Sermon - Midweek Lent 4 - Thomas and Matthew

We continue our series on the 12 Apostles this Lent, having examined Peter and Andrew, James and John, Phillip and Nathanael.  We’ve seen them at their best, and their worst, and identified with their faults and failings, and aspired to their faith.  The same Jesus who called them and died and rose for them, does the same for us – calling us to faith, and to follow him, carrying our own crosses.  So now we come to the next couple of apostles: Thomas and Matthew. 

Thomas is, of course, famous for his doubting.  He would not believe the other Apostles’ account that Christ appeared in the locked room while he was absent that first Easter Sunday evening.  His disbelief even earned him the moniker, “Doubting Thomas”, a sort of mild insult applied to skeptics even today. 

He is less famous for his bold confession the week following, when he did see and touch and believe in Jesus:  “My Lord and my God!”  And isn’t it something that the risen Jesus knew exactly what Thomas needed to hear, and see, and touch, in order to believe.  And it’s also quite something that Jesus says even more blessed are we who have not seen and yet have believed. 

Since we hear about Thomas every year on the second Sunday of Easter, we won’t dwell too much on that account, but take a look at some of his other appearances in the Gospels. 

When news of Lazarus being sick reached Jesus and his disciples, the disciples were not too keen on Jesus going to the area of Jerusalem.  They knew that opposition to Jesus had been rising, and there was a real possibility that Jesus’ enemies would arrest him, imprison him, and likely put him to death.  They feared for their safety and his.   Yet among them, Thomas is seen as one of the more courageous of the disciples, John 11:14-16 “So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”   

Though courageous here, it may be pointed out that he still fled with all the other apostles from Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane. 

Some have pointed out the meaning of “Didymus” (the twin) as perhaps noteworthy.   Some have suggested Thomas and Matthew were twins since their names appear together in lists of the apostles.  The gnostic gospels suggest Thomas “looked like” Jesus.  Obviously, that’s shaky ground.  The Syrian church believed he actually WAS a twin of Jesus.  We can reject that quite easily.  But it’s interesting. 

But it might be said that Thomas is a “twin” to Christ by his willingness to die with Christ.  In truth, all believers are a twin to Christ in this way.  Jesus comes to die, then we also must be prepared to die.  In our baptism, we are buried with him, and also raised with him.  And his resurrection guarantees our resurrection.  One day we shall be like him, Paul tells us, for we will see him as he is.  And we, too, like Jesus, will live in glorified bodies forever. 

Thomas is also the one to question Jesus in John 14, “We don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?” to which Jesus responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”  Thanks be to God for this timely question, which prompted Jesus to give a blessed answer that both comforts and teaches us so much – he alone is the way to the Father.  He alone is the truth that never fails.  He alone is the life, the one that gives us life everlasting. 

Matthew, also known or identified with Levi, the Son of Alphaeus.  In the parallel passages from Mark 2 and Luke 5 he is called Levi, not Matthew.  But these passages are otherwise very similar to Matthew 9, thus we assume Matthew and Levi are the same. 

He was a tax collector when Jesus called him (Matthew 9:9-13).  Jesus received criticism from the Pharisees for eating with “sinners and tax collectors” when he was present at Matthew’s house.  “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

Here we can identify with the former tax collector, the notorious fraudster and cheat that he must have been.  A pariah to his own people, the very dictionary definition of a bad person in the mind of many.  The worst of the worst, greedy, untrustworthy, disloyal, a sleezeball and a scoundrel.  Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, but if you asked an ancient Israelite who the chief of sinners is, they’d probably tell you it was a tax collector. 

Do we see ourselves in such a light?  Do we confess ourselves as chief of sinners?  Do we admit that our sins offend both God and fellow man?  That we’re not worthy to have Jesus in our midst, that he would visit us, let alone regard us?  And yet he does, to the astonishment of all.  In fact, he comes not to call the righteous but sinners. 

So be a sinner.  Let your sins be strong, that your Christ may be stronger.  I’m not saying go out and sin, but rather embrace the confession of your sinfulness.  Don’t excuse those sins away, but own them, and the full measure of their guilt.  Admit and lay bare your sins before Christ, who comes to call sinners to faith, to life, and to righteousness.  Just look what he did with Matthew. 

Of course, Matthew also wrote the first Gospel – with particular emphasis on Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  Eusebius and Origen claim it was originally written in Hebrew.   

And who could choose a favorite from many of Matthew’s beloved passages that ever point us to Christ. You have the Sermon on the Mount. Or Matthew 18, the great forgiveness chapter. Or from Matthew 28, what is called the “Great Commission” (Go ye therefore...) 

Matthew and Thomas, along with the other apostles would be among the first to carry out this Great Commission, but not the last.  Matthew and Thomas are among the many sinners that Jesus came to call to righteousness.  Among the great company of those who die with Christ and rise with Christ.   

They are the doubters turned believers and confessors.  They are the scoundrels turned evangelists.  They are the sinners who have been called, and have answered by faith.  And that, of course, my dear Christians, includes you.   

