Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E108 | Everyday Eurasia | Michael Kane | Easter to Pentecost

Transcript

S1-E108 | Everyday Eurasia | Michael Kane | Easter to Pentecost · Eurasia Region Podcast

• 0:03
  This week we have a special edition of the Everyday Eurasia
• 0:06
  podcast. Voices from across the region
• 0:09
  take us on our journey from Easter to Pentecost.
• 0:12
  Today we join Michael Caine, bestor at the Manchester,
• 0:16
  Brooklyn Church of the Nazarene. Have you ever missed a really
• 0:20
  important moment? You've been left disappointed by
• 0:25
  such an experience. About a year ago, the Northern
• 0:28
  Lights were visible here in Manchester.
• 0:31
  Now it's very rare for the Northern Lights to be visible
• 0:34
  this far South in the Northern hemisphere.
• 0:37
  And even when they are visible, there's often so much light
• 0:40
  pollution that you won't see anything.
• 0:43
  And so when there was a report that there was a possibility to
• 0:46
  see them one evening, I dismissed it.
• 0:49
  I went to my bed and when I woke up the next morning, I woke up
• 0:53
  to photos from a whole bunch of people on social media with the
• 0:57
  sky dancing with greens and yellows, with this tremendous
• 1:02
  cosmic display in the sky. I was so disappointed in your
• 1:09
  passage today. That's a little bit like where
• 1:11
  Thomas is. The passage starts by telling us
• 1:15
  that Thomas, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when
• 1:21
  Jesus came. The other disciples seen the
• 1:26
  risen Jesus they had had their faith renewed, and they've been
• 1:31
  encouraged as a result. But Thomas?
• 1:34
  He missed it. And when they tell him, he
• 1:38
  doesn't pretend, he says something that probably many of
• 1:44
  us often feel but we rarely admit to.
• 1:48
  I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes, until I see
• 1:54
  the nail marks in his hands. Unless I touch the winds, I
• 1:57
  won't believe. He's often called Doubting
• 2:02
  Thomas, but I think that Thomas is actually deeply relatable to
• 2:09
  us. He's not cynical, he's honest,
• 2:14
  he's hurting, and he wants to know that this hope that the
• 2:19
  other disciples are speaking about is real, not just wishful
• 2:23
  thinking, not just a nice idea, but real enough to touch.
• 2:30
  And So what does Jesus do? Jesus doesn't scold Thomas.
• 2:36
  He doesn't shame him. He comes to Thomas and he says,
• 2:40
  put your fingers here, see my hands for yourself.
• 2:45
  Stop doubting and believe. You see, Jesus meets Thomas and
• 2:53
  has doubt, not with arguments, but with true presence.
• 3:00
  Not with distance, but with very real and lasting scars.
• 3:07
  And that's the beauty of this story.
• 3:11
  The resurrection isn't some vague spiritual encouragement.
• 3:15
  It's flesh and blood. Jesus is risen and the wounds
• 3:21
  are still there. He's alive, bodily alive, but he
• 3:27
  hasn't erased the suffering. He's transformed it.
• 3:34
  And so Thomas, as a result, moves from doubt to declaration.
• 3:39
  My Lord and my God, he says, and that's an invitation for us to,
• 3:46
  to bring your questions irwins our fears and find that the
• 3:51
  risen Jesus is not only alive, but also gracious, also present
• 3:58
  and willing to be experienced by us.
• 4:02
  And so maybe you'll like Thomas today.
• 4:05
  Maybe you still carry the weight of disappointment from
• 4:08
  something. Maybe you're still waiting for
• 4:10
  your own encounter will be encouraged today.
• 4:15
  Jesus isn't afraid of your doubt.
• 4:18
  He meets us in a doubt. And the hope we proclaim isn't
• 4:23
  just a comforting idea, it's a living, risen savior with scars
• 4:29
  to prove that love has won. So don't be afraid to say I
• 4:35
  doubt sometimes or I need to see before I will believe, because
• 4:41
  even in that place Jesus is already on his way to meet you.
• 4:47
  Amen. Thank you for listening to the
• 4:56
  Everyday Eurasia Podcast. To find more of our Ether to
• 5:00
  Pentecost resources for individuals and small groups,
• 5:04
  please visit our website eurasiaregion.org.