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Transcript

Hope Returns ! · Exploring The Holy Scriptures with Rev Dr David Wright

0:40
SPEAKER_00: Welcome, sisters and brothers, and peace be with you.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: May the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: It was a quiet evening in a small apartment.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: A young woman sat alone, her phone lighting up her face in the dim room.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: She had lost her job.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Her savings were running low, and the messages that she scrolled through only seemed to deepen her anxiety.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: World news of conflict division bluster bullying uncertainty.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Earlier that day she had texted a friend.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to believe any more about the future about hope even about God.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Later that night there was a knock on her door.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: She hesitated.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: No one was expected.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Slowly she opened it, and standing there was her neighbour, someone she barely knew, holding a warm meal, and saying simply I thought you might need this.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Remember, you're not alone.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: That moment didn't solve everything.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: The young woman's problems, the world situation didn't disappear.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: However, something shifted.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of fear, doubt and uncertainty.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: A presence broke through.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Hope stood at the door.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: This is where we find the disciples in today's gospel John chapter twenty verses nineteen to thirty one.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: It is evening.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: The doors are locked.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Fear fills the room.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: These are not bold, confident followers of Christ, they are frightened people, hiding, unsure of what comes next.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: The one they trusted has been crucified.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: The future they imagined has collapsed.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: And into that locked, fearful space Jesus comes.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't wait for them to figure things out.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want to wait for their faith to be strong.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: He simply appears.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Peace be with you.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: This is the first gift to us from the risen Christ.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Peace in the midst of fear.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus does not say.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: He does not rebuke them for hiding.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: He does not say Why did you abandon me?
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he brings peace.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: A peace in a world ancient or modern that is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ Himself.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: How often do we live behind locked doors, those doors of anxiety, fear, disappointment, global uncertainty?
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Like those disciples, we try to protect ourselves.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: We can close off, we can withdraw, we can doubt.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: And yet the risen Jesus still comes, not because we are strong, but because he is faithful, reliable, and trustworthy.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus shows them his hands and his side.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: The wounds are still there.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice that?
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Resurrection has not erased the scars.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: And this is the second gift to us from the risen Christ, a hope that includes our wounds.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: We often think that faith means everything becomes perfect, but do you notice how the risen Christ bears scars?
6:21
SPEAKER_00: That means our pain, our struggles, even our failures.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: None of those are wasted.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, they are transformed.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Your wounds do not disqualify you from faith.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: They may, in fact, become the very place where you encounter God most deeply.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus breathes on them, and he says Receive the Holy Spirit.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: This echoes the very breath of God in creation.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: It is new life, new beginning.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: These fearful disciples are being remade.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: And then comes the mission.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: This is the third gift to us from the risen Christ.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: It is a purpose that goes beyond our worries and our fears.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Even in their uncertainty, even before they fully understood, they are sent.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not about having everything figured out.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: It is about being willing to step forward, trusting that Christ goes with us.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Aha and then we meet Thomas.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Thomas was not there that first evening.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: When the others tell him we have seen the Lord.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: He can't believe it.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: He says unless I see, unless I touch, I will not believe.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Thomas is honest.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: He voices what many feel but are afraid to say.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: And here is the good news.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Jesus meets Thomas in his doubt.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: A week later Jesus comes again.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: The doors are still closed, the disciples are still gathered, and this time Christ speaks directly to Thomas.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Put your finger here.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: See my hands.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not reject Thomas.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: He invites him.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Doubt is not the opposite of faith.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Doubt perhaps is the doorway to a deeper faith if we bring it honestly to Christ.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And Thomas responds with one of the most profound declarations in all of Scripture My Lord and my God.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: From doubt to faith, not because Thomas figured it all out on his own, but because Jesus met him where he was.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus speaks the words that reach to us across the centuries.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And yes, my sisters and brothers, that's us.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: We have not seen the risen Christ with our eyes, we have not touched his wounds, yet we are invited to believe, not blindly but trustingly.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: We see Christ in moments of unexpected kindness, like that neighbour at the door.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: We see Christ in the courage to keep going when life is hard.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: We see Christ in the quiet assurance that we are not alone.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: This gospel ends by saying these things are written so that you may come to believe, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Not just existence, not just survival life life a full, meaningful, hope filled life.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: So where does that leave us today?
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you feel like the disciples afraid, uncertain about the future, locked behind closed doors.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you feel like Thomas Questioning, needing proof, struggling to believe.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you are somewhere in between.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: Wherever you are, the message is the same.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of a troubled world, Christ comes to you.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: He speaks with peace and hope into your fear.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: He meets you with peace and hope in your doubt.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: He breathes new life, new peace, new hope into your spirit, and he sends you out filled with peace and hope and with purpose.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: The doors may still be locked.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: The questions may not all be answered, but Christ is present.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that presence looks like a simple knock on the door, a reminder that you are not alone.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Shalom shalom Asalama Laikum.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Peace be with you.