John 20:19-31

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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I am going "off lectionary" in order to preach a series of sermons on S.O.S. - Soil for Our Souls, Spiritual Practices that Provide Rich Soil for Our Souls to Flourish. Check the new web site www.soilforoursouls.com. Below is a sermon I have preached on the John text.

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This passage continues telling how the risen Christ was experienced by his followers; this time with the focus being on “doubting” Thomas.

Seeing Life

We know that the texts in the Bible were written down for folks like you and me – people who were not alive at the time of Jesus; people who would only know about Jesus if those who were there wrote down their memories so that they could be told to future generations.

The last few verses in John make this explicitly clear. The “you” in “these are written so that you may come to believe,” is you and you and you and me. These are written so we here today might believe. And, come to believe, as Jesus points out, “without having seen.”