Reflection 1st May 2011

Year A 2nd Sunday of Easter 1 May 2011
Acts 2: 14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1: 3-9 John 20: 19-31

What would you say is the goal of your faith? Do we pray to God so that we can have Him give us things here and now or is there another reason?
We do pray for things here and now, but ultimately there needs to be a greater reason for our faith. There are many Christians over the years who’ve lived lives of persecution and great suffering and if their faith was only for this temporal life then something went terribly wrong.

Many would look at these people’s lives and say that they were fools for trusting in God. I’m sure there were some who said the same of Jesus as he was suffering and dying on the cross. With the witness of the early apostles, and the gift of retrospect, we know that there was a greater plan being fulfilled in the agony of the cross, but we and others can fall into the same trap of thinking that we are fools for trusting in God when so many things in the here and now seem to be so very wrong.
King David wrote many Psalms when he was in anguish and often in times of distress. He writes, Psalm 16 “1 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.” It is a prayer for the here and now and yet the psalm goes on to express complete trust in God. In fact, it is this psalm that prophetically proclaims the resurrection of Jesus, Psalm 16:9-11 “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

The goal of our faith is not to simply satisfy our needs in the here and now. The here and now is only a fraction of the eternal life, but it is in this fraction that we make decisions which will affect eternity.

Here in this life we are introduced to the good news of eternal life and then we are freely left to make the decision as to whether or not we will respond.
Peter proclaims this good news in 1 Peter1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

We have been given a new birth and, as much as modern Bible translations try to tidy up the wording, this is the “born again” phrase which refers to our spiritual birth. In some passages it is said that we are adopted into God’s family, but even that falls short of the implications of the “New Birth”. In this birth we are “born of God” and in the same way that a person is undeniably born with a connection to biological parents, we are undeniably connected to God in this new birth. It is a bond that cannot be severed.

The result of this new birth is a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, and that hope is in the life of eternity. It is described as an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Although we feel that we “fall from grace”.... the feeling is not the reality. The word of God tells us that, through faith, we are shielded by the power of God and our inheritance remains secure and untarnished.

Many times we fail to fully believe all that God has given us. In many ways we are like Thomas who has been nicknamed over the years as “doubting Thomas”. We believe in Jesus, just as Thomas did, but just like Thomas there are things that we find hard to accept. I find it so reassuring that Jesus allowed Thomas to witness him first hand. Jesus didn’t dismiss Thomas because of his weakness, but instead Jesus finds a way to show Thomas the deeper truths.
John 20:24-31 “Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “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.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls. All that Jesus did, and all that is recorded by the apostles is so that we might believe and in that belief share eternal life in Jesus.
Many of us are failing to walk in the victory of eternal life because of our doubts... Jesus says to us... “Look at me” – look into his word, spend time in prayer - “stop doubting and believe”.