by Bryony Wood
A week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!'
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your hand here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.'
Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!'
Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
We don't know why Thomas was absent when the other disciples had first seen the resurrected Jesus the previous week, but one thing is for sure, he missed one of the most momentous events in history!
He had seen his master killed, but refused to believe the reports that he was truly alive again. Thomas needed proof. But it's a bit unfair to label Thomas as the only doubter among the disciples. Earlier, they had all doubted when confronted with the news that Jesus had risen; it was only having seen him that they too believed.
It's also worth noting that the disciples were still cowering in a locked room even though they had seen the risen Christ. Their fear in the Jewish authorities was greater than their faith in the risen Lord. It took a few more weeks for them to finally live in the freedom and power that came through the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost.
Accounts like this dispel the myth that the risen Jesus was merely a ghost. His resurrection was not simply that of a corpse coming back from the dead. When Jesus rose on Easter Sunday he was the embodiment of a new kind of ‘heavenly' life. He was clearly recognisable; and the New Testament gives several examples where he could eat, speak, breathe, walk and function as before, but he could also enter locked rooms with supernatural power!
Thomas had said the week before that unless he actually saw the nail marks he would not believe. Jesus knew exactly what Thomas had been saying; and graciously gave him the proof he needed. Nothing we say or think is beyond our Saviour's knowledge and understanding. Yet even though he had doubted, Thomas then became the first man in the Bible to recognise that Jesus was God himself.
‘My Lord and my God,' he says. A divine revelation, for who else apart from God could, and would, be able to achieve such an amazing thing?
Like millions of Christians before us, we have a choice. Based on the testimony of other believers, the evidence in the Bible, and our own experience; will we believe and have faith in the risen Christ? Or will we allow doubt to rob us of that amazing gift? When we choose to believe through faith , then we become those who Jesus refers to as ‘blessed'; and I like the idea of being called ‘blessed' by God, don't you?
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