Where is Jesus Now?

Introduction

A week after Easter, Paul Cowley asks the question that matters most: where is Jesus now? Exploring three resurrection encounters in John 20 and Luke 24 — the fearful disciples behind locked doors, doubting Thomas, and the two on the road to Emmaus — this sermon shows how meeting the risen Christ is not a single event but a daily reality. Jesus meets us where we are.

Thank you, Liz. You may remember that last Sunday, I’m sure you did, was Easter Sunday, and that reading is sometimes used quite a lot — John 20 for Easter Sunday. So I was using it today as well, just to remind us that we’re a week ahead. So I’ve called this little thought that I wanted to share with you, based on that scripture. He is risen — because we know that’s what John 20 tells us. But where is he now? And what do we do next? That’s what I wanted to ponder. Last Sunday, across the world, everybody stood at this empty tomb, and we heard this amazing story start to unfold. Those extraordinary words, you know — he’s not here, he has risen. And then we read about Mary being confused and thinking that Jesus was the gardener, and then weeping and saying, where have you taken him, what have you done with him? Just real confusion everywhere. And then going back to the disciples, and them getting confused in all sorts of different ways. And for a moment at that time, everything changed. It was an extraordinary day. The world was never the same. Whether you believe in the Christian faith or not, it changed history from that day, that empty tomb.

But today, now, we step into what happened next. And the story sort of continues, like part two, but it goes on and it goes on. And as you read chapter 21 and 22, you see this story starts to unfold, and it gets really exciting. Easter for me is the most exciting time within the church. I love the story as it starts to unfold with Ash Wednesday, and you start to prepare, and all these extraordinary things happen. And like I said, the world is never the same after that event, because resurrection wasn’t just a moment — it became a movement. And that’s why you’re sat here today, because of that movement, because of that extraordinary event in time.

And the question now is not, did Jesus rise? The question is, where is he now? That’s the thing that we ponder going forward. So I’ve just put a few points to have a think about, for you to ponder, maybe over the next week. The first one is fear — the fear that we have, or the fear that’s put upon us by other people sometimes. In John 20, which was just read out, we find the disciples not celebrating and not rejoicing, but hiding behind these locked doors. It says, because of fear — what was going to happen next. And then again, something extraordinary happens, and it continues to happen — almost, it seems, on a daily basis. Jesus comes and stands amongst them. If you can imagine that — they’re all gathered together, they’re all fearful, they’re all scared. All these sort of strong men are fearful and hiding, waiting for that knock on the door. And right at that time, Jesus just appears and says, peace be with you.

Not once, but twice.

And the amazing thing in that — he doesn’t wait for them to become brave and courageous and strong, and go out and do things, and get their spirit back and their hope back. He doesn’t do that. He doesn’t wait for them to find courage. He comes right into the middle of their fear, our fear, and says, peace be with you. And that tells us, I think, something important — that Jesus doesn’t wait for us to get our lives together, to get everything sorted, to be brave and courageous. He doesn’t do that.

He meets us right in the middle of our mess, and that’s why I love this story. Even behind those locked doors — the locked doors, the analogy of our lives, whatever it might be, behind our fear, behind whatever we’re carrying today.

And like always with Jesus, his first words are not challenging, they’re not judgemental — they’re peaceful.

Second thought is, sometimes we need a little bit more Thomas.

You know, Thomas isn’t there when this event happens. And when the others tell him about it and say, we’ve seen the Lord, he says what many of us might think but don’t really say — he wants more. He says, unless I see, unless I touch, I’m not going to believe any of this. Unless Jesus appears in my bedroom, or in the kitchen, or on the ski slope, I’m not going to believe any of it. And that’s Thomas. Again, that’s an analogy for a lot of us. Thomas gets labelled as the doubter, but I think he’s something else. I think he’s really honest. I think a lot of us are Thomases. He refuses second-hand faith, just because someone has told him what’s happened and it’s a story. No, not really — I want to see.

He wants something real.

So he has these discussions with these disciples, and then a week later, Jesus hears everything, and Jesus turns up again. Same room, same disciples, same meeting. And those same words — peace be with you.

And then I wonder what Thomas was thinking when Jesus appeared in the room there. And then Jesus turns to look at him and catches his eye, and he says, Thomas, come over here a minute. Look at the holes. Put your finger in the hole. Put your finger in my side. Believe, Thomas.

Not much of a rebuke there. No disappointment in Thomas. Just an invitation.

And Thomas responds, my Lord and my God — which again tells us something. Jesus is not put off by our questions, or by our doubts, or our fears. He meets us in the middle of that struggle, when we’re hesitant and we’re not quite sure about this stuff. Not where we pretend to be strong, but where we are actually unsure, where we are fearful. He’s there right in the middle of it, walking alongside — as the scriptures say, I will never leave you nor forsake you, even until the end of time.

