Thomas Doubts -- A Message for April 12, 2026

  This morning, our scriptural focus will be on events that happened on the first Easter day and the week that followed Jesus’ resurrection.  

Jesus’ first resurrection appearance was to Mary Magadalene. After she spoke with the resurrected Jesus, she rushed to tell the other disciples that Jesus was alive – he wasn’t in his tomb because he was alive again. That evening, Jesus made his second resurrection appearance. 

Listen to how the story unfolds as we turn to John, chapter 20, verses nineteen through thirty-one:

Scripture John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 

After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 

If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as 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.”

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 performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

Message Thomas Doubts

I feel sorry for Thomas. He was the only Disciple brave enough to leave the hiding place the Disciples were holed up in after Jesus’ death.  Perhaps he bravely left to get necessary provisions for the group–bread or water or wine or whatever. And, then when he returned to the hiding place, the other Disciples told him they had seen the risen Christ. It was like going to an action movie and missing the climax of the film  because you went to the concession stand at the wrong time. Thomas was probably very disappointed….but he also struggled to believe what they told him…how could Jesus be alive?

Throughout the New Testament, Thomas was described as a concrete thinker. When Jesus wanted to return to Bethany after Lazarus died, despite being warned the Temple leaders were plotting to kill him, Thomas said they should all go and die along-side Jesus.  He was ready and willing to support Jesus….to support Jesus until the end. But, he was a concrete thinker: he processed information literally, and he depended on tangible, observable facts and immediate experience, not abstract concepts. If Jesus was resurrected, Thomas wanted to see him himself – he wanted to see and touch his wounds to know the truth of the resurrection, not just hear about it.

After Jesus died, all of the disciples were freaked out. They had dedicated their lives to serving Jesus, and he died. He died a horrible and gruesome and sad death. This was shocking for his friends. This was terrifying for his friends. They had given their lives to serving Jesus, and now he was dead.

On the first Easter, Mary found the tomb empty. After she went for help, Simon Peter and the beloved disciple came with her to the cemetery and saw the empty tomb for herself. The men eventually returned home, but Mary stayed in the cemetery. And, then Jesus made an appearance – he revealed himself to Mary and said he was resurrected. After she talked to Jesus, Mary rushed back to tell the other disciples. Despite this good news, they kept the doors locked to the room they were hiding in. They had heard about the resurrection, but they were still afraid.

Then Jesus appeared to the 10 disciples who were locked in the room – Thomas wasn’t there and Judas was dead. So, the disciples in the room had an encounter with the risen Jesus. They saw him with their own eyes. They saw and believed.

A week later, Jesus reappeared and Thomas was there to see him too. Over the 40 days that followed Easter, they had many opportunities to see the resurrected Jesus. Jesus gave them further instructions. And, Jesus told them the Holy Spirit was coming to earth to guide them in his place after he ascended to Heaven. So, even after Jesus wasn’t with them, he made sure they had the support of the Holy Spirit. 

Thomas is criticized for doubting. But, to doubt is to be human. We all have doubts – we question things we see on tv; we question things we learned in school; we question things we read on the internet. It is important that we don’t blindly believe everything people say or we read or we hear. And, it is natural and normal to have doubts about our faith. As members of the United Church of Christ, we value asking questions about our faith…we emphasize that faith is formed over time in community, through asking questions, dialogue and shared experience.

Our church doesn’t expect our members’ understanding of their faith to stay static – as we age and mature, we expect our faith to develop and mature. Sometimes, we have doubts – and those doubts compel us to learn more about a theological concept or a Biblical story or the history of how Christianity developed certain ideas. 

Thomas doubted, and that’s ok. It is normal and natural and expected that we would have a doubt or two. But, when we find ourselves struggling with doubts, it is our opportunity to do more research – to ask questions, to talk to one of our trusted brothers or sisters in Christ, to read our Bibles, to turn to the works of trusted theologians, to pray and ask God to guide us, to invite the Holy Spirit to help us understand.

Thomas had the opportunity to see Jesus and believe – we are the blessed ones who have not seen Jesus and still believe. Let us work together as a congregation to wrestle with our doubts, ask important questions, and encourage each other in our journeys of faith.

May it be so today and all days. Amen 

Life Changing Resurrection -- An Easter Message for 2026

     This morning, we turn to the story of the Resurrection as it is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 20. Although we have heard this story before, try to listen with fresh ears. In the first century, none of Jesus’ friends expected the resurrection. They were amazed and surprised on the first Easter day.

