Letters from Paul: Believe and Share—Romans 10: 1-15; John 20: 19-31
This week we begin a new series through the Easter Season. We will be looking at the letters from Paul and what they are saying to the church today. Today we start in Paul’s strongest work on what it means to believe in Jesus. Let’s start with a story. A 7-year-old kid was at the fair with his parents back in October, and the whole family decided to get some ice cream…well really it was his dad who was a great lover of all things ice cream. Now his dad subscribed to the Nike brand theory of accomplishing things in life, so his favorite thing to say was, “Just do it!” He hands the kid his ice cream cone, and the kid just looks at it. He takes a couple of licks and looks at it again.
Somewhat annoyed that his kid won’t just dive into the ice cream like he did, the dad looks at him and says, “Just eat it. Just do it.” But the little boy’s teeth hurt like crazy every time the ice cream touches them. And the milk in it hurt his tummy, and he doesn’t know why or how to say this to his parents. So, in pain, and knowing a bathroom trip will soon be on the horizon, he starts eating the ice cream just like he was told.
For years, the church has proclaimed, “Just believe!” and has insisted that faith is so very simple because you simply believe in Jesus, and you’re done. In fact, Paul himself writes, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” And yet I think Paul appreciates the simplicity of SAYING “just believe” while still accounting for the complexity of actually DOING it. If belief were so very simple in life, Romans would start with, “Greetings, from Paul to the church at Rome. Chapter One: Just believe. Yours Truly, Paul.”
But instead, Chapter 10 is 21 verses and Romans contains 16 very long chapters devoted to an entire legal-theological dissertation on what, exactly, it means to just believe. These struggles, though, are not new to the modern era. People in Jesus’s days were just as skeptical as the Tesla driver of today. Doubting Thomas’s story is a clear example of that. We always go from the high point of Easter and immediately wrestle with Thomas and his doubts the very next week. Thomas is a story for the skeptic’s mind.
Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared and saw the other disciples. And because of his absence of body, Thomas had an absence of belief. We give Thomas a lot of grief. Thomas lacked faith, had no ability to believe, was a bad disciple, should have known better. In some instances, he’s bashed almost as low as Judas for betraying Jesus. His words are often portrayed as a second betrayal. But that’s not what he said or intended. He wanted to believe. He wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to experience the risen Christ, see the wounds, and have the same exact experience the other disciples already had. Maybe we should call him “Seeking Thomas” because he sought to see and experience Christ for himself.
How do we do the same today? What Paul writes over and over is this need to share the stories of faith and belief…to share stories of experiencing Christ. Evangelism is not a grand mystery. It’s simply telling a story of faith. John’s Gospel lays the groundwork: Blessed are those who believe without actually seeing Jesus like Thomas did. But John goes a step further when he addresses the disciples seeing Jesus do miraculous things. He adds, “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” For him, these stories are evidence of Jesus’s work.
Paul took that idea and ran with it to the ends of the earth. Paul calls it a message in verse 8 and adds, “And that message is the very message about faith that we preach.” Note that is a collective “we.” But then he adds this little step by step analysis: “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” I’m going to end this the way Paul wanted…Consider yourselves sent.
The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary says it thusly, “The resurrection story provides a fresh vantage point from which the church can preach and teach the story of its own beginning…to celebrate the resurrection…is also to celebrate the beginnings of the church’s mission in the world,” according to John’s Gospel.[1] That begs the question of us—who have you told? The way the world experiences Christ, understands how to believe, and finds the peace, hope, and love in a life devoted to following Christ is through our own stories of faith and hope. Whom have you told?
Do you tell the hurting friend that Christ loves them no matter what? Do you tell lonely that they’re never alone because you’ve felt God’s power and presence with you in life? Do you tell the broken and the outcast that when you felt left in the dark and cold, Jesus brought you into the light just like the Samaritans who were hated in olden times? Do you tell of when you were suffering how you sang an old hymn and the words, “Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, how great thou art!” reminded you that God can handle anything in life.
Whom have you told a story of your faith to? That’s how faith and belief were designed to grow. Every time folks found themselves a bit faithless, there was a narrative of “do you remember when God” and a reminder of what God had done for them. For those whose faith is struggling, those memories of God’s provision, guidance, and deliverance serve to shore up and strengthen our faith and reliance when times are hard. For those who are still seeking, our stories of faith can create the evidence for belief.
I believe at some point or another we all go through a time when we want to change the world, and we have these grandiose ideas that we will do just exactly this. Then by 35 you realize that getting up at 6 AM when the alarm goes off is hard enough, let alone changing the world. But we can actually make a difference just like Jesus did in the world in which he lived.
Stand up and tell your story of faith, hope, and love. Don’t be afraid to be present with someone who is hurting. Don’t be worried to challenge and encourage someone who feels lost. Don’t be too shy to confront someone filled with hatred to tell a story of love. Changing the world, or at least the world around us, begins with telling a story of how God can make all things new, then engaging in the work to make that story of faith a reality of God’s kingdom.
Sometimes faith and belief will be hard. It might hurt like when ice cream touches very sensitive teeth. It may be a slow process like when dairy hits the tummy. Or we may just have the ability to jump in and be filled with the Spirit of God at times. Just do it. But at the heart of faith and especially keeping the faith, and at the heart of belief for those who are seeking like Thomas is telling the story.
When we hear of the times that Christ was the solid rock in our lives, when we tell how we have also been at our wits end of trust and hope, but found a strong friend in Christ, we can stand firm. But we can inspire others to a faith which does change the world for love, for hope, and for the wide welcome found in Christ.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1336978186972120
[1] O’Day, Gail R., “The Gospel of John,” NIB 2015 rev.