Easter 2026 | I Am More | Pastor Zach Weihrauch

John 20:24–29

John 20:24–29

Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with him when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told them, we have seen the Lord.

But he said to them, unless I see in his hands

the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails,

and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.

Although 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 and see my hands,

and put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Well, good

morning and welcome to Easter weekend here at Christ Community Chapel.

My name is Zach.

I'm one of the pastors here,

and we are so glad we get to be part of your family's weekend.

I hope it's

already been an incredible week and I hope today will also be incredible.

Thanks for making us part of it.

You know, we gather, of course, at Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

And that's because the resurrection of Jesus

is the center of the Christian faith.

In fact,

if you were to study the religions of the world, what you would

find is Christianity is the only one that has at its center

an event that happens in public in the middle, really, of human history,

at least at the time, happening in the Roman Empire.

If Jesus rose from the dead, then of course

it validates everything else he said about himself.

You know, when he told us that he was God, that he had come to live a sinless life

in our place, to take our sin to the cross and to come up under the anger

and judgment and wrath of God the Father as part of their plan

to rescue us, and that in his resurrection

we could find forgiveness and mercy and the hope of our own.

If he raises from the dead.

It affirms all of that.

Of course, the opposite is also true.

If he doesn't rise from the dead, then it means Christianity

at best is delusional and at worst is deceptive.

That's why the resurrection is so central to our faith.

And so we gather every Easter to lean into it, to talk more about it.

For some of us, that's celebratory and triumphant.

And it should be.

But for others, it's a reminder that at the center of the Christian faith

is maybe the center of our own doubt,

our own struggle to believe that Jesus Christ literally,

physically, historically lived and died and rose from the dead.

And if that's where you find yourself this Easter,

it is doubt that we're talking about this weekend.

So if you have a Bible and you want to follow

along in your Bible, you can turn to John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

Of course,

it'll be on the screen behind me, so no problem if that's your preference.

If you didn't bring a Bible

and you'd like to use one, there's one in the pew in front of you.

Same one I use.

So John 20 is on page 864.

But however you're going to get to the passage, let me hold out to you

an outline that I'm going to use to guide our time together.

Three points.

Very simple.

They go like this I want to talk about the reality of doubt,

the response to doubt, and the rebuttal to doubt.

Reality, response and rebuttal.

All right.

Let's start with the first one the reality of doubt.

See if this makes sense to you.

But the bigger the claim,

the more natural it is to doubt it.

The bigger the claim, the more natural it is to be cynical.

Let me give you an illustration.

My wife, Amy, and I have five children.

They'll be here, a little later at one of the services.

When they come, if I say to them, hey, it's been a long weekend for daddy.

We've done a lot of preaching.

I want to celebrate, after service.

Let's all get in the van and go get some ice cream.

They would be excited.

I hate to say it, excited, but not surprised because

I often suggest going to get, ice cream.

They would be.

They would be very excited and they wouldn't doubt me at all, because

getting ice cream is a pretty normal way for my family to celebrate something.

If I told them, hey, after the service,

go home and pack a bag, grab the bag, throw it in the van.

We're going to catch a flight tonight.

We're going to Disneyworld.

I don't even think they'd move.

Okay, I have three teenagers.

They would just roll their eyes and give me that teenage death stare.

Say something like, you're not funny, dad.

My my younger two would.

They would want to believe me, but they would do what they always do.

When they want the truth.

They would look to their mother.

Right now. I'll think about this.

It's the same guy making both those promises, right?

It's their dad.

It's me.

I mean, it's the same guy, but the difference is not the person

making the promise.

The difference is the size of the promise.

Ice cream makes sense to them. Disneyworld?

Not so much.

So the bigger the claim, the easier it is to doubt it.

The reason why I say that is because at the center of Christianity

is not an ice cream level promise, it's a Disneyworld one.

And what I mean by that is it's not just the idea that Jesus Christ

literally, physically, historically lived and died and rose from the dead,

that that would be hard enough in our experience, people, people die.

They don't get back up.

But but it's what that represents.

The idea that because of that, we can be forgiven,

that we can be made new, that we can have relationship with God, that

that relationship with God will extend not just through this life, but past death

into the next one, that we also will die and raised from the dead.

