Yes, Lord, he said, "You know that I love you." But here in the Greek, Peter uses not agape, but a parsing of philo, which is not godly love; it's brotherly love. We read in English, "I love you.
I love you too." But Jesus is asking for unconditional, self-sacrificial love. All Peter can give is brotherly love, and Jesus is more than just Peter's bro. Peter is broken here, scared to promise what he cannot give.
So Jesus says, "Feed my lambs." Peter's unable to respond properly, but Jesus calls him anyways. Hey there! I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship. We have two locations in Virginia: Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox.
Come join us Sunday morning at 9:45, and we will help you get connected. As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cud. Thank you for tuning in.
