Identified With Him (John 11:16; John 20:28)

The Power of Behavior and How People Get Defined

Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Lord's Day service. Today is Easter, which means that He has risen, and He has risen indeed. I pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be strengthened and encouraged in your faith.

God bless you. You know, for good or for ill, we are often known by our behavior. Whether that's fair or not, people often get to know us, and they see patterns in our character, and then they begin to make categorizations about us based on the way that we act.

For instance, maybe you are at a job, and you have a coworker who's constantly angry, and you and your friends have nicknamed him Hothead Harry. Maybe you've got an aunt who loves to gossip, and she's loose-lipped Linda.

Maybe in an argument, a husband is trying to be helpful, and he tells his wife, why are you always so emotional? Don't ever say that. Maybe it's a positive thing. Maybe you've got a friend who you say, wow, they're always so joyful.

They're always so happy. See, we tend to be categorized by our behavior. It's not uncommon for people who know us to make generalizations about us based off of the way that we behave. And generally speaking, it's our worst and ugliest moments that end up defining us.

There's nowhere where this is more true than in the case of Thomas, who has forever been universally dubbed the doubter. His ugliest scene in his life is what defines him, even 2 ,000 years later. How often is that the case for us, that our ugliest moments end up defining us, and hopefully not for 2 ,000 years?

But what I want us to see today about Thomas is that there's so much more to this man than one moment of his life. Actually, today, we're gonna look at five moments of his life, five moments that could have defined him.

But what I want us to see today that there was only actually one moment that ends up defining Thomas, and spoiler alert, it's not his doubt. So what I want us to do is I want us to look at this man. We're gonna start in John 11, where we've been at in our current series in John.

We're gonna track with him through the Gospel of John. We're gonna end in John 20, where he makes perhaps the greatest declaration ever uttered. So let's pray, and then let's begin. Lord, it is true that we are often defined by our very ugly moments, where people's opinion of us are shaped by moments of doubt, moments of sin and failure, selfishness, and yet, Lord, here we have an example of a man who is trying to understand who you are, and he has multiple different negative examples, four of them, in fact, that cast him in such a negative light, and yet, Lord, in the light of your glory and your grace, standing face-to-face with you, he's redefined.

Lord, I pray that today we would see how our definition as a human doesn't come from our behavior if we're in Christ, but it comes from the new creation that he's given us. We ask that in Jesus' name, amen.

Thomas in John 11: Angry, Frustrated, and Confused

The first time that we meet Thomas in the Gospel, he's angry, he's agitated, and he's annoyed, and if that were the moment that defined him 2 ,000 years later, we would know him as the angry Thomas, or the fussy Thomas, or the agitated Thomas, but it wasn't, he was known as the doubting Thomas, but this moment, he's angry in John 11.

If you remember back a few weeks ago, Jesus' ministry in John 10 was in pure danger. The Pharisees had grabbed stones in order to kill Jesus, and so they have to hightail it out of Jerusalem just in order for Jesus to not die.

Then they go back to Jerusalem in John 11 after they've retreated, they go back to Jerusalem in order to heal Lazarus. Now, the disciples would have been thinking, what in the world is Jesus doing? I imagine that when Jesus delayed and said, we're not gonna go back to Jerusalem, this sickness will not end in death, I'm imagining Thomas, who's also a pragmatist, who also evaluates certain things, he was probably like, hey, that's a good idea, Jesus.

Why would you go back to the place that wants to kill you? That doesn't make any sense. Thomas loved Jesus, he enjoyed being in Jesus' ministry, he enjoyed seeing all of the things that Jesus was doing.

Why would Jesus go back and risk getting killed and all of them killed for one guy? So Thomas probably thought that that made sense. But when Jesus said, you know what, we are going back, Thomas was angry, Thomas was frustrated, and Thomas is the kind of guy that always likes to get the last word.

I don't know if you've ever met anybody like that. I can be like that. Thomas is like that. Every time that he speaks in the gospel, he's trying to get the last word, the final word, he's trying to say something.

