A Moment In Time

Growing up as a kid, I was always told this story about a man who would go to homes and drop off gifts to children. He would fill stockings with little gifts. He would know if you were bad or good. He would be able to come into your home even if you didn’t have a chimney. I would see him regularly at the malls taking photos in the months of November and December. This guy was quick to get around the world within a short amount of time and he had a sled and some flying reindeer. His name was Santa Claus.
While I was told this story over and over again. I had never seen him at our homes and as I grew older I could no longer believe that this story was true. Until one day, we were told to gather in the den. The blinds were slowly opened and behind the sliding glass door stood Santa Claus. There he was! Finally, I could see him. I knew I could believe in Santa, because he was there at my grandparent’s house. The funny thing is, he looked a little like my grandma.
We have this image that we believe in only the things we see. You have heard this saying before: “Seeing is believing.” It is hard for us to believe in things that are not visible. But when we have the moment in time where we actually see things, it changes our perspective. It becomes believable. Perhaps you are like me when my company I work for says that my paycheck will be in the bank, I wait until I actually see that the deposit is being made. When you bought a home and the loan officer tells you that you are approved. Did you believe it? Or did you believe it when you actually saw the paperwork and the numerous documents you needed to sign. Perhaps when you are in school and the teachers says you passed, but for some reason that is not good enough. You need to see the actual grade you received. We live our lives based on what we see, because seeing is believing.
The Bible tells us this story of a group of guys called the disciples. They too were seeing is believing people. They believed in a man named Jesus. Why? Because they walked with him, talked with him, listened to him tell stories, ate with him and actually saw him. To them, he was a real person as long as they could see. But when Jesus’ time had come. Where he was put on trial and then put to death on the cross, a lot of the believers had abandoned Him. They could no longer see Him, they could no longer believe that God was still with them. But after he died on the cross, He was nowhere to be seen. He was in a tomb. But then something miraculous happened. He was no longer in the tomb. He arose from the grave.
Then came a moment in time for Jesus to make a visit to the disciples. It was unexpected to them, no matter how much Jesus told them He had to die and rise again on the third day. They saw Him, but did not believe it was Him. How could He be alive? Seeing was not believing for the disciples. But let’s see how Jesus again become real to them in Luke 24:36-48.
36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." Jesus comes in there and greets them with a simple greeting. He did not knock on the door, He just came in. So look at their reaction.
37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." When you don’t believe something is true or real, you begin to reason with your mind that it can not be possible. You draw a conclusion that it is not true. Jesus knew their fears and thoughts and so he says. Look at my hands and feet. It is me. He said, “Touch me and see”. Look at the evidence. See me. And so He presents the evidence to them.
40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate it in their presence. He showed them the evidence and then he says, “I am hungry.” They did not hesitate in providing him food. But the evidence was becoming clearer to them. Now Jesus is going to provide them with a history lesson. Some solid facts that the disciples would know.
44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Look. Remember I told you I had to do this. Then Jesus makes this moment in time memorable to them. He says, all this was already written. Jesus points them back to a moment in time in history about everything that was written about Him. Then he begins to explain to them and he summarizes this particular moment in time. What we call today as Easter (Resurrection) Sunday.
45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.
I think a lot of us are just like those disciples. We have heard the stories and perhaps we have seen the evidence of Jesus being real in a person’s life. We know there is a God out there and we know that there is a Jesus, yet we struggle to believe that it is true. No matter how many churches or Easter services you attend, you still doubt that this story is true. Yet here we sit, over 2,000 years later and we still talk about that moment in time when God gave His Son to die on the cross to be raised from the dead, so that we can have eternal life. What if you began to open your mind to what God has to say to you? What if you began to open your mind to what the Bible has to say? What if you began to attend church? Your mind becomes to better understand what God wants from you. The better you understand God, the more believable and true he becomes in your life. When you get to that point. That moment of time, where you say, “God is real. God is what I need. Jesus come into my life. I want to experience the reality of having a personal relationship with you. I want to have that eternal life.” Our church is made of witness where we can testify that God is here today. I can see God in the people here today. When you examine the evidence, read the fact, then you have to make a choice today. A moment in time with God is forever.
What if we begin today by understanding that Jesus came so that we can have eternal life? Imagine if we begin to become a church that understands the hurts of the community? What if we became a church that is open to understanding the words of God and puts them into practice? What if the church became a change agent of this community? We would be witnesses of these things.