Which is why it's natural to doubt it.

It's so big.

I mean, I mean, think about this.

If Jesus Christ literally, physically, historically lived and died

and rose from the dead, it wouldn't just change the world.

It would change your world.

It would mean some

things that you thought were possible are now possible.

So of course it's natural to be cynical.

And if you if you don't think that's true, consider this.

This story is about Thomas, one of Jesus's handpicked 12 disciples.

Thomas is one of Jesus's closest friends, closest confidants, fiercest followers.

In fact, I feel sorry for Thomas because this story is what defines him.

He's been known for generations as Doubting Thomas, but people forget that

a few chapters ago Jesus says to his disciples, let's go to Jerusalem.

And somebody says, well, no, Jesus, we can't go to Jerusalem

because they're going to kill you.

And Thomas says, well, then we'll die with him.

Like Thomas is a real one.

He's serious about Jesus,

but he doubts.

Look with me at John chapter 20, verse 24.

John 20:24

Here's what it says.

Now Thomas, one of the 12 called

the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord.

But he said to them, unless I see in his hands

the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails,

and place my hand into his side,

I will never believe you see what Thomas is saying.

Dying for Jesus is ice cream.

He gets that.

He understands that sometimes in this world, if you take a stand

and if you chase hard enough after something, there are consequences.

He understands that resurrection.

Resurrection is Disneyworld.

He says it's too big.

It's two wonderful.

It's too amazing.

I have to see it.

I have to know for sure or I'll never believe you.

See what Thomas is showing us?

Is this that doubting the resurrection of Jesus, doubting the claims

that come with the resurrection of Jesus is not a sign you don't understand it.

It's a sign that you do.

It's a sign that your your head

and your heart are wrestling with the implications.

And the reason I say this is because I think for some people who doubt,

they think the world is divided into those who find faith easy and those who don't.

And and because they put themselves in the latter category,

they assume there must be something wrong with them.

Friends, what if your doubt is not evidence you're moving away from God?

What if doubt is the evidence that your heart and your head

want desperately to move towards God?

Thomas wants to be where God is moving.

Thomas is at the center of what God is doing, and he's still doubts

because the resurrection is a Disney World kind of promise.

It's a Disney World kind of claim.

So if you're doubting it, it's not because you're defective.

It's not because you're inferior, it's because you're taking it seriously.

But of course,

that begs the question if doubt is natural,

then how does God feel about doubters?

That's actually my second point.

Not just the reality of doubt, but the response to doubt.

You know, how might you imagine Jesus would respond to Thomas in the story?

I mean, Jesus is the Son of God, who over the course of his life and ministry

repeatedly said, I am going to die, and then I'm going to raise from the dead.

I am going to die.

And then three days later I'm going to get back up.

He said it over and over again.

Then he does it okay.

Appears to ten of his disciples.

They celebrate Thomas's, I don't know, in the bathroom or something.

He misses it.

He comes back and Thomas goes, I'll never believe.

I mean, if I were, Jesus doesn't make me mad.

And you can judge me if you want it.

Make you mad too.

And depending on how your anger manifests,

that's probably how you would imagine Jesus would respond.

Like, if your anger burns hot, you would imagine that Jesus

shows up in the room and everybody goes, oh Jesus, I can't believe you're alive.

It's so great to see you. And Jesus says, oh, it's great to see you.

And I have so much to tell you.

And I will tell you right after Thomas leaves.

Right, Thomas, get out of here.

Right. You're dead to me, Thomas.

That would make sense to me.

Or if Jesus were more like me and his anger burns

cold, then the passage would read Jesus shows up in the room

and makes eye contact with everyone but Thomas,

because he wants Thomas to know just how upset with him he is.

Right?

Okay, my point is this what we imagine Thomas will get from Jesus, listen.

Listen is what we imagine we will get from God when we go to him

with our doubt.

You see, for some people, doubt is intellectual.

And I'll say more about that in a minute.

But for other people it's emotional.

The idea is that if I doubt God could never love me, I'm

not one of those people who find it so easy to believe God would never want me.

He he wants the people who just believe he doesn't want the doubters.