Thomas is so angry that Jesus is ready to go back to Jerusalem, he just can't stand it. He's the one, not Peter, who pipes up and says, whoa, let us go and die with Jesus. No one says anything. They all just kind of march in awkwardness towards Jerusalem.

Now, I do want to be clear, Thomas is not being sarcastic here. He's not saying, yes, I've been waiting to die. This world thing's not working out for me. I don't like it, you don't like it, let's all just go sacrifice ourself.

That's not what he's saying. He's angry because his expectation of what Jesus' ministry was going to be doesn't line up with what Jesus' expectation was for his ministry. This man was invested, he believed in the ministry, he supported the mission of the ministry, and he felt like Jesus was being reckless.

Now, Thomas actually was right about the outcome, not about Jesus being reckless. Jesus did go to Bethany. The Pharisees commissioned a group of people to arrest him and murder him. They had to flee from Jerusalem in order for Jesus' life to be spared again, and in John 12, they're coming back a second time.

Thomas is like, why are we doing this? He was angry, and that emotion could have defined him. That's the first emotion that we see in Thomas, is he's angry. The second emotion that we see is that he was thoroughly confused by Jesus.

Now, if you remember, John 10, they're fleeing Jerusalem, John 11, they're back in Jerusalem, John 11, they're back fleeing again, and then John 12, they're back. Thomas probably felt like he was on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Jesus, what are you doing to me? They were all confused as they head towards the city on Palm Sunday. They're up early in the morning on the Mount of Olives with the sun at Jesus' back. Jesus is mounting the donkey that's gonna take him down the hill and into the city of Jerusalem, and at that moment, the disciples seem to be in a worshipful place.

All of the frustration and stress and all of the anxiety that have occurred recently seems to have passed. Luke tells us that they were singing songs as they went down the hill, which would have been a very traditional thing for a Jew to do.

There's a section of Psalms, Psalm 120 through Psalm 134, that is called the Songs of Ascent. As you are ascending up to Jerusalem, during the Passover season especially, you are singing the Psalms, just like we sing the Psalms every week.

Psalm 120 is about God's presence during times of distress. Psalm 121 is joyful praise to the Lord. Psalm 122 is praying for Jerusalem. Psalm 134 is praising God and His temple. There is all of these Psalms that they would be singing.

They're songs of actual victory as they were walking up the hill to the place where God had chosen to manifest His glory. So they were in a worshipful mood. They've been angry, they've been confused, they've been upset, now they're worshiping.

The gamut of their emotions was all over the place. You can imagine they're probably a little emotionally exhausted. Then they come into the city. The city's laying palm branches on the ground. They're shouting, Hosanna in the highest.

Lord Jesus, save us now. They see Jesus reenacting the Solomonic ride up to the city as we talked about a few weeks ago in Kings. Jesus is showing them that He is their coming King. He's showcasing that He is the reality of Zechariah chapter nine.

He is the King. So the disciples are probably now encouraged. They're probably thinking, Jesus, okay, He's gonna reign. He's gonna sit on the throne of His father, David. It's all gonna work out. And then Jesus, as He is oft to do, throws them into confusion again.

Instead of letting well enough alone, Jesus cleanses the temple. He overturns the money changers. He chases out the robbers and all of those people who were polluting the temple with whips. And He says, my house is a house of prayer, not a house of robbery.

So now the Jews are infuriated with Him. The city was just celebrating Him and now they're infuriated. You can imagine Thomas saying, what is this guy doing? The next day, Jesus comes back into the city and He verbally excoriates the Pharisees with parable after parable after parable, saying that I'm going to take the kingdom of God away from you and I'm going to give it to the Gentiles.

The Pharisees were like, what in the world is this man talking about? But it doesn't stop there. After He tells them these parables that they would have, at a moment's notice, killed Him if they could, then He pronounces seven covenantal woes upon them.

You can read that in Matthew 23 where He says, woe to you Pharisees, hypocrites, woe to you, seven covenantal curses upon these people who think that they're God's gift to the world. You can imagine Thomas, every single woe that Jesus pronounces, they hightail it out of Jerusalem after that.

