Monday
John 20.24. “Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
We don’t know why Thomas wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to the disciples. He was one of the first outside the inner circle to be told Jesus was risen, but not to have seen Jesus himself. What the disciples said to Thomas has always been the core truth of Christian witness. “We have seen the Lord.” Crucified and buried, and now risen, Jesus is the living presence of God, The resurrection is the evidence that God keeps his promises, and they are all fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Yes!
Tuesday
John 20.25 “But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Forget the dismissive nickname ‘doubting Thomas’. Grief carries a powerful payload of broken hopes. This strong minded, passionate man was working through loss of his life’s centre, not helped by claims that Jesus wasn’t really dead. He insists on evidence of sight and touch. Faith is not, and cannot be, a way of evading the searing realities of human loss, aching sorrow, and the hard facts of life. Thomas insists on seeing and meeting Jesus. Thomas’s persistence shows us that faith is born in a living relationship with Jesus. He too needs to hear God’s Yes, and in the presence of Jesus.
Wednesday
John 20.26 “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.”
For Thomas, a week is a long time of not knowing. But he’s back with his friends, and Jesus comes to be with them. For the second time we are told the doors were locked (19&26). Grief does that, locks the doors in a defensive move to give our mind and heart time to come to terms with things. But the risen Lord is not deterred or excluded by doors of fear and defensive mistrust. He stands amongst us and speaks the blessing, “Peace be with you.” These are powerful words of purposeful love. He is not here to rebuke unbelief, or mock their fear, but to heal hearts and restore trust.
Thursday
John 20.27-28 “Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger 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!”
The best commentary on these two verses is 1 John 1.1-4. Read them, as Thomas’s testimony. They are written on the other side of doubt, as the shared experience of those who found in their grief, loss and buried hopes that the Word of life came to them, risen and present, always and everywhere. For Thomas, though his doors were closed, Jesus came and stood beside him. Faith is the recognition of this One who knows us deeply, completely and lovingly: Our response? “My Lord and my God.”
Friday
John 20.29 “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
These are forward-looking words. And they include us. True, we have not seen Jesus the way the first disciples did. Our faith comes from the Spirit of God opening our eyes to see the truth of who Jesus is, and what God has done through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Faith is not some kind of worked up credulity, it is the gift of God, the movement of the Spirit opening our eyes to the Light of the World, and opening our hearts to the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
Saturday
John 20.30-31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Peter, the Beloved Disciple, Mary, Thomas – people like us, confronted by events we can only imagine. Peter too scared to go into the tomb, John (who I think is the Beloved Disciple) whose love overcame his fear, Mary blinded by tears, Thomas blinded by grief. One way or another we have all been in those scary places where faith seems to desert us – and in our sense of abandonment the Risen Lord comes to us “that we may have life in his name.”
Sunday
1 John 1.1-5 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
Forty or fifty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, this letter was written by John. Looking back in wonder at something the world had never seen before and which changes forever the way the world is. John insists, “We have seen with our eyes”, and “this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” Our joy is complete!
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