Phil Inglis - April 21, 2019
Jesus Reigns: Thomas
This week I shed a tear as I saw the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral. It is truly one of the worlds most beautiful and significant religious buildings. I was also struck by the potential metaphor of such a catastrophe. We live in a time where the church is in rapid decline across Europe, North America and Australasia. In some ways, the burning of a great symbol of the church reflects the traumatic disintegration of the church taking place in our society. I am also reminded that Jesus once claimed that he would be able to destroy the great temple of Jerusalem and rebuild it in three days. I doubt Notre Dame will be rebuilt in three days. The reality is, Jesus wasn’t talking about the bricks and mortar temple anyway. He wasn’t talking about religion. He was talking about the relationship between heaven and earth. In particular he was talking about the shift from the temple, that represented religion, to a relationship that he invites all people to experience. What I found most powerful during the media coverage of the tragic event this week, was the report that as the cathedral burned, a section of the onlooking crowd began to sing hymns of praise and worship. What a reminder that while religion burns, the presence of God still rests on people and calls us all deeper into relationship, inviting us to ‘come and see.’ This Sunday we consider the resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of the world’s most famous skeptic, doubting Thomas. Following the resurrection Jesus goes out of his way to invite Thomas to approach him, inspect the evidence with his friends and to respond as he feels he should. This report shows us that Jesus is not about dogmatic beliefs, moralistic judgement or anything else that smacks of religion. Instead to Thomas, and to you and I, he simply says, ‘come and see.’ You are most welcome to join us on Good Friday at 9am and Easter Sunday, 6am at Wollongong Lighthouse and 10am at Wollongong Salvos. #WollongongSalvos #ComeAndSee #Easter2019
Scripture References: John 19:19-29
From Series: "Come and See"
Easter 2019. Jesus asked time and time again to simply come and see. It's not easy to explain to people who Jesus is. So we take a look at five times where people 'came and saw' who Jesus really was and how that impacted their lives.
