{"id":99,"date":"2008-12-17T10:45:29","date_gmt":"2008-12-17T17:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbcbeacon.wordpress.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2008-12-17T10:45:29","modified_gmt":"2008-12-17T17:45:29","slug":"the-apostle-thomas-from-despair-to-declaration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2008\/12\/17\/the-apostle-thomas-from-despair-to-declaration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apostle Thomas – Part 4 – From Despair to Declaration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Part 4 of 4: John 20:26-28
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen that Thomas doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. \u00a0But was his doubt so bad? \u00a0Did that really distinguish him from the rest of the disciples? \u00a0Not at all! \u00a0Scripture tells us that the other disciples didn\u2019t believe that Jesus had risen until He appeared to them as well. \u00a0The women tried to tell them, but they wouldn\u2019t listen to them either.<\/div>\n
Matthew 28:16-17 tells us that \u201csome doubted.\u201d \u00a0Mark 16:9-11 tells us that when \u201cthey heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.\u201d \u00a0And Luke 24:8-11 states that \u201ctheir words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.\u201d<\/div>\n
It\u2019s almost comical. \u00a0The disciples who were so recently sharing in Thomas\u2019 skepticism are now attempting to convert him to their perspective, but they can\u2019t. \u00a0One can almost imagine Mary Magdelene in the background shaking her head…”Now you know what it feels like to have the greatest news in the history of the world…and be unable to find an audience. \u00a0Good job guys. \u00a0Good job.” \u00a0Welcome to the role-reversal.<\/div>\n
Until finally Christ himself appears to Thomas. \u00a0Again, you can almost picture Thomas…he wants to believe so badly. \u00a0This is what he wants more than anything else. \u00a0He can\u2019t cry anymore, he\u2019s cried until he has no more tears. \u00a0He can\u2019t decide whether his friends are preying on his fears or simply have snapped. \u00a0He\u2019s probably replayed the events of the past week hundreds of times in his mind…”If only we never went to the garden…if only we\u2019d tossed Judas overboard on the Sea of Galilee…if only we\u2019d defended Him from the mob, at least we could have died with Him!…If only we…If only I…”<\/div>\n
Maybe he\u2019s blinking. \u00a0Maybe he\u2019s rubbing his eyes. \u00a0He probably walking towards Jesus, terrified that when he gets there it will all have been a hallucination or a trick of the light. \u00a0And Jesus turns to him. \u00a0He looks into the eyes of his teacher, who he never thought to see again. \u00a0And then Jesus speaks to him. \u00a0He hears the voice of his master, who he never thought to hear again!<\/div>\n
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”<\/div>\n
Jesus\u2019 words are not mocking. \u00a0They don\u2019t repudiate Thomas; they reassure Him. \u00a0Thomas had seen his Lord cast out demons, walk on water, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, give speech to the lame, run semantic circles around the intellectual elite of his day, and forgive sins…so a little omniscience is par for the course. \u00a0Jesus is reminding Thomas that He knows him; He understands his doubt, which stems not from a hardened heart…but from an utterly broken one.<\/div>\n
And so Thomas does the appropriate thing. \u00a0He understands. \u00a0And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” What a statement! \u00a0Even Simon Peter needed divine revelation from God to say those words. \u00a0And yet Thomas utters them spontaneously, of his own initiative, out of a belief that comes from love.<\/div>\n
“Doubting Thomas” indeed. \u00a0I wish I was more like him.<\/div>\n
That\u2019s the last time Scripture explicitly mentions Thomas. \u00a0Church tradition says that he carried the gospel to India where he was martyred. \u00a0The book or Revelation mentions him implicitly when it says that the names of the twelve are written on the gates of Heaven. \u00a0But we don\u2019t know anything else about Thomas, which is pretty much the point. \u00a0This isn\u2019t his story; he\u2019s just an illustration to show us a greater truth. \u00a0 That when God gets ahold of the heart of a depressed, pessimistic skeptic and his friends, He can utterly change the world.<\/div>\n

We\u2019ve seen that Thomas doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. \u00a0But was his doubt so bad? \u00a0Did that really distinguish him from the rest of the disciples? \u00a0Not at all! \u00a0Scripture tells us that the other disciples didn\u2019t believe that Jesus had risen until He appeared to them as well. \u00a0The women tried to tell them, but they wouldn\u2019t listen to them either.<\/p>\n

Matthew 28:16-17 tells us that \u201csome doubted.\u201d \u00a0Mark 16:9-11 tells us that when \u201cthey heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.\u201d \u00a0And Luke 24:8-11 states that \u201ctheir words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost comical. \u00a0The disciples who were so recently sharing in Thomas\u2019 skepticism are now attempting to convert him to their perspective, but they can\u2019t. \u00a0One can almost imagine Mary Magdelene in the background shaking her head…”Now you know what it feels like to have the greatest news in the history of the world…and be unable to find an audience. \u00a0Good job guys. \u00a0Good job.” \u00a0Welcome to the role-reversal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until finally Christ himself appears to Thomas. \u00a0Again, you can almost picture Thomas…he wants to believe so badly. \u00a0This is what he wants more than anything else. \u00a0He can\u2019t cry anymore, he\u2019s cried until he has no more tears. \u00a0He can\u2019t decide whether his friends are preying on his fears or simply have snapped. \u00a0He\u2019s probably replayed the events of the past week hundreds of times in his mind…”If only we never went to the garden…if only we\u2019d tossed Judas overboard on the Sea of Galilee…if only we\u2019d defended Him from the mob, at least we could have died with Him!…If only we…If only I…”<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019s blinking. \u00a0Maybe he\u2019s rubbing his eyes. \u00a0He probably walking towards Jesus, terrified that when he gets there it will all have been a hallucination or a trick of the light. \u00a0And Jesus turns to him. \u00a0He looks into the eyes of his teacher, who he never thought to see again. \u00a0And then Jesus speaks to him. \u00a0He hears the voice of his master, who he never thought to hear again!<\/span><\/p>\n

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 words are not mocking. \u00a0They don\u2019t repudiate Thomas; they reassure Him. \u00a0Thomas had seen his Lord cast out demons, walk on water, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, give speech to the lame, run semantic circles around the intellectual elite of his day, and forgive sins…so a little omniscience is par for the course. \u00a0Jesus is reminding Thomas that He knows him; He understands his doubt, which stems not from a hardened heart…but from an utterly broken one.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so Thomas does the appropriate thing. \u00a0He understands. \u00a0And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” What a statement! \u00a0Even Simon Peter needed divine revelation from God to say those words. \u00a0And yet Thomas utters them spontaneously, of his own initiative, out of a belief that comes from love.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Doubting Thomas” indeed. \u00a0I wish I was more like him.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the last time Scripture explicitly mentions Thomas. \u00a0Church tradition says that he carried the gospel to India where he was martyred. \u00a0The book or Revelation mentions him implicitly when it says that the names of the twelve are written on the gates of Heaven. \u00a0But we don\u2019t know anything else about Thomas, which is pretty much the point. \u00a0This isn\u2019t his story; he\u2019s just an illustration to show us a greater truth. \u00a0 That when God gets ahold of the heart of a depressed, pessimistic skeptic and his friends, He can utterly change the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stephen Rodgers Part 4 of 4: John 20:26-28 We\u2019ve seen that Thomas doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. \u00a0But was his doubt so bad? \u00a0Did that really distinguish him from the rest of the disciples? \u00a0Not at all! \u00a0Scripture tells us that the other disciples didn\u2019t believe that Jesus had risen until He […]<\/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-99","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\/99","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=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}