One of the disciples points to Jesus and says, look at all these buildings, and Jesus says, don't worry about it, they're all going to be torn down. So the spirits are high. They go from there to the upper room.

And in the upper room, we have that in John 13 through 17, so we'll be coming up on that soon in our time together. But Jesus is teaching them now how they're going to live life without Him, and they have no idea what He's talking about.

They're all confused thoroughly. They're thinking, okay, we've had a rough couple days, we get through Passover, we'll rework it, we'll draw up a new chart on how we're going to take over Israel, everything will be fine.

Jesus is trying to tell them, I'm leaving, and you are going to abandon me, and you're going to forsake me. During the meal, Jesus predicts His betrayal, and He says, one of you is going to sell me out.

And then imagine all of them saying, Jesus, this is a happy time, this is Passover, why are you talking like this? They're saying, you know, Jesus, don't be that guy. But no, really, they're all asking themselves, is it me?

Am I the one who would betray my Lord? Jesus, surely you're not talking about me, and He gives them a sign of what He's talking about, but the emotions are all over the place. You can imagine from the joy of the triumphal entry now to thinking that the whole thing's coming to a crashing end, they're all over the place.

Jesus realizes this in John 14, and He takes a moment to encourage them. This is what He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places.

If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may also be, and if you know the way where I am going, and you know the way that I'm going.

No one else had the courage to say it, but Thomas did. Thomas vocalizes their confusion. Thomas is like, I don't know what you're talking about. He says in verse five of chapter 14, Lord, we do not know where you are going.

How do we know the way? And that's a fair statement. Lord, we don't know what you're doing. If it were up to me, we would have totally not went to Hill Lazarus. We would have not went in the way that we did in public fanfare into the city.

We would have snuck into the city, we'd have quietly ate Passover, we'd have went back to Galilee, and we'd have figured out how to make all of this better. You did this in a way that I would have never done.

God, or he says, Jesus, he didn't say God yet. Jesus, I don't know what you're doing. I don't know where you're going. I don't know what's fueling the decisions that you are making. I trust you, but you're making it really hard.

He says, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? It's here. It's here, right in the midst of his confusion that he makes one of the greatest statements ever uttered in his entire ministry.

It's here, and Jesus does this with Thomas a lot where he'll minister to Thomas in these beautiful ways, but it's here where Thomas says, we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way that Jesus says, I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.

He's saying, Thomas, you may be confused about what I'm doing, but you don't have to understand where I'm going. What you have to understand is you have to follow me step by step by step. You don't need to know if I'm making a left.

You don't need to know if I'm making a right. You don't need to know all of the details. What you need to know is you need to stay beside of me and follow me and walk with me because I am the way. His response was to remind him that it's about me.

It's not about you, Thomas. Thomas was confused, and if that moment defined Thomas, we would know him now today as Thomas the befuddled. That's the second emotion that we see. The third emotion is that Thomas was fearful.

This is in John 16. Now, John 14 and John 16 happen in the same room, the upper room, so you can imagine they've had the meal. Jesus said one of them is gonna betray him. He washes their feet, and near the end of the night, he looks at them in John 16, and he says this.

Behold, an hour is coming and has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave me alone, and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. He just comforted them. He just said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, but none of you are gonna follow me.

Again, can you imagine the emotions of this night? Can you imagine what the disciples must have been thinking? Jesus is talking to blue-collar guys. Several of them are fishermen who own a fishing company.

One of them is a tax collector who's hated by the Israelites because he's in bed with Rome. One of them is a zealot who, under normal circumstances, would have killed Matthew because he was a traitor.

One of them is actually a betrayer, and then the other one is the pragmatist Thomas, who's like, I thought we were going to have you sit on the throne, Jesus. Not all of us go to our own homes and scatter and defeat Jesus.

Thomas is not singled out in this passage. Thomas is not labeled in this passage, but he's one of the 12. So if you're keeping score so far, Thomas is a hot-headed, dim-witted, yellow-bellied man. If that's the way he was known, what a legacy.

