The Hunt for Easter Faith: Over Easy or Hard Boiled

Happy Easter. I hope all your expectations have been met, so far. Easter— like most holidays—come with their own expectations. Some people expect a good sermon—good and short; some expect dinner—the honey baked ham and all the fixings. Some must have a fashion parade, and the kids look for an Easter egg hunt. I hope no one is like the mom I read about who did the unthinkable the last time Easter fell on April Fool’s Day. She combined the two days by sending her kids out to look for eggs she didn’t hide. Now that’s mean. Kids came hunting for eggs on Easter. Why not—tradition says eggs represent life. And Easter is about life. So, there is nothing wrong with an Easter Hunt.

There was a hunt the first Easter, more than 2,000 years ago. Disciples, friends and even enemies of Christ came hunting for the one who promised He would rise from the grave. Some went away disappointed. Others went away blessed.

Easter was a hunt then, and it’s a hunt now—not for eggs—but for a Christ by faith. So, in a real way, Easter is a search for faith—not just any faith, but an “Easter Faith” that blesses. John 20:24-30 is an Easter faith hunt of a man named Thomas Didymus. His last name means twin. Appropriately, so. He had two faiths. They looked a lot like these two Easter Eggs. One is fragile (I tap the raw dyed egg). One is a firm (I tap the hard boil egg). If you were on a hunt for faith, represented by these eggs—which faith would work for you—the Over-Easy faith or the firm Easter Faith?

Some come to Easter with a fragile faith where seeing is believing. I call it an over-easy Faith. Thomas came to the Easter hunt with an easy faith that cracked under pressure. We see that in verses 24-25:

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands 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." John 20:24-25

Thomas, who once in John 11, wanted to go with Jesus to protect Him as he was going a dangerous part of Judea where they wanted to kill him, said, “Let’s go with him that we may die with him. Nine chapters later, Thomas is nowhere to be found. His faith is over, just that easily.

Absence is a sign of fragile faith. Hebrews 10:25 admonishes us to be present:

25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25

Doubt is also a sign of fragile faith. Thomas doubted their sound testimony. Weak faith will do that: shut your ears to the testimony of your friends who have experienced Christ.

The insistence on seeing before believing is a sign of a fragile, over-easy faith. Look at verse 25 again. Thomas demanded: "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands

Church, an easy faith is an insufficient faith that produces: no direction; no growth and no momentum in your life. The point is: an “Over Easy” faith where you must see it to believe it, will crack under pressure. So, hunt for a better faith. Get an upgrade to an Easter Faith like Thomas.

Some come away from Easter with a better faith—an Easter faith—that blesses because they have had a real encounter with Christ. Thomas encountered Christ who upgraded his faith and testimony. We see the encounter and the upgrade in verse 27.

Jesus showed up again in the upper room. He went right to Thomas: 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." John 20:27

Thomas put his hand in the side of Jesus, he found a whole new testimony. Look at verse 28: Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:28 In Thomas’ testimony, “My Lord” (Kyrios), he is testifying that Christ is now the One he will fully follow, not by sight, but by the Spirit of Christ. Then, Christ defined the difference between “Over-easy” faith and an Easter Faith where believing is seeing. Easter Faith is a faith that blesses. Look at verse 29: Then Jesus told him,

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29

All the disciples found that better faith. And they were transformed to bless the church with direction, growth and momentum. Thomas evangelized India. He blessed the church with direction. Peter preached Christ— 3,000 were saved. He blessed the church with growth. Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to the greatest promoter of the church. He blessed the church with momentum in its infancy.

Thomas went on an Easter hunt that first Easter. He started out with an “Over-easy faith” that cracked under pressure. But he had a final encounter with Christ that upgraded his faith to a better, blessed faith where believing was seeing in a greater way.

The choice is yours: an Over Easy faith, or an Easter faith that will give you a blessed assurance.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!