John 20:18–31 - Confessing Thomas
It's not wrong to doubt. But don't cling to it when the Gospel's truth becomes clear!
Gospels: Week 12 — Jesus' Resurrection and commission
SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... The women who went to prepare Jesus' body for burial, found the tomb empty and returned to tell the eleven disciples. Peter and John had run to see the empty tomb that the woman had reported early in the morning, and Mary Magdalene had already spoken to Jesus, and even hugged Him.
John 20:18–31 (NASB95)
18 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
19 So when 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, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I 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.”
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 22
Q What then must a Christian believe?
A. Everything God promises us in the gospel.
That gospel is summarized for us
in the articles of our Christian faith—
[the Apostles' Creed] —
a creed beyond doubt,
and confessed throughout the world.
Summary
The doors we're still shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. The evidence is beginning to pile up that something big has happened; His tomb is empty and Mary Magdalene even claims to have hugged the once again very much alive Jesus. But still they huddled together in that room afraid to go out. Thomas has carried with him the moniker of 'Doubting' for two millennia for his role in this scene, but really, none of these disciples is demonstrating strong faith here. They're all 'doubters' at this point as they hide behind a locked door.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Jesus came and stood in their midst. His opening words left no doubt as to His true identity, as He says to them peace be with you! But Jesus has no time for small talk, or even to give an explanation for how He extricated Himself from a sealed tomb after having publicly died on a cross some three and a half days earlier.
Rather, Jesus gives them (and us) a commission: As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. Where to? The destination Jesus gives isn't geographical, it's evangelical. Jesus' mission for His newly formed Church is to proclaim forgiveness. Those to whom the Church forgives, their sin will be forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.
Jesus here is not giving the disciples present in that room some sort of spiritual superpower to zap guilt in those they favor while leaving others to wallow in it. As D.A. Carson explains, "it is simply the result of the preaching of the gospel, which either brings men to repent as they hear of the ready and costly forgiveness of God, or leaves them unresponsive to the offer of forgiveness which is the gospel, and so they are left in their sins."
Dig Deeper
But Thomas missed out; He was not with them when Jesus came. Of course his colleagues eagerly tell him that we have seen the Lord as soon as Thomas gets back, but Thomas wants more than a story. He wants proof; He wants to see in Jesus' hands the imprint of the nails, and to put his finger into the place of the nails, and put his hand into His side. Without this sort of hard, incontrovertible evidence, Thomas stubbornly reports that he will not believe.
Thomas stubbornly held the line for eight days. But then suddenly Jesus came through the (still) shut doors once again, this time when Thomas was with them. What would Jesus say to Thomas, who so far has refused to believe? Would Thomas be subjected to the 'O ye of little faith' scold that the disciples heard so often during their three years with Jesus?
No. Not even close. Rather Jesus invites Thomas to experience the proof he'd demanded, so that he would no longer be unbelieving, but believing. Notice, though, that Thomas never touched Jesus' wounds. He didn't need to - He'd been fully convinced seeing and hearing His Savior. Thomas immediately responds with the Bible's most beautiful confession of faith: My Lord and my God!
Believing in the truth of the Gospel has never ever been about simply taking a blind leap of faith, or substituting logic and reason for mere belief. Like Thomas, you can and even should ask hard questions of Scripture and have a high bar of proof that must be satisfied. Truth can sustain the most aggressive of inquiries. But when that bar has been met, like Thomas, you must confess your belief and submit to it.
You will not see Jesus like Thomas and the other disciples did. But as awesome as that experience must have been, we've been given something better. Jesus told Thomas, blessed are they who did not see, and yet believe.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who through His Holy Spirit, and because of His Son Jesus, builds His Church;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would have faith like Thomas';
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
header.all-comments