Now, we know that he's also known as the doubter. How does he get to that point? Well, from there, the disciples sang some songs to try to encourage them. This was traditional in the Passover meal. Jesus says, all of you are going to scatter, but let's sing.

And then after they sang, they left for the garden. Jesus goes off by himself to pray. Right after that, Judas and a company of evil men descend upon them and grab Jesus. And Peter finally shows up, grabs his sword, and cuts the ear off of the high priest's servant.

His name is Malchus. Jesus has to correct Peter. But good for Peter. At least he fought. I mean, what a legacy that is, right? At least he did something. I'd rather be the one to do something and Jesus correct me than not do anything at all.

But what I found fascinating is you don't hear Thomas mentioned here. The one who said in John 11, let us go with him and die with him. Now he's not even willing to stay with him. And he scatters. And he goes home and he fulfills Jesus's prophecy.

An hour later, an hour later, Jesus is taken to the home of Caiaphas, where they will smack him in the face. They will blindfold him. They will mistreat him. They will bring false witnesses against him.

And they will arrest him. And then they will take him to Herod, the puppet king of Israel. And Herod will look for Jesus to do magic tricks. And when Jesus doesn't entertain him in the way that Herod wants to be entertained, then he mocks him and he sends him back to Pilate.

And then when he gets in front of Pilate and the Jews are screaming, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate realizes that the city is out of control and his political career is in jeopardy.

Pilate acquiesces to their demands. He flogs Jesus with 40 whips with the cat of nine tails. It was a awful whip with glass and bone attached to the ends of the strap so that when it wrapped around a body, it would dig into the flesh.

And when they would pull it away, it would rip pieces of meat off of the body. 40 lashes was enough to kill most people. 41 definitely would kill everyone. Jesus would have had bones exposed in his back.

If you've ever watched The Passion of the Christ, and I'm not recommending it because of a couple different reasons, but if you've ever watched it, it is light. It is not accurate on the brutality that Jesus would have went through.

He was beaten, he was flogged, he was spit upon. They put a crown of thorns and shoved the thorns on top of his head. These aren't rosebush thorns in the United States. These are like little daggers in that region.

Mocking him the entire way. They put a scepter in his hand. They put a purple robe on top of him and said, you are the king. What a mockery that they put him through. Where was Thomas? Thomas wasn't there.

Thomas didn't see it. Thomas didn't experience any of that. He was back at home, afraid. They pronounced Jesus guilty. Shortly after, they released a murderer named Barabbas, and then they sent Jesus up the hill.

Think about the passion of the Jews, the passion for their Passover. They're marching heaven's true lamb up the hill to slaughter him, and they don't even know it. He carries his cross. He's dehydrated to the point of exhaustion and dizziness.

The blood loss is causing him to be weak. His muscles are failing. He's stumbling. They had to get another man to carry the rest of the cross all the way up the hill. His name is Simon of Cyrene. Jesus was not a European hair model sissy that you see on the commercials.

That's funny. You can give yourself permission to laugh at that. I know it's intense, but Jesus was a carpenter. A lot of studies have actually shown that that word means stonemason as well. He would have been used to picking up very heavy things.

Jesus was not a scrawny man. Jesus was a man. And the brutality of this, he couldn't even carry his own cross. Where was Thomas? Where was Thomas when the nails went into his wrist? Where was Thomas when the nails went into his feet?

Where was Thomas when the cross was lifted up and dropped down into the hole, and all of the weight of Jesus's body went down with it? Where was Thomas? Where was he when his eyes grew weary? Where was Thomas when Jesus's tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth?

Where was Thomas when Jesus's body was out of joint? Where was Thomas when his body was hanging there and your diaphragm was crushing at this point so that you couldn't breathe? That is how you die in a crucifixion.

You don't die from the wounds and the beatings. You actually die from suffocation because when your body is hanging there like that, you can't breathe. So you have to push up with your feet against the nails and against the splintered cross 12 inches up that cross just to take a breath 12 inches back down until you suffocate and die.