Listen now to the word of God as it is found in John chapter 20:

Our Scripture Reading John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 

Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 

Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 

as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 

Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 

and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Amen. 

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

The Message Life Changing Resurrection

I love big family dinners….creating the menu, spending days preparing the food, rearranging the dining room so you can put leaves in the table, setting the tables, folding the napkins, filling the glasses with water….the smell of the cooking food filling the house…the energy that comes with children and parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins crowding into the house.

Perhaps you will be attending a meal like this in a couple of hours…a big Easter meal.

But, the aftermath is often tricky…..a wrecked kitchen….loads of dishes to wash….napkins and table cloths to clear and launder….transferring the leftovers into smaller bowls so that you can cram them into the refrigerator. I have been to a few dinners when it seems like all of the adults suddenly disappear at clean-up time, abandoning the kids to play with their cousins and the hosts left to wash dishes and babysit. The aftermath is tricky….the party is over and there is unpleasant work to do. 

I suspect on the first Easter Sunday, when the Disciples and Jesus’ friends woke up that morning, they were feeling pretty bad. They believed Jesus was dead. For the previous two or three years of their life, they had purpose…they had work…they travelled around Israel with Jesus and were his friends and servants and worker-bees…but now, the party was over and there was a big mess to clean up. What were they supposed to do now, just go back home and start fishing or collecting taxes? They woke up that morning and felt terrible….the aftermath was tricky.

Mary Magdalene woke up that Sunday morning and she felt compelled to go to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She loved Jesus so much that she needed to go and sit by his tomb…to cry…to grieve…to be near his body. She was in mourning, and she went to the cemetery. She believed Jesus was dead, but she wanted to be near his lifeless body. We all handle our grief differently, but some of us are like Mary…we want to sit by the graves of our loved ones and weep. 

When Mary arrived at the cemetery, she saw that something had changed. The tomb was standing open. She was afraid Jesus’ body had been stolen and further desecrated. She thought that the people who killed Jesus were so full of hate that they wouldn’t even allow him to rest in peace.

So, she went to get help. Simon Peter and the unnamed “beloved disciple” rushed to the tomb. They went into the tomb and saw the grave clothes were neatly folded up. It didn’t look like a desecration…. what kind of grave robber would neatly fold up the burial cloths? But, they still didn’t realize Jesus had been resurrected.

Mary still stood outside the grave. Even after the men left to go home, she stayed and cried. She couldn’t imagine how she was going to retrieve Jesus’ body. She wanted to make sure he was buried the right way, and she didn’t know how she was going to make that happen.

A man approached her. She didn’t really look at him…she assumed he was a gardener. She asked him if he knew where the body was. And, then he said her name. 

Lightbulb moment! Jesus was there…right there…alive and standing with her. Resurrected!

And, everything was different. Mary’s life changed when she met the resurrected Jesus. The lives of the disciples changed when they met the resurrected Jesus. And, our lives change when we meet the resurrected Jesus.

 When we turn our lives towards Jesus, and believe in him and God, we change….our values shift….our priorities shift. How we relate to other people and how we relate to the world changes. 

When we believe in Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God. We become God’s children. We become sisters or brothers with other Christians. Our identity shifts and we are welcomed into the community of Christ, into the family of God.

This frees us. We are new people. We are new creations. We are born again.

The world tells us that we are valued for how we “perform.”.... We are ranked in high school by our GPAs. We are encouraged to strive to earn promotions and more money in our jobs. We are valued for how successful we are, or how good we look, or how much we do for others. We are proud when we succeed, but feel guilty when we fail. 

When we believe in Jesus, and become a child of God, we are no longer valued by what we achieve. Instead, our standing with God is acquired by God’s grace. We are loved. We are forgiven of our wrongdoings. We receive love from God that we don’t have to earn. We are accepted. 

Christianity is unique because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s active, personal presence that dwells in the world and dwells in us, believers. The Holy Spirit is our helper. The Holy Spirit works with us to nurture “Fruit” in our lives that we can’t grow on our own. The Holy Spirit helps us to grow love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  Faith in Christianity isn’t about following a list of rules, or praying a specific way, or eating a certain diet – it is about working to become more loving and compassionate and kind.

