John 20:24-29

Hey everybody.

Thanks for being with us as we close out the week here in the Gospel of John.

Grateful to have you joining us as we move toward the end of chapter 20

and the the kind of final,

resurrection appearance in this chapter, which is really a series

of resurrection appearances that kind of get fine tuned.

And this one is well known.

It's maybe unfortunate for one of the main characters that it is,

but I think this is a story that's pretty familiar with most people.

The story of Thomas.

We jump in here in verse 24.

I'll read to the end of this little scene, and then we'll come back

and have some conversation.

But Thomas, who was called the twin, one of the 12, was not with them

when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, we've seen the Lord.

But he said to

them, unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger

in the mark of the nails, in my hand in his side, I will not believe.

A week later, his disciples were again in the house,

and Thomas was with them, although the doors were shut.

Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it in my side.

Do not doubt, but believe.

Thomas answered, my Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen

and yet come to believe.

So again, this is a very well known story, somewhat

unfortunately for the disciple Thomas, who we learn here is called the twin.

There are some explanations for that.

We do or don't know if they're accurate,

but that one tradition has maybe that Jesus and Thomas looked a bit alike

and others that Thomas is a twin or looks like one of the other disciples.

To my knowledge, we can only speculate about that.

But he is, according to John here, called the twin.

And so we learn in the appearance

that we looked at yesterday, Thomas is evidently not there.

And when he comes back, the disciples

tell him exactly what Mary Magdalene has told them.

I've seen the Lord, but he is unable to believe it.

And I've always wondered, Michael, these words here I will not believe.

It's interesting that

there's almost a choice implied in that it's it's not

I cannot believe, which may be what he's getting at,

but the way John writes it here has a kind of forcefulness.

Like I unless I see it for myself, I will not listen to you in it.

And I think what an interesting moment

that these ten disciples

are confronting

Thomas with what they've seen,

and his either inability or his refusal

to believe that that must have been a very interesting week.

Yeah.

I think that's what stuck out to me, actually, in this reading of it

is that very simple statement in verse 26, a week later.

I mean, can you imagine those conversations

happening around the table that week as the disciples who just literally days

before went from being locked in their room, afraid

the Jews to having Jesus mysteriously enter that room with them,

you know, if you miss this, jump back to the last study

and catch up with us there and we'll wait for you right here.

But I, I think that there's this fascinating implication

that Thomas has been stewing in the gap

between the thing reported to him and the wondering

if it's real, if it's true, what would it take to believe?

Right.

And ultimately, I think that one

can miss a turning point in this story.

I think that the character of Thomas

is in many ways very relatable.

It's a very human description of a response here,

because ultimately, what I see in this, unless I see the mark,

the nails of his hands, have put my finger in the mark of the nails

and my hand in his side.

Now, other words, if this doesn't get really concrete, if I can't see it

or touch it, if I can't use these senses to verify it,

then there's absolutely no way I'm going to be taken for a fool on this one.

And if we're honest with ourselves,

we know someone who would have

the same exact rubric for something as miraculous as resurrection.

And I think if we're going to be honest with our deeper selves,

it is almost universally true that that would also be true of ourselves,

that we would want to see, because the idea

that death has been conquered, that this person who walks into the room

isn't some kind of elaborate trick or some manipulation to get people

believing something, or that it's not just grief that's been wild, right?

I think there's something deeply related

in what Thomas expresses here, even if it is a thing to the negative,

even if it is the expression and recognition of the inability.

Or I think you're right to point out, Clint, maybe unwillingness

to believe the testimony that's given that is relatable.

And I think it grips us, and that holds us.

I think that's an image.

We have this it's label that we apply to this story, Doubting Thomas.

Right. And that's what people think of when they read this story.

But that I think would be a mistake,

because that only gets us a couple verses into this story.

I think in many ways,

the top headline in this story is not that Thomas doubts that.

I think the thing that we can relate to, like the top headline this story,

is how Jesus responds to that unwillingness to believe

and that's where I think this story gets really, really interesting.

Agreed. I.

I also think that, John, we've said this before, that when John writes, he's also

sort of giving us a little bit of a lesson at times, a little bit of a sermon.

And I think that John uses this story in a really interesting way.

John is the only one that tells us his story.

He's the only one that gives us this information, this snapshot of Thomas's doubt.

And if we

if we back up and think about what is happening in the story, right.

Thomas has these men that he trusts

that he's lived with and known, that he's followed Jesus with,

and they're telling him a thing, but he can't get there.

Right.

And at some point, each of us have to make a decision for ourselves

about what we believe in.

And I think that's part of the lesson here.

I think there's another lesson coming in the back part of the story.

But on the front end, I think there is this idea

that no one else can have faith on your behalf

that has to be a personal moment and a personal encounter with the truth.