And you know where that comes from.

It comes from relationships.

You have with religious people

who have responded to your doubt that way.

And if I could be so bold, maybe even the person who brought you this weekend.

It's natural to think that if they respond

to your doubt that way, then maybe God will too.

That's why I want you to see how Jesus actually responds to Thomas.

In a story you can find in beginning in verse 26.

Here's what it says.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,

peace be with you.

And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here

and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe there's so much wonderful here.

Let's just start with this Jesus shows up in the room, and the only person

he looks to make eye contact with is Thomas.

And it's not to yell at him, or to remove him, or to exclude him.

It's to say to him, Thomas, I know, I know, it's

so big, it's so spectacular, it's hard to believe. So.

Thomas here, I know what you said you need.

Here are my hands.

Here's my side. Come, Thomas.

I do not want the story of my resurrection

to go another inch before it includes you.

That's the heart of Jesus.

The doubters.

That's the heart of Jesus.

To doubters.

Jesus doesn't remove Thomas, exclude him,

single him out, yell at him, embarrass him.

Jesus doesn't see questions as the same thing as antagonism.

He says to Thomas, I totally get it.

I see you, I hear you, I want to include you.

Here.

I am.

And I want you to know he's not just saying that to Thomas.

He's saying it to you. Okay? Consider this.

There is no reason for this story to be in the Bible.

I mean, if all the Bible is doing is hyping the resurrection of Jesus,

you wouldn't do that by acknowledging that one of his closest followers doubted.

That does not add to the mythos, and

I don't think if I'm honest, I don't think Thomas probably appreciated it either.

Now, the story isn't there for Thomas.

It's there for you.

It's there for generations of Thomas's.

You see, God doesn't want the story of Jesus to be told without doubters,

without the cynical, without the wrestlers

knowing he wants to include them.

Friends, do not let doubt keep you from going to God.

Do not let struggle

questions wrestling cynicism keep you from saying

to God, God, there's so much I don't understand.

There's so much I don't believe.

But if you have a place for me, if you would

welcome me, I want to be included through Jesus.

See, Jesus is the evidence that God loves doubters.

But for others, of course, doubt is intellectual.

And that's actually my third point.

Not just the reality of doubt or the response to doubt, but the rebuttal

to doubt.

I want you to see that Jesus does show up with evidence.

Look, let's read those same two verses again.

Verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again,

and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were locked,

Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands,

and put out your hand, and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe.

You see what Jesus does.

He comes with the exact thing that Thomas needed.

Thomas said, unless I touch his hands, unless I touch his side.

Jesus says, here I am, Thomas, I know you have questions, I have answers.

And then he says this Thomas, will you cross the room

and investigate?

And that is the same thing

he's saying 2000 years later to you.

I know some of you have not heard anything that I've said,

because I haven't talked about this yet.

I get that.

Listen, I've told you that

at the center of Christianity is a literal, physical, historical event.

There there is no other religion like that, no other religion like that.

And that invites investigation, and you should investigate it.

What's so interesting to me is I, I sit with so many young people in particular,

and I remember one time

sitting with a medical student, a young lady at Case Western Reserve

University, very, very bright young woman who had just given her life to Jesus.

And I asked her, hey, before you became a Christian,

what did you think about Jesus?

And she said, I thought he was make believe.

You know, the schools they're not talking about Jesus for.

I'm sure all of the obvious reasons,

which gives people the mistaken idea that he wasn't an actual person.

Jesus was a literal historical person.

There is far more evidence for the existence of Jesus,

for his crucifixion and his resurrection than many of the things you take

as historical fact.

In fact, on this wheel I have written ten different evidences or arguments

for the resurrection of Jesus.

I don't have time to go through them all.

I just want you to see how much there is.

And the wheel could have been bigger,

but this is the biggest one we could find, right?

So I have ten things on it and I can't get to them.

Although I will say this on the Thursday night service, we recorded

a podcast Beyond the Message that will come out tomorrow,

which involves a Q&A session in which I do talk about most of these.

So check that out if you want to know.

But what I thought we'd do in

each service is spin it a couple times and talk about the ones that it lands on.

Plus, you get to hear this really cool sound.

