Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Today is Friday following Easter, and I wonder if there is any lingering residue of Easter that you see or feel in your world today? 2000 years ago, during the week following that famous Passover/Easter, some people were still in a frenzy. Some were convinced the dead body of Jesus had been stolen but no one could prove that theory by showing the body. A few other people were claiming that they’d see Jesus alive on Sunday, but sadly they couldn’t prove it either because Jesus was nowhere to be found.
And those who had known Jesus best, His disciples, His mother, His friends… they had no answers, for while many of them had seen Jesus on Sunday, they had no idea where He had been since, nor did they have any clue if or when Jesus would show up again! Can you imagine what THEY were feeling in those days?
Now, the Bible is silent regarding the days immediately after Easter. We do know one of the disciples, Thomas, had not been with the others on Sunday evening when Jesus had appeared to a group of them gathered together.
John tells us this: “Now Thomas, also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ 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.’ (John 20:24,25)
That week after Easter Thomas was not alone in that skepticism. Almost everyone who heard the rumor of the resurrection of Jesus had the same response. Death, we all understand, is irreversible. Without medical miracle dead lungs don’t breathe again, dead hearts don’t beat again, dead bodies don’t walk or talk or eat. Death is final. We’ve all seen death up close, no matter where you live in the world. Death is terrible, and the undeniable proof of death is seeing the dead body with your own eyes, maybe even touching that cold skin with your own fingers.
Talk of resurrection is a mockery of death and a shameful disrespect of those who grieve the death of their loved one. Unless… unless death has been defeated and the person who was once dead is seen, touched, alive, walking, talking, living, breathing. In that case talk of death is silenced in the undeniable, even if unexplainable, celebration of new life.
Frustrated is what almost everyone in and around Jerusalem felt on Friday