How Do You Know Christianity is True?

 “See my hands and my feet,” He said to them, “that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.  And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.  And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish,   and he took it and ate before them.”

Luke 24:36-42

Every time I taught Christian theology I got asked this question.  How do you know that what you are teaching us is true?  How do you know that the Christian religion is the one true religion?    Other religions argue just as strongly for what they believe.  Maybe they are all right.  Maybe they are all true.  How do you know?”   I still get this question all the time.  People, even people who have been Christian all their lives will from time to time, struggle with doubts.  Think of the disciples, that first Easter. That morning the women had returned from the tomb with the news that the tomb was empty.  They told them the angel’s message – that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Yet Luke tells us “that these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them.”  By the time our story takes place Simon Peter had seen Jesus, the disciples on the road to Emmaus had seen him.  Before He went to the cross Jesus Himself had told them several times that all these things, including the resurrection were going to happen.  Then Luke tells us, “As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”  Yet in spite of already having heard the good news, still “ they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.  And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”  When we struggle with doubts we are not the first to do so.   We are in good company. 

So, can you or I ever really know?   Yes.  How?  Well that first Easter night Jesus Himself stood among them.  Look at what He invited them to do.   “ See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.  And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.  And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish,  and he took it and ate before them.”   Think about it.  Jesus showed them the wounds in his hands and feet… the scares from the cross where He died for the sins of the world.   He invited them to do more than look. He invited them to touch Him… to experience Him with all their senses… and with their senses to learn the truth that He really is alive.  He even ate some fish before their eyes. 

That’s how God answers our doubts.  God makes the Word tangible to you and me.   He Himself comes and stands in our midst.  He is here today, making the Word tangible to us… showing Himself to us… presenting His word in ways that we can see, and touch, as well as hear… in ways we can smell and taste.  After all, as Luther wrote, baptism “is not simple water only but it is water included in God’s command and connected with God’s Word.”  Baptism is the risen Christ at work among us in tangible forms.  In Baptism He “works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe.”  He gives us all the gifts won by His death and resurrection.   Or what about Holy Communion?  The risen Christ gives Himself to you and me. In the very tangible forms of bread and wine He will give us His very body and blood to eat and drink.  In this meal He answers our question.  “This is how you know.”  Jesus says.  “Taste and see what I have done for you.”  He gives Himself to us here so that we might have no doubt that His grace, His love, His forgiveness includes you and me, no matter what we have done.  He makes His Word tangible.  This is how He invites you and me today to “touch me and see.”   

Jesus doesn’t stop there.  He then opened their minds to understand that His life, death and resurrection is what the Bible is all about – that this is the message that must be proclaimed to the world…  that we must proclaim.  Jesus says, “You are witnesses of these things.”   In other words, now in us God makes the Word tangible to the world.   That’s why God gives us pastors.  A few years ago, a man sat in my office confessing his sins, asking, “How can I know that God really forgives me?”  I answered, “That’s why God gives you a Pastor.  Here you have someone who has been called by God… someone you can see and hear and touch… whose mission from God is to relay to you the message that He forgives you.”   The relief was palpable.   He also sends all of you to your family, your neighborhood, your workplace and your school.  God makes Himself tangible through your life and your witness. The other day someone came to me concerned about how to minister to a family member who has little or no faith but is hurting so badly because of loved one’s death.  I asked her why prayer is so important to her.  She said, “because God listens.”  That’s right.  That’s how you minister to your brother.  “Listen.  Listen with love and he will meet Jesus in you.”  That’s our mission to be God’s tangible witnesses to the world.. Jesus living in us… living through us in their lives.  That’s how we know. That’s how they will know.  Amen.