Third point, really — walking away. Or, on the road to Emmaus, which is where the story starts to unfold if you read the scriptures. And we move into Luke 24 then. I think Mark spoke a little bit about it last week. The two disciples walking from Jerusalem, walking away from hope. Everything that they believed was going to happen was destroyed. You know, their fears — it was a black day, it was a dark time.

Everything was lost to those two men walking, chatting on that road, thinking — I don’t know, what are we going to do now? I sold my home. I gave up my business. I left my family, my children. What now?

Walking away from everything they thought was going to happen. And again, Jesus just appears next to them. But they don’t recognise him. They think he’s a stranger. And they say, walk with us for a little while. And he walks with them, and he listens to them, and he lets them tell their story. And they’re amazed — where have you been? Did you not know what’s happening, all the stuff that’s been going on? Because it’s his story that they’re telling him. Amazing.

And he listens. And he hears their disappointment. He hears their heartbreak.

And then he begins to speak.

And I love it where he starts to open the scriptures that they were believing in, because it’s him. And he starts to talk to them, and he starts to reframe everything that they’re thinking about. And you can imagine what was going on in their heads. And as you know, then they sit down and they have something to eat. And he’s going to walk on, and they say, no, come and have something to eat with us, it’s great, then you can go. And they sit, and he talks again, probably.

And then they say that lovely line — were not our hearts burning within us while he talked on the road and opened the scriptures? And maybe sometimes you’ve felt that when you read something, or someone shares something with you, and you just get excited by it.

But they only recognise him when they break the bread. And then he disappears as fast as he appeared, because now he’s done what he wanted to do. Now they can see. Now the scriptures are not just moments in time — they’re real. And he’s made it mean something to them. And they’re excited. And then they go off and do whatever they have to do, empowered.

So three encounters there. Three very different people. Fearful disciples locked behind these doors. A questioning Thomas. Two people quietly walking away, disappointed, hopeless. And yet the same Jesus meets each one of them. He meets them differently. He meets them personally. And he meets them exactly where they are. I don’t really believe, in the Christian faith, that one size fits all. I think Jesus meets us exactly where we are, and helps us with our character. And I think those three things show that.

He meets us exactly where we are. Which means this: it means that the resurrection is not just something that happened.

It’s something that continues to happen every single day. Not just then, but now. Sat here in Château-d’Oex, in this service — and when you leave and you go off, it’s still continuing to happen.

Let me finish with a short story. A few years ago — some of you will know I work in the prison system in the UK. I’m in it every day, helping men and women find employment through the charity I run. And I remember a few years ago now, I was sitting in a prison, sitting with a man who was coming towards the end of his sentence.

He wasn’t loud. He wasn’t angry. He was just tired and disappointed.

In lots of ways, and for lots of reasons. We were talking about what he was going to do, where he was going to go, how he was going to get back to his family, to his children — I think they were in care. He had no opportunities. He was going to find it hard to get a job with his background and a prison sentence. We were talking about faith. And I remember him saying to me, I wish I had what you’ve got, Paul. But I don’t see God anywhere in my life.

And if I’m honest, at that point, nothing dramatic happened. There wasn’t a Billy Graham moment where he dropped to his knees and cried out to the Lord. It wasn’t. No lightning bolt. No sudden breakthrough in faith. We just talked, quietly and honestly, about his past, about his regrets, about the people that he’d hurt, the person he was trying to become but was struggling with, the environment that he was in. And then I left. And a few months later, I was back in that prison, and I saw him again, and we had a chat. Same prison, same person, same man — but something had shifted.

Not massively. Not everything was fixed and sorted. But he seemed different when I talked to him. And I said to him, something’s happened.

What’s gone on? And he just said to me something I won’t forget. He said, you know the day you came in to see me — I didn’t see or feel anything at the time. But later, when I reflected and I looked back, I think God was there with us. And that moment in time changed his life. Quietly. Not dramatically. God met him in that prison — in his fear, in his confusion, in his hopelessness — and gave him hope. And it reminded me of those two on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognise Jesus while he was talking with them. Only afterwards. They said, were not our hearts burning within us? Sometimes we don’t see him in the moment, but we recognise him on the journey.

The empty tomb proves that Jesus is alive. That’s what the whole Easter story is about. But these encounters show us something even more powerful. I think that he’s present. He’s here now with us. Alive today.

Present in this room. In this church. Present in our questions. Present on the road, when we leave and we talk and we do our stuff, our life. Often closer than we realise.

Even when we don’t recognise him at first. So something for you to ponder. I hope I’ve given you something this week. The question, like I said, is no longer — did he rise? The question for you to think about is, where is he meeting me now? Is he meeting me in my fear? Is he meeting me in my doubt? Is he meeting me in, I need more from him? Is he meeting me in my confusion? Or is he meeting me in my peace?

And remember those words that we said right at the beginning of the service. He is risen. He is risen indeed. He is alive today and dwells with us. The scriptures say he pitched his tent and lives amongst us. And that’s the amazing opportunity we have, because of that Easter day.

Amen.