Facing Jesus #16 - Thomas
Matthew Mark Luke John
Words of Jesus are underlined
(This section is intended for worship on the First Sunday of Easter)
Thomas gets a bad rap. He’s called “Doubting Thomas.” He could just as easily be called “Believing Thomas” or “Courageous Thomas.” After all, when the other disciples were afraid to follow Jesus to Jerusalem for the last time, it was Thomas who declared: “Let’s go too, so that we may die with Him.” (John 11:6)
How did Thomas see the risen Lord? He was actually quicker to believe than the other disciples who saw Jesus first. They saw his hands and feet, but still needed to have Him eat something in their presence before they would believe He wasn’t a ghost. Thomas simply saw Him and declared: “My Lord and my God!”
How do you face Jesus? We no longer have the Word made flesh, but we still have the Word. God grant that as you read it, the Holy Spirit would move in you so that you may stop being “faithless, but believing.”
Lazarus Dies and Jesus Calls Him Back to Life
When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
“Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?”
…Then Tomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the risen Lord.
….But Thomas (called “Twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”
Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
(John 11:6-8, 16; John 20:20, 24–29 CSB17)
If you’ve thought of Thomas as “Doubting Thomas”, did the first part of this reading help change your mind?
Do you think you are willing to die for Christ?
What signs are there in your life that you are willing to live for Him?
Before the crucifixion of Christ, all the disciples deserted Him. After they saw the risen Lord, one after another they willingly died for Him. Why?