"My Lord and My God"

Acts 2:14A, 22-32; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

There is the story about a picture that was painted many years ago by a great chess player. The picture was of a chess game being played between a young man and the devil. Evidently, a bargain had been made between Satan and the man that if the young man won the game then he would be spared the consequences of evil in his life. But if Satan won the game then Satan would have possession of the man's soul.

Because the picture hung in a prominent place in an art gallery, many people walked by the picture and could see that the young man in the picture had a very horrified look on his face, while the devil had a smirk on his face. Indeed, anyone who played chess could see why. By the position of the chess pieces on the board, it appeared that the devil would win the game in four moves.

For many years this picture hung in that art gallery until one day one of the greatest chess players of all time, Paul Morphy, came into the gallery. Noticing the picture, Morphy became very interested in the picture. Standing before the picture, five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, he was all concentration. He lifted and lowered his hands as, in imagination, he was making and eliminating moves. Suddenly, his hand paused, his eyes burned with the vision of an unthought-of-combination. Suddenly, he shouted to the young man in the picture: "Young man! Make that move! That's the move! The king has one move left!"

I am reminded of this story when I think of the disciples on the Sunday evening following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not believing the news of the resurrection brought to them by various witnesses, including Mary of Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses, the disciples thoroughly believed that the powers of darkness had, indeed, defeated them. They believed that Satan had won; that the game had been lost. And, together, as they sat mourning the death of their teacher, they wondered what was going to become of them. In spite of the cross, in spite of the judgment of the religious leaders and the Romans, in spite of death, itself, little did the disciples know that the King had one move left that would win the game. It was a move that no one could have envisioned. And, yet, it was a move that would bring about the total and ultimate destruction of Satan and the powers of evil over the lives of those who put their trust in Jesus. And that move was Christ's resurrection out of death into life.

Not realizing that the King had one move left, the disciples sat in their little room, the doors locked, and the windows shut. They sat there in their despair wondering if the next knock on the door wouldn't be that of Roman soldiers coming to get them to crucify them. They sat there in their despair thinking that the only way from there was a downhill path into oblivion. They sat there unaware of the last great move of the King of kings and Lord of lords, unaware of the great power for good that could be theirs.

My friends, I have visited once great churches that have reminded me of those disciples sitting in that darkened room. One of those churches was out in the city of Washington, D.C. And I remember visiting with some of the people of that church as they wondered why it was that their numbers had dwindled down to only a hundred members from what had once been only 2,000 members. And I remember how concerned they were because they weren't able to pay the heating bills of the church, much less the minister's salary and the conference claims. And I asked the people if anyone ever went out into the community around the church to invite people to attend church with them. Their answer was, "no." And their rationalization for this was that if they acted like Christians then they should never have to give a vocal witness, for actions speak louder than words. And I asked them if they had programs within their church which might attract the youth of the community or if they allowed outside groups to use their church. And, again, their answer was, "no." And their rationalization for this was that if they started to let the neighborhood kids into their church, and allow outside groups to use the church for everything from Boy Scouts to blood drives, the wear and tear on their church would be too much for them to bear. And as I talked with that church it sounded as if they had already decided that they were defeated. It was as though they had forgotten that the King always has one move left.

You know, friends, sometimes to varying degrees, we may feel a little bit like that church in our own personal lives, as a community, or even as we gather together as the Body of Christ. We, too, may forget that the King has one move left. As we sit with a dying relative, as we ponder our own mortality and sicknesses, as we consider the disunity of our communities, as we despair over the declining attendance in our churches, we must never forget that the Lord has given us power for good. For, indeed, the King has one move left.

Our gospel lesson for today tells us that as the disciples were gathered together in that room Jesus appeared in their very midst and said "Peace be with you!"

There is the story of two other paintings, each of them painted by their respective artists to illustrate that artist's concept of rest. The first artist chose for his scene a still, lone lake among far-off mountains. But the second artist threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam. At a fork of a branch in the tree, almost wet with the spray from the waterfall, a robin sat on its nest. The first picture was only that of Stagnation; and the second picture was, indeed, Rest. For in rest there are two elements -- tranquility and energy; silence and turbulence; creation and destruction; fearfulness and fearlessness.

As Christ came to his disciples and said, "Peace be with you," he had this dichotomy in mind. For the peace that he gave to his disciples was not the kind of peace that would allow them to sit and wait for something to happen. His peace wasn't the kind of peace that would allow them to wonder what the next knock on the door was going to proclaim in their lives. Rather, Jesus' kind of peace was the kind of peace which would motivate his disciples to open their closed doors and windows, and sing the hymns and shout the joys of their savior. Jesus' kind of peace was the kind of peace the brings about movement and action and daring and creativity, even in the midst of all the other forces of this world which say otherwise. Jesus' kind of peace was the peace of the resurrection, the peace which comes when people realize to the very root of their being that, indeed, the King has one move left.

The major part of our gospel lesson for today talks about how the disciple, Thomas, doubted the other disciples' account of Jesus' resurrection. He told them "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." Thomas' attitude was very much like that of most of today's world. People want to have pictures, people want to see it in order to believe it. We judge by appearances, by how things look. We want to have proof. And, yet, faith does not work this way.

Paul Morphy, the chess champion who realized that the king had one move left, wouldn't have stood so intently in front of that picture of the chess game between the devil and the young man unless if he had been one who judged by first appearances. Somehow, Morphy had faith that there was another way to end the game. And, so must we have faith, as well.

And faith is a gift. It isn't something that we get from having anything proved to us. It doesn't come by logical persuasion. It doesn't come by scientific or historical evidence. Rather, it is a gift from God that we must accept in order to have. Faith is something from God that we can have simply because we want it. And, certainly, that does not at all make sense to the world.

The apostle Paul realized this when he wrote to Peter using these words: "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Amen.