And he gets that encounter, as you say, Michael, when Jesus shows up again

and again, we have this language of the doors are locked.

And he he shows up and

it's not clear how Jesus does that, but all of a sudden he's there.

He's standing among them.

He says, peace be with you.

And then he turns his attention to Thomas, and he asks Thomas

to do the very thing that Thomas said he had to do.

Put your hand in my side.

Touch the nail marks.

Do not doubt but believe.

Do not be doubting, but be believing.

And Thomas, I, I think

you know, there's a sense in which he gets remembered

for this idea of being doubting, of not being able to believe,

but I it's easy to be also a little bit jealous of Thomas

because he gets that proof standing in front of him.

He has an opportunity to be face to face with the risen Christ,

to see the nail marks, to see the wound in his side and

and to know the truth of this proclamation.

It now no longer matters what the disciples do.

Or don't tell him.

He has seen it for himself.

And his answer is remarkable.

One of the strongest affirmations of Jesus in the Scripture.

My Lord and my God.

So again, what do we see if we back up from the text,

we see a man who has to come to faith, who has an encounter with Jesus

and then proclaims Jesus to be something that no one else has

yet said, my Lord and my God.

And so a new level, a new layer of faith for Thomas in this encounter.

And I think ultimately, John is taking us

to the next step, which we get to at the end of the passage.

It's not just even where it's going to take us in this passage.

It's the point that this passage is going to lead us to beyond.

And I think this conversation

really could come in multiple ways, I think because Thomas represents

someone who, in the face of resurrection, needs concreteness.

And in many ways, I think the shocking part of Jesus's

response is, once again, he comes proclaiming peace, right?

Which I think speaks again to the idea that now we don't have this story

set up, that their disciples are afraid of the Jews,

but yet there's still this lack of belief.

There's still this doubting, this active doubting that's happening.

Peace be with you.

Jesus is naming the anxiety,

the struggle, the the, the tumult, earnestness of this moment.

He comes into the room calling peace.

And then, without any editorializing on the front end,

put your finger here, see my hands reach out.

The thing that Thomas is yearning for, the thing that Thomas needed

for his doubt to be alleviated.

For him to be able to put down all of the concern

was granted him by Jesus.

I do think that there's a kind of gift that Jesus gives Thomas, that we,

the church later and we make this case as we get further into the book,

that that is a gift that we're supposed to receive from Thomas.

It was a thing Thomas was given, but Thomas wasn't supposed

to hold for himself.

And that, I think, is the larger story of faith

that we are always, as Christians, beggars

who trying to tell other beggars where we found bread.

And I think what Thomas receives here

is the physicality of his doubt addressed by Jesus graciously.

Jesus doesn't condemn him.

Jesus doesn't say, oh ye of little faith.

Know what Jesus is going to do?

It's he's going to say it's blessed are those who have not yet seen

and yet come to.

Blessed are those who receive

the testimony of you, Thomas, who has had this experience.

Blessed are they, and not to the detriment of Thomas,

who is also been blessed with this experience.

I think that's where we maybe get the Doubting Thomas

story off, is we think that Thomas should be put down,

when in reality I think Jesus is gracious and meets him right where he's at.

And there's even a blessing for those who don't get the experience of Thomas.

There's a blessing for those who believe, based on the account that we're given,

and that that is enough in the course of life,

so that I think those things layer in a beautiful way.

I wonder if at times, Michael, we've read,

read this story a little too critically.

In other words,

the text certainly doesn't praise Thomas, but there's no

there's no, chastising here.

Jesus doesn't scold him.

He asked him a question.

Have you believed because you've seen me?

But Thomas gets the thing that he needs.

And for the rest of us, throughout Christian history,

we have wanted that, but had to live without it.

And therefore, I think ultimately the takeaway is this last phrase

blessed are those who've not seen and yet come to believe.

And again, if we think of the Gospel of John being a little bit later

than the other gospels, that's the entire church.

That's everyone that John is writing to.

Blessed are those of you who pursue Christ, who follow Christ,

who call yourself disciples, and you do so

without the proof that Thomas and these other disciples enjoyed.

You do so on the testimony and the witness of those who have gone before you.

But you don't get to touch the nail holes, and you don't

get to put your hand in the side.

And blessed are you when you can still come

to faith, when you can still believe

without that evidence,

I, I, I don't

I don't think this maybe paints

Thomas in the greatest light, but I think this is less

a judgment on Thomas than it is an affirmation and a celebration of those

who will come to believe without the surety that Thomas enjoyed.

And you know.

Yes, it does, Thomas doubt.

Sure.

I mean, is that the point of the story?

Maybe.