When we believe in Jesus, our priorities change. We stop-being so “me” focused, and start being “kingdom” focused. We commit to sharing our time, our talents, and our treasures to further God’s kingdom on earth. We are called to serve others as we live out our faith. And, we are particularly called to care for people Jesus called “the least of these”: people who are hungry and thirsty and lack the necessities for survival; people who are strangers–immigrants, refugees, and outsiders; people who are naked and lack adequate clothing and dignity; people who are sick and are suffering from physical and mental ailments; and people who are imprisoned and are cut off from society. Our faith compels us to love God and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

This morning we gather to remember the greatest moment in the history of humanity. Jesus died to take on the sins of the world. And, then Jesus resurrected to teach us that nothing people can do is more powerful than God’s will for us. When we believe in the resurrected Jesus, everything changes in our lives. We are a new creation. 

Let us share this Good News with others. 

Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Recognizing the Gardener -- An Easter Sunrise Message for 2026

 

Our Scripture Reading

John 20:1-18 (The Message)

 1-2 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, gasping for breath. “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”

3-10 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.

11-13 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”

13-14 “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.

15 Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”

She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”

16 Jesus said, “Mary.”

Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”

17 Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen

Let us pray….

The Message Recognizing the Gardener

On the first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene went to the cemetery. Imagine joining her there….it is cold….it is cloudy….it is wet…it is dreary…it is uncomfortable. 

She went there to sit by the grave of Jesus and mourn…to weep…to pray….to be near the body of the person she loved.

But, when she arrived in the cemetery, in the garden, something was wrong. The grave stood open. Imagine if we had just buried a loved one and two days later we found the grave uncovered…. it would be horrible…. it would be shocking… it would be terrifying.

We would assume that someone had broken into the grave… Mary Magdalene assumed someone had broken into the grave….and stolen Jesus’ body.

So, she rushed to tell her friends…to get help. 

Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple came back to the cemetery to help Mary…or to at least see for themselves that the body was missing…to witness what Mary saw.

And, they climbed into the tomb. They saw that the  body was not there. They witnessed. They saw the folded up grave clothes. 

And, then the men went back home. 

Mary was not consoled.

Mary stayed in the garden. She weeped. She worried about retrieving the body. She didn’t understand where it was.

And, a man came and stood next to her. She didn’t look at him…not closely…she was so upset.

And, he said her name. 

Mary recognized Jesus’ voice. She recognized him. She saw him. 

And, she knew it was our Lord. He was resurrected.

We love it when people know our names. We want to be seen. We want to be recognized. We want to know that we matter.

There is a reason why car salesmen frequently say our names when we look at new vehicles. And, so do real estate agents when we look at houses. They know we crave recognition….they know we are more likely to buy something when we feel like we are friends with the person selling it. They know we love to be seen.

But, there is nothing more powerful than hearing our name said by someone who truly knows us. Jesus truly knew Mary. And, Jesus truly knows us, as individuals. Jesus knows our names.

In the Tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus’ teaching about the Good Shepherd and his sheep. Both the New and the Old Testaments are full of illustrations about God being like a caring, loving shepherd to us, God’s sheep. The Ancient Near Eastern culture was dependent on sheep for food, milk and clothing, so people knew about sheep and shepherding. 

In John Chapter 10, Jesus said that the sheep respond to the voice of their shepherds…and they run away from people whose voices they don’t recognize. Jesus tells us: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus knows us. Jesus knows our names. Jesus knows our stories. Jesus knows everything about us. And, Jesus knows what is in our hearts. 

This is important – no matter what we are going through in our lives…if we are surrounded by people or all alone….if we are having things go well or if we are struggling…if we are healthy and happy or sad and full of health struggles – Jesus is with us. Jesus sees us. Jesus supports us. Jesus loves us.

So, on this Easter morning, as we prepare for the busy day ahead, as we prepare for our busy lives, remember – Jesus knows our names. Jesus knows our struggles. Jesus knows us. And, Jesus loves us. 

Let us respond to that love by generously serving Jesus and by doing all we can to share God’s love with the world.

Amen. 

Jesus Condemned -- A Message for March 22, 2026

 

Friends, over the past few Sundays, we have focused on the events of Jesus' last few days and hours on earth before his crucifixion. After the Last Supper, Jesus was arrested while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Roman soldiers arrested him – they took him to be questioned by the former high priest and the man then serving as high priest. The religious authorities did not have the power to execute Jesus, so they took Jesus to Pontious Pilate, the Roman official appointed by Emperor Tiberius to rule on his behalf in Judah.