Where was Thomas? Where was Thomas when the Jews mocked him, when they gave him vinegar instead of water to drink? Where was Thomas when Jesus pushed up and said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Where was Thomas when Jesus pushed up the final time? It says that he breathed his last and he said, to tell us die, it is finished. Thomas was still in hiding. Thomas didn't see a moment of the crucifixion.

Thomas was the hot-headed, dim-witted, yellow-bellied man. That was his legacy. He didn't see Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus come get the body. He didn't see the women anoint him and wrap him with linen cloths in a hurry, by the way, because the Passover was happening and you can't leave a body hanging on the cross, Deuteronomy 21, so they had to get him off the cross quickly.

They had to do a rush job just to anoint him for burial. Thomas wasn't there when they sealed the tomb. Thomas wasn't there when the forces of hell were singing because they thought that they had victory.

Thomas wasn't there when the Romans had forgotten his name. Thomas wasn't there when the Jews were gloating. Thomas wasn't there on Sunday morning when the earth started trembling. Thomas wasn't there when the rock started moving out of its place.

Thomas wasn't there when the soldiers started fainting because they saw an angel of God. Thomas wasn't there when Jesus' body was coming back to life. And Thomas was not there when Jesus stood up, defied death, rose from the dead, and walked out of the tomb.

Thomas wasn't there when the eyewitnesses came back, when Mary came back and said, where's he at? Thomas wasn't there when John and Peter ran towards the tomb to find out. Thomas wasn't there when they locked the door.

They were all afraid. They were sitting inside the upper room and Jesus appeared to them and he said, peace. Thomas is the only one who missed everything. He missed everything. He didn't see anything.

The hot-headed, dim-witted, yellow-bellied, missing in action, blind as a bat man. And by far, his doubt was what he was most famous for. He doubted. It says in the text that the disciples were the ones who confronted him and told him, we've seen him, he's alive.

And Thomas, like a scientific, analytic-minded person that he is, said this, unless I see in his wrist the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Four moments in Thomas' life. Four moments of failure. Four moments that he deserved to have define him. He was a doubter. He was confused. He was bitter. He was angry. He was us. He was us. But I want you to see something here because Jesus could have let Thomas go.

Jesus could have written Thomas off. Jesus could have said, that one is not worth saving. Jesus didn't say that about Thomas and he doesn't say that about you either. Jesus not only is going to save Thomas, he's going to redefine his identity.

Thomas in John 20: New Creation and a New Identity

Let's see how it plays out in John 20. So it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, that's an interesting fact.

Jesus has rose from the dead and they're still hiding and afraid. They have not figured out yet how important the resurrection is. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you.

And when he said this, he showed them both his hands and his side and his disciples rejoiced that they had saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.

They didn't get that part either, not yet. And then he said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins will be forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.

That's a ecclesiological verse that's talking about the church. As the apostles are the foundation of the church, Christ is the cornerstone of the church. The church will have dominion on earth, and Jesus is even pointing to this here.

Also in Matthew, in Matthew's gospel, where he says, whatever you bind on earth, we bound on earth. Whatever you bind in heaven, we bound in heaven. This is an example of that. It's a tough verse. It's a whole sermon in and of itself.

But trust me for a moment. But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying, we have seen the Lord, but he said, unless I see his hands in the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

I will not believe. Thomas, the skeptic, the doubter, the analytic, the one who says, there is no way on earth that I could ever believe in this. And Jesus lets him sit in that for eight days. Do you wanna know why that's important?

Seven days is the original creation week. Eighth day is new creation. Eighth day is new creation. He lets him sit in his old created self for seven days. In his depression, in his frustration, in his unbelief, he lets him sit in that old creation, that old man.

He lets him sit there for seven days. But on the eighth day, he's gonna make him a new creation. On the eighth day, Jesus is gonna do something to Thomas that Thomas will be struggling to figure out for the rest of his life.

He will no longer be defined as the hothead. He will no longer be defined as the dimwit. He will no longer be defined as the yellow-bellied coward who abandoned his disciple and the one who doubted that Jesus could rise from the dead.

In John chapter 20, Jesus redefines him. Look at what it says in verse 26. After eight days, new creation. His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Misery loves company. Thomas was like, there's no Jesus, but these are the only friends I've got.