But I think there's a positive message in here

that sometimes has been overshadowed by, you know,

knocking Thomas a little bit.

Yeah.

I, I honestly couldn't agree more because I think ultimately the turn

that we're going to see as we move into the next section is going to be

this amazing turn in which John breaks through the barrier

and wants to reach out through the words and grab us and say, hey,

this has been about you the whole time, and I think that you should not miss that.

This starts with the women in the garden, right?

Then it's the men running.

Then you have this very personal encounter

with Mary and the resurrected Christ, who she mistakes as a gardener.

And then it transitions into this upper room

filled with fear, or this room filled with fewer disciples there.

And Jesus comes in.

And then there's moment of revelation.

And now in this story, we have an individual again.

But unlike Mary, who mistakes Jesus for the gardener, right.

And has that whole exchange about, I'm going and they're not ready.

Don't touch me.

All these things here, it's simple and straightforward.

Thomas doesn't believe Thomas's unbelief becomes an opportunity

for Jesus to reveal, miraculously, the truth of who he is,

and that in the same way that Mary's story is for us, a reminder

that sometimes Jesus comes into our lives and we miss who he is, right?

The same way.

Sometimes we are longing for a kind of evidence

that we simply don't have in front of us.

And here the text says explicitly Jesus says words,

blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe

that it is this amazing transition to no matter which one of these characters,

no or no matter which one of these resurrection encounters

or encounters that you can relate to in your own life.

All of them have something to say about what

Jesus, his resurrection, actually means for your life.

And I think that this has been carefully told each

and every one of these stories so that it catches all of us.

One of these nets will catch you today, and it may not be the first story.

It may be Thomas's story.

And it's it is the good news for you, filled with doubt, filled

with all of the kind of uncertainty that life brings with it

is that Jesus doesn't meet you with chastisement.

Jesus meets you with grace.

Jesus says, here I am.

And also there's a blessing for those who find faith by simply

the account of those who have gone before.

I mean, that's the kind of expansiveness I think of.

The resurrection.

Jesus, as told by John, is that he encounters these individuals

and these these people in the exact places where they are.

For the fearful.

He gives peace for the morning.

He he talks about relationship and connection here for the person

who's doubting,

he has a word to say about meeting that doubt,

wherever it is at and at each one of these encounters is trying to show us

how expansive the resurrection Christ is, and the power

he has in the disciples life.

Yeah, I you know, I may have a little bit of a soft spot for Thomas Michael,

because I think anyone who's tried to be serious about the faith

has had a moment where they've, you know, asked for a sign.

They've requested to know the will of God, to see God.

It were just show me something.

Just give me some reassurance.

Give me some confidence. Show me.

And I think, you know, that's where Thomas stands

in that sort of moment of struggle to just say, I need to see it.

And sometimes, perhaps we are given those moments, sometimes we get those signs.

But in my experience, more often we don't.

And we're left to press on in faith in their absence.

And as we build belief

without always having concrete evidence,

the Scripture calls that a blessing.

And, you know, if you've lived through those seasons, I think you have to agree.

It is a blessing to be able to believe and to continue

to seek to live out the faith and to grow in faith and service.

When you don't have

all of the signs and all of the wisdom and all of the gifts

and all of the proof that you wish you did that, that's what we call faith.

And blessed are those who press on in it when it's hard.

And I, I just, I don't know, there's a there's a beauty to this text.

There's a wonderful,

genuineness and truthfulness to this takeaway

that I think is just it means a lot.

And I'll be I'll be really brief.

This is more devotional

than it is interpretive, but I think you're exactly right, Clint.

That having belief is not a weakness.

And I think sometimes we consider the idea well, since our faith is built on

just that faith that it's somehow weakened.

I actually think the person most pitiable is the person who doesn't have belief,

a person who can't see that there's more to the world than just what meets the eye.

Because in a way, just what meets the eye is is a small

fraction of what life could be

and what what we, through eyes of faith, believe that the world is.

And so there is a blessing that we're not given the total sum,

but rather we're invited to see that God is able to make more than what appears.

A belief is a gift, though that's not often the story that we tell

ourselves, and even, I think more rarely, it's the story that we actually believe.

And so I sincerely hope that that gives you

some encouragement today, especially if you're struggling to believe

that there is gifts in the invitation

of Jesus Christ, that faith is the center.

And at some point, it's not about having argued our way into it

or having all of the evidence assembled, it's that we understand that belief in him

enables us to see a kingdom which can't be seen any other way.

That's a blessing.

Even though we sometimes struggle with it.

Yeah, I just I wonder if ultimately this is a story

less about Thomas's doubt than everyone else's faith.

And I think it's I think it's inspiring to read it that way.

Well said. Thanks for being with us.

We will see you next week. Thanks for.