Sermon - Midweek Lent 3 - Phillip and Nathanael

So far in our series we’ve covered Peter and Andrew, and then James and John.  Each of these apostles has given us, by their life, their failures and their faith, their questions and interactions with Jesus – much to ponder.  We see ourselves in them, or at least aspects of ourselves.  It’s surely no accident that Jesus chose these 12 different men from various walks of life, with various personalities and qualities, as his witnesses, messengers, and the foundation of the early church. 

Today we come to another natural coupling of apostles:  Phillip and Nathanael (Nathanael who is also called Bartholomew).  While the synoptic Gospels pair a “Bar-Tholmai” or “Son of Tholmai” with Phillip, it is in John’s Gospel that we get, perhaps the “rest of the story”, and his first name, Nathanael, is used.  An apparent friend of Phillip, as the story goes.  But we’ll come back to him in a moment. 

If I had to characterize Phillip, briefly, I might call him, “the bringer.”  For on a couple of notable occasions, he was the one who brought other people to see Jesus.  He brought Nathanael along, saying, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

Phillip also brought the Gentiles who famously said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” John 12:20-21.   That little phrase, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” is often engraved on a plaque and affixed to the inside of the pulpit, so that the Christian preacher is reminded of his true purpose in preaching.  We are not here to preach ourselves, but Christ crucified.  We are not hear to bloviate or opine, but to bring people to Jesus.  That you might see Jesus.   

So Phillip stands as a reminder and example for us that when Jesus calls people to faith, he often uses a “bringer”.  Someone like Phillip, to show you, point you to Christ.   

Christian parents are bringers, as they literally bring their children to Jesus at the font of Baptism, and as they teach them the word and the faith.  Teachers and pastors and good Christian friends can be “bringers”, too.  And those who study these things tell us that most new people come to a church not because they randomly looked you up on the internet, but because someone brought them along – a friend, a family member. 

And then Phillip also figures prominently in John’s telling of the feeding of the 5000:   

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 

He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 

It is interesting that Jesus asks Phillip, tests Phillip of all the 12.  Where shall we buy bread for all these people?  Phillip, had he passed the test, might have said, “I’ll just bring them to you, Jesus, like I always do.  Only you can truly provide the bread that we all need.” 

Oh, and then one more appearance of Philip – he asks Jesus at the Last Supper, “Show us the Father” John 14:8-21.  Here we might see that Phillip the “bringer” needs to be “brought” by Jesus to the Father.  Don’t we all?  But if you know Jesus, you know the Father, as John’s Gospel brings out so clearly.  

May Phillip inspire us to be grateful for those whom God has placed in our life who have brought us to Jesus.   

So may Phillip remind us to take those opportunities, when we have them, to invite others to “come and see”.  Come to my church.  Come with me.  And bring them along. 

If Phillip the “Bringer” or the ambassador, then Nathanael is perhaps the skeptic.  As a cynical member of Generation X, I can identify with this guy.  Or perhaps we could go with the moniker Jesus gives Nathanael - the “True Israelite” 

Most of what we can say about Nathanael (Bartholomew) comes from this reading, his calling, in John 1.  Jesus praises him as a “true Israelite in whom there is nothing false”.  Not that he was without sin, but perhaps that he was a) a true believer b) a “straight shooter”.  He said what he thought, good or bad, right or wrong. 

Like Peter, Thomas, and really all of the apostles, he both falters and shines. His famous rhetorical question of skepticism, “can anything good come from Nazareth?” is quickly answered by Jesus.  With just a flash of apparent divine knowledge, Jesus convinces Nathanael enough that he is, in fact, the Christ. 

Nathanael comes around quickly, from skepticism to faith.  And he speaks that faith in a three-fold confession of Christ, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”  

He calls him Rabbi – his teacher.  He calls him the Son of God, no small insight there.  And he calls him the King of Israel.  As with many of our confessions of faith, we often say the words before we appreciate their full weight and meaning.  And Nathanael, with the other apostles, would spend the next several years learning just what he means by his confession, just who this Rabbai, this Son of God, this King of Israel really is. 

Jesus accepts Nathanael’s confession, and then goes on to describe himself as Jacob’s Ladder, the very stairway to heaven.  For a “true Israelite” who knew well his Old Testament, the message wouldn’t be lost on Nathanael.   

This true Israelite who know well the first man named “Israel”, and the story of his vision.  Jacob’s vision of that stairway was a comfort to him as he was about to go on the journey of his life.  It was a reminder of God’s abiding presence with him, and his access to heaven itself by faith.   

Jesus interprets, and clarifies.  He, Jesus, is the ladder of Jacob, the stairway to heaven, the connection between man and God, the one who opens heaven to us, brings us to the Father, transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.   

So Phillip the bringer meets Jesus who brings us to the Father.  And Nathanael the true Israelite in whom there is nothing false meets the true Israel, the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

May it also be so for us.  Brought to Jesus, true to Jesus.  Believing in and confessing Jesus, who brings us to the Father, not by our works, not even by a ladder or stairway, but by himself and his cross.  Heaven and earth are brought together in him.  Holy God and sinful man are brought together by his reconciling blood.  And disciples are made.  And Christians are sent and privileged to confess his truth and bring others to “come and see”.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.