Last Sunday, our scriptural focus was on the first part of Jesus' questioning by Pilate. Pilate had to determine why Jesus was under arrest and why the religious authorities wanted him to be executed. But, Pilate seemed confused by what Jesus told him, and by what the religious authorities told him. The authorities couldn’t enter Pilate’s house before a high holy day, so Pilate went outside to talk to them and then back inside to question Jesus. Typically, people who are under trial and facing execution plead their case, but Jesus was surprisingly quiet. 

 It was traditional for Pilate to release a prisoner before the Passover festival – he offered to release Jesus. Instead, the gathered crowd asked him to release Barabbas, a Jewish murderer and insurrectionist. Pilate reluctantly agreed to release Barabbas and then continued questioning Jesus. We pick up the story in the Gospel of John, chapter 19.

Listen now to the word of God….

Our Scripture Reading John 19:1-16a

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 

and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jew(ish leaders) gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 

When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 

and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 

“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jew(ish leaders).

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

The Message Jesus Condemned

From 26 AD to 36 AD, Pontius Pilate was the most powerful man in all of Judaea. He was the governor appointed by Roman Emperor TIberius to rule on behalf of Rome over the land and its people. He commanded troops who acted as the police force throughout the land. He was head of the judicial system. He had the power to sentence people to death through the Roman capital punishment system. He was responsible for the collection of tributes and taxes and for the distribution of government funds, including the minting of coins. His commands were followed by everyone in the land, yet he couldn’t resist the peer pressure of the crowd who demanded Jesus’ execution.

In the first century, when the people of Jerusalem and Judaea were living under Roman occupation, everything was very tense. No country likes being taken over and ruled by another. The Romans had to squash descent and rebellion in little villages and big cities. There were organized plots against them and spontaneous rebellions. For the Romans, the time of greatest concern was the high Holy Days – pilgrims poured into Jerusalem from across the land and the city was bursting at its seams with people. Those people were particularly nationalistic and devout when they came together to worship and celebrate the holidays. The Roman soldiers and police force had to be prepared for anything that would trigger the people.

When the Jewish Religious Officials brought Jesus to Pilate, the Romans were worried. And, Pontius Pilate, despite being the most powerful man in the land, was worried. He wanted to defuse the situation.

Repeatedly, Pilate told the Jewish Religious officials that he could not find any good reason to execute Jesus. Finally, the officials pulled out their “trump card” … they said Jesus claimed to be king, and since they were ruled by the Roman Emperor, Jesus was seditious – they claimed he was inciting people to rebel against the Roman King and proclaim Jesus king instead. 

After they accused Jesus of sedition, Pilate succumbed to the pressure of the crowd. He didn’t want a rebellion. He seemed to have doubts ... but the Jesus situation was not worth causing an uproar.

So, Pilate condemned Jesus to death.

We all have moments like this in our lives, although I hope none of us will be put in a position to determine whether someone lives or dies…. but we have all had moments when we give into pressure even though we have doubts.

I can think of a few examples of Pilate-moments – Perhaps we will called up for jury duty, and we become the sole member of the jury who thinks the “defendant” is innocent….or perhaps we will be in a position where we have to enforce a workplace policy we disagree with…or perhaps we will need to punish a child to enforce a rule our spouse put in place but we think is too harsh. I am sure we can all recall times in our lives when we have had these Pilate-moments of our own.

This is where our faith comes into play. Despite it being easier to avoid conflict and go along with peer pressure, it is not worth it if we violate our conscience. When Jesus came to earth, he demonstrated God’s love in his words and actions. We must center our faith when we determine our words and actions. Sometimes, that means we may risk our own necks in the process. But, the short-term upset is better than the long-term guilt we feel when we don’t stick up for what is right.

Pilate had all the power in the world, yet he didn’t want to deal with the hassle of upsetting the crowd.

We are also people with power…compared to many people who live in the world, we have access to resources and community. We have the power to say something on social media and start a fire storm. We have the power to act with kindness and make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people. We have the power to work to improve the lives of our neighbors by supporting the Daily Bread Food Pantry and Every Good Gift’s outreach to young mothers. We have the power and resources to support the offerings of our church that contribute to disaster relief and refugee programs and aid to orphans. We have more power than we often think we have.. 

So, let us use our power and resources for good. Let us not succumb to placating the crowd. And, let us work on behalf of vulnerable people in our community and in our world. 

Amen.