{"id":57,"date":"2008-08-19T09:20:18","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T16:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbcbeacon.wordpress.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2008-08-19T09:20:18","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T16:20:18","slug":"the-apostle-thomas-real-men-ask-for-directions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2008\/08\/19\/the-apostle-thomas-real-men-ask-for-directions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apostle Thomas – Part 2 – Real Men Ask for Directions"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stephen Rodgers<\/em><\/p>\n

Part 2 of 4: John 14:1-6<\/p>\n

This passage gives us another peak into the perceptions and priorities of Thomas. \u00a0Christ is preparing the disciples for His impending death, and for the most part, they\u2019re just not getting the message. \u00a0And while it\u2019s very easy for those of us with the benefit of historical context to malign and impugn them for that, it\u2019s probably wiser to simply observe.<\/div>\n
In this case, like the others, Thomas is sitting, listening to Jesus. \u00a0And he remains silent throughout the entire event…until Jesus announces that He\u2019s leaving and that He presumably expects the disciples to follow Him later, since they “know the way.”<\/div>\n
Again, cue Thomas: Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”<\/div>\n
Now most of us guys don\u2019t ask for directions. \u00a0We can thank our stupid pride for that. \u00a0We don\u2019t need directions, we can find it on our own. \u00a0Even if someone directly asks us if we know how to get to someplace that we\u2019ve never been before, we\u2019ll nod confidently and then check Mapquest later. \u00a0Or if we\u2019re really desperate, we\u2019ll fabricate some partial assumption of knowledge in order to marginalize our ignorance (“Oh yeah…it\u2019s near the thing right?”)<\/div>\n
Not Thomas. \u00a0Oh no.<\/div>\n
Thomas freaks out. \u00a0“Wait! \u00a0Where are you going? \u00a0How will we get there? \u00a0We don\u2019t know the way! \u00a0How will we find you again?” \u00a0Again, over and over Thomas shows where his priorities lie: in staying as close to Jesus as possible. \u00a0He\u2019s not the brightest or the happiest of the disciples, but he\u2019s managed to boil it all down to a working system: just stay close to Christ, and everything will be alright.<\/div>\n
At this point, the core element of Thomas life has been threatened. \u00a0Jesus might be leaving. \u00a0In his mind, Jesus might be leaving him! \u00a0And so, he jolts into action like any of us do when a particularly sensitive nerve has been touched. \u00a0Should he play it cool? \u00a0There\u2019s no time. \u00a0What about his pride? \u00a0Forget pride! \u00a0The central pillar of his life is under assault, and there is no reaction strong enough to be termed an overreaction. \u00a0This is not the time for dispassionate reflection; this is the time to completely freak out! \u00a0You can almost see the other disciples recoiling as Thomas goes straight to DEFCON 1 with no warning whatsoever.<\/div>\n
It bears consideration that Thomas does this in front of his friends. \u00a0None of the other disciples asked Jesus what he meant. \u00a0None of the others raised an eyebrow at His remarks regarding His impending departure. \u00a0Possibly they simply didn\u2019t want to be the first to admit a lack of understanding. \u00a0Perhaps Thomas simply never gave anyone a chance because he reacted so quickly. \u00a0We don\u2019t know. \u00a0But we do know that Thomas wasn\u2019t about to let the opinions of his friends get in the way of his understanding exactly what Jesus meant, or ensuring that regardless of where Christ went, he was right behind Him. \u00a0And if that meant humbling himself, risking his ego, and asking for help and direction, then that was a small price to pay to make sure that Jesus didn\u2019t get away from him.<\/div>\n
For all his pessimism, Thomas had his priorities straight.<\/div>\n

This passage gives us another peak into the perceptions and priorities of Thomas. \u00a0Christ is preparing the disciples for His impending death, and for the most part, they\u2019re just not getting the message. \u00a0And while it\u2019s very easy for those of us with the benefit of historical context to malign and impugn them for that, it\u2019s probably wiser to simply observe.<\/p>\n

In this case, like the others, Thomas is sitting, listening to Jesus. \u00a0And he remains silent throughout the entire event…until Jesus announces that He\u2019s leaving and that He presumably expects the disciples to follow Him later, since they “know the way.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, cue Thomas: Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Now most of us guys don\u2019t ask for directions. \u00a0We can thank our stupid pride for that. \u00a0We don\u2019t need directions, we can find it on our own. \u00a0Even if someone directly asks us if we know how to get to someplace that we\u2019ve never been before, we\u2019ll nod confidently and then check Mapquest later. \u00a0Or if we\u2019re really desperate, we\u2019ll fabricate some partial assumption of knowledge in order to marginalize our ignorance (“Oh yeah…it\u2019s near the thing right?”)<\/span><\/p>\n

Not Thomas. \u00a0Oh no.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas freaks out. \u00a0“Wait! \u00a0Where are you going? \u00a0How will we get there? \u00a0We don\u2019t know the way! \u00a0How will we find you again?” \u00a0Again, over and over Thomas shows where his priorities lie: in staying as close to Jesus as possible. \u00a0He\u2019s not the brightest or the happiest of the disciples, but he\u2019s managed to boil it all down to a working system: just stay close to Christ, and everything will be alright.<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, the core element of Thomas life has been threatened. \u00a0Jesus might be leaving. \u00a0In his mind, Jesus might be leaving him! \u00a0And so, he jolts into action like any of us do when a particularly sensitive nerve has been touched. \u00a0Should he play it cool? \u00a0There\u2019s no time. \u00a0What about his pride? \u00a0Forget pride! \u00a0The central pillar of his life is under assault, and there is no reaction strong enough to be termed an overreaction. \u00a0This is not the time for dispassionate reflection; this is the time to completely freak out! \u00a0You can almost see the other disciples recoiling as Thomas goes straight to DEFCON 1 with no warning whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n

It bears consideration that Thomas does this in front of his friends. \u00a0None of the other disciples asked Jesus what he meant. \u00a0None of the others raised an eyebrow at His remarks regarding His impending departure. \u00a0Possibly they simply didn\u2019t want to be the first to admit a lack of understanding. \u00a0Perhaps Thomas simply never gave anyone a chance because he reacted so quickly. \u00a0We don\u2019t know. \u00a0But we do know that Thomas wasn\u2019t about to let the opinions of his friends get in the way of his understanding exactly what Jesus meant, or ensuring that regardless of where Christ went, he was right behind Him. \u00a0And if that meant humbling himself, risking his ego, and asking for help and direction, then that was a small price to pay to make sure that Jesus didn\u2019t get away from him.<\/span><\/p>\n

For all his pessimism, Thomas had his priorities straight.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stephen Rodgers Part 2 of 4: John 14:1-6 This passage gives us another peak into the perceptions and priorities of Thomas. \u00a0Christ is preparing the disciples for His impending death, and for the most part, they\u2019re just not getting the message. \u00a0And while it\u2019s very easy for those of us with the benefit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel-and-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}