No whammies, no enemies, no whammies.

Game show humor.

All right,

all right. This one.

The failure of alternative explanations.

This is a great one.

Consider this Christianity after the crucifixion of Jesus

is down to about 100 people.

Okay. That's it.

In all the world, there are a hundred people.

These 100 people.

They have no political power, no military power, no influence.

In fact, they've lost all that because their leader has just been crucified.

It is the worst time to identify as a Christian.

Consider.

Consider, by the way, that

the rise of Islam, for example, happens when Muhammad goes into a cave

by himself, receives the Koran from God,

allegedly comes out and says, Here's God's book, just believe me.

And through military and political power, eventually says balcony or die.

Pretty easy to see why Islam spread.

Christianity, though, has none of that.

And yet within months there will be thousands of Christians.

Within a year, it'll be all over the known world.

Within three centuries,

it will be the single shaping influence of the Roman Empire itself.

How did you get there?

Here's the problem.

People will say, well, Jesus didn't really raised from the dead.

He just didn't die.

He faked his death on the cross.

Listen to us.

To believe that is to is to struggle with the historicity of the crucifixion.

The Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote about Jesus's crucifixion.

By the way, not a believer, not in the Bible.

An outside historical writer, same as Tacitus, who wrote about Jesus

as a Roman in the first century.

Josephus had three friends who were crucified at one time.

He actually went to the emperor and interceded for them.

Two of them were taken down off the cross only hours after being put up there.

They both died.

The crucifixion was a

professional execution at the hands of professional executions.

If they hadn't killed Jesus, they would have died.

So it's not not likely that he faked his death.

Then you could say, well, maybe he didn't raise from the dead.

Maybe his disciples stole him.

That's what the Jewish religious leaders said at the time.

The problem with that, of course,

is that almost all of Jesus's disciples will die for him.

You know, Charles Colson, who a Christian writer who was involved

in the Nixon Watergate scandal before he knew Jesus,

once said, there were 12 of us, and all we had to do to stay out of

prison was maintain a lie, and we couldn't do it, he said.

There's no way these guys maintained a lie to the point of death.

The question is, if Jesus Christ we know lived and we know he was crucified,

then what happened to lead to the spread of Christianity around the world?

What happened to cause such a cataclysmic event?

If it wasn't the resurrection, then when was it?

Especially when the Christian message wasn't live better, love harder, do more.

It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God lived and died and rose

from the dead, a claim that the Romans and the Jewish leaders

had every reason to want to disprove and couldn't do it.

Now, I don't suggest that one spin of this wheel is going to move you

from an atheist to a believer.

I simply say this if Christianity, if the claim of Christianity

is that the Son of God came and lived and died

and rose from the dead, and because of that, you can be forgiven.

You can have a relationship with God.

You two will die and one day rise from the dead.

Then isn't it at least worth the room?

We were always crossing the room and investigating.

Can you imagine the story of Jesus shows up and says, Thomas, put your hands here,

put your hands here. And Thomas says, I know I'm okay.

And yet, isn't that what so many of us do?

We disbelieve the claim of the resurrection.

We've never even investigated.

So if you're here and you're one of those people of intellectual objections

and you want to investigate, would you stop by our guest service desk

on the way out and I'm taking your name or your email or any of that.

We're just going to give you some resources

totally free to aid you in your investigation.

Listen, whatever keeps you from God, the emotion of doubt

or the intellectual side of doubt, Jesus Christ has come to be your answer.

And he was Thomas's.

Look at how the story ends in verse 28, Thomas says this Thomas answered

him, my Lord and my God.

God's desire is that in Jesus your doubts would be answered,

and that you

also might come to know him as your Lord and your God.

Let me pray for you, father God, thank you so much for the story of Thomas

and that you refuse to leave doubters out.

You refuse to move forward without the cynical,

without the skeptical, without the wrestlers.

You want to include them in the story of Jesus.

I pray through the power of your Holy Spirit that you might help us

to realize the world is not divided between those who doubt

and those who believe.

The world is full of those who doubt, and those who used to doubt

but have met Jesus.

Would you move so many this weekend from one group to the other?

In his name we pray. Amen.