“Signs of Life”

(John 20:30-31)
By Pastor James Wibberding

• Thomas at the tomb (John 11:1-16)

o Thomas did not want to be there. The mourners had done their thing and,
after four days, a stale numbness set in. But this was not what put the
knots in his neck and the fear in his eye. He had seen death before, viewed
it from a distance, but now he trembled at its nearness. It was not for
Lazarus he feared. The man was dead. He, on the other hand, hoped to
keep his life, and that seemed a slim prospect. He risked it only for his
Master, who chose to come.
o Especially now, life meant something. For years, his brother had seized
attention. He was older, by less than an hour but older, and that gave him
significance. But Thomas got the non-descript, undefined, generic name
The Twin. Yep, that’s what they called him. Even in the gospel accounts,
he appears seldom and usually in passing. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each
mention him just once and only to tell us he exists (he makes the list of
apostles and that’s all). He was a non-factor, a man with no meaning. Why
Jesus chose him was anyone’s guess. Especially in a world where your
name was your identity, it speaks volumes that Thomas was called The
Twin—just a copy, an extra, a tag-along. The book of John, by contrast,
tells three short stories about him, which we’ll get to in a minute.
o So, Thomas stood at the tomb fully expecting to join the man inside,
watching the crowds with nervous glances. You will find the story in John
11. I’ll be reading from John 11:1-16. [Read text] Wow. There’s the story.
The disciples fear for their lives if they go back to Judea but when Jesus
says he’s going, Thomas says, “Let’s go too and die with him.” This man
is serious. Why? He had seen the signs and they gave his life meaning.
Thomas knew that without Jesus, he had nothing. If Jesus would die, he
best die too.
o The signs. The book of John catalogues, with painstaking precision, what
its author calls the “signs” of Jesus—the works that inspired Thomas’
faith. The word “sign” refers to his miracles but John chose it to say that
those miracles are signs of who Jesus is—the Messiah, the Savior.
o And, there at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus gives a sign greater than any
Thomas had seen—he brings the dead man back to life. No doubt, the
terrified Thomas, who stood at the tomb expecting death, saw that
unexpected burst of life from the life-giver as another sign. But perhaps he
did not yet grasp all that gift of life meant. Though Jesus had brought
meaning to his no-account life, perhaps he had more to learn.
o You and I are like Thomas. We seek meaning. We flounder through the
demands of life. And most of us feel hollowness more often than we like
to say. The meaning of life is at quandary.

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• Thomas at the cross (John 14:3-6)
o Thomas stood on the jagged hilltop. Horrified by scenes his mind still bent
to process, he groped for something to make it make sense. Death felt so
final. And with this death came the death of meaning. Before Jesus,
Thomas was nobody. Now the man who made him matter hung dead.
o It all happened so fast and seemed so crazy. The men he admired all his
life, the important ones he wished he could be, had killed Jesus. We don’t
know which thoughts spun through his head while he stood there but, as
he groped for meaning, perhaps a recent conversation with Jesus replayed
in his ears.
o That conversation is the second time Thomas appears in a story. I’ll be
reading from John 14. John 14:3-6. [Read text] Jesus predicts his
departure and Thomas gets scared. “No, tell us where you’re going. We
can’t afford to lose you!” And, Jesus replies, “I am the way, the truth, and
the life.” But, just now, the life hangs dead.
o It appears that Thomas made no link between the Lazarus event and the
cross. But, would you? Sure, Jesus could bring men back to life but a dead
man is powerless—and Jesus was dead. Whether Thomas thought of
Lazarus, I don’t know. But, I doubt he linked the cryptic words of Christ
in John 2 to the cross. I’m reading John 2:18-22. [Read text] The big sign
that proved him Christ was his own resurrection. But as Thomas stood on
Mount Calvary, gazing at the dead Messiah, these words and their
meaning were far from his mind.
o He didn’t get it. Jesus is the life. John 1:4 says that he “gave life to
everything that was created.” John 3:36 says that “anyone who believes in
God’s Son has eternal life.” John 10:10 says that Jesus came to give you
“a rich and satisfying life.” And, John 20:31 says that John wrote his book
so “you will have life by the power of his name.”
o Do you see it? Jesus offers a better life than you can have without him.
But you knew I would say that. It’s the party line. It’s what Christians say
and believe. Thomas believed it too but he still didn’t get it. He had the
vision but just a glimpse. He knew Jesus gave meaning to his life. He
knew Jesus gave other people better lives. He even knew Jesus could give
life back. But he didn’t know the half of it. Do you?
• Thomas in the end (John 20:24-28)
o Thomas was speechless. He had just spent eight days in the company of
nonsense. Now he knew, with all the shock of lightning, that he was the
lunatic—not them.
o The rumors had begun almost before news of Christ’s death spread. Friday
saw him dead and Sunday hummed with the hope that he lived. Thomas
was too smart for that. Grief had fogged the minds of his friends. Being
the lone voice of reason did not pay well in social dividends. But he kept
going back to the same argument—what he’d seen was unmistakable.
“Guys, we watched him die,” I can hear him say. “We saw the nails pierce
his hands and the spear his side. Think what you want but I can’t believe

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 this rumor—not unless I see him walking and touch those scars to know
it’s not a dream.”
o From our seats, we know his mistake. But Thomas was using logic. Then,
as he stammered to keep from fainting, the revelation struck: The Life-
giver had more power to give life than he had known. John 20 tells the
story. Look at John 20:24-28. [Read text] From that moment, his life
changed. All that talk about life that meant so much to an unimportant
man called The Twin, he now saw, spoke of a force so strong that even
death could not stop it. That new meaning he had found for his life was as
sure as the scars in the Master’s hands.
o We are like Thomas. Most of us don’t doubt Jesus when he says he came
to give you “a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10). We just don’t see
how much that means. But from Thomas, we learn that it means certainty;
it means value; it means a new purpose for life.
• The signs and you (John 20:29-31)
o The Thomas story ends with a message to the reader. That would be us.
We find it in John 20:29-31. [Read text] All the “signs” John records are
meant to teach us that we can, as he put it, “have life by the power of his
name.”
o That means if you find yourself, like Thomas The Twin, with a hollowness
in your gut, God can guarantee you more. The power that conquers death
backs up that “rich and satisfying life” Jesus came to give.
o When you work your hands to the bone and achieve great things but not
happiness, remember God gives better life. When you stuff yourself with
the finest foods and still feel empty, remember God gives better life. When
you seek your fortune in romance and end with a deficit, know that God
gives better life.
o However you try to make your life matter, it won’t work without God.
Whatever your effort, whatever your plan, you will always find that God
gives better life.