So I'm gonna sit with them, even though they annoy me and they always talk about Jesus. And then Jesus came. The doors were shut and he stood in their midst and he said, peace be with you. You can imagine Thomas saying, are my eyes deceiving me?

Am I taking the same medication that you've all been taking when you say that you see the risen Christ? Are we having a corporate shared delusion? My mind must be playing tricks on me. What is going on here?

And Thomas, when he looks in the face of Jesus, you know, the Old Testament blessing is that God will shine his face on you. That's the Old Testament blessing. When Thomas looks in the face of Jesus, you can imagine this man who's impulsive, who always has to have the last word, who can't hold his tongue.

In that moment, when Jesus said, reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here with your fist and put it in my side, but do not go unbelieving any longer. None of that was necessary any longer.

Thomas didn't need a finger. He didn't need a fist. He could not stop his tongue from saying, my Lord and my God. His doubt no longer vexed him. His anger no longer buoyed up inside of him. His fear was gone.

His confusion had been turned into conviction. Thomas saw the risen Christ. In the revelation of Jesus's presence, he could not help but saying the greatest statement ever uttered by man, my Lord and my God.

Not just Lord, not just God, my Lord and my God. He is God in the flesh. He is Yahweh. He's the same God who parted the Red Sea. He's the same God who chose Israel for himself. And yet he's in the flesh.

He's my Lord. He's my Lord. He doesn't say their Lord and their God. Jesus is in the room face to face with Thomas and he says, my God, my Lord. We've got to stop calling Thomas the doubter. Thomas went on that day from doubter to believer.

Thomas went on that day from angry to worshiper. Thomas went on that day from confused to convicted. He went on that day from coward to conqueror. Thomas would take the gospel all the way to India and he would die a martyr's death with not a hesitation in his heart because he's seen the risen Christ.

We've got to stop calling him Thomas the doubter. This man is Thomas the believer. And the same reality that changed him on that day can change you too. How many times have you been defined by your sin?

I'm the angry one. I just can't keep my peace. I just, I have to, whenever a situation comes up, I get anxious and I'm an angry person. We say that. You're bullheaded. You always do what you want to do.

You never do this. You always do that. I'm the one who abandoned my family. I'm the one who left. I'm the one who is a coward. I'm the one who abdicated my responsibility. I'm the one who's addicted. I'm the one who's lustful and can't stop looking at pornography.

I'm the one who's a liar and an avoider. I'm the one who's an abuser. I'm the one who's an enabler. All these secret sins. How many sins has Satan tried to convince you that are your identity? You say, I am this, I am that.

No, you're not. If you are in Jesus Christ, you are not your sin. If you're in Jesus Christ, you are not your failure. If you're in Jesus Christ, you are not the stumbles that you've had in your life.

You are, you have one name. And it's not sin and idolatry and not anger and not everything else. You have the name that is above every name written on your heart. If you're a Christian, you are known by the name.

Stop calling yourself by these identities. Remember that your identity is in Jesus Christ. If you're a Christian, stop letting the world, the flesh and the devil define you. And start remembering that you have been redefined, remade, recreated by Jesus Christ.

Say with Paul in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live is not my old life. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and who gave himself up for me.

Dear Christian, you've been made new. You are not your failure and you are not your sin. You've been crucified with Christ. Remember that. If you're not a believer, you are those things. If you've told a single lie, you're a liar.

If you've looked at someone lustfully, you're an adulterer. If you've been angry at someone, you're a murderer, a murderer of heart. If you're not a Christian, you will be defined by your sin. So turn to Jesus Christ.

He will redefine you just like he did for Thomas. He'll make you new. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, every single person in this room has been lied to by someone. It's either by Satan, the world, someone else or themselves.

And we've adopted identities like loser and failure, broken, abandoned. Those things are not true for us, Jesus. I pray that as we look at the empty tomb that we would see those identities left there on the bench right beside the grave clothes.

Because when Christ rose, you gave us a new identity. Lord, would you make that real to us? And Lord, would you heal us of our brokenness? In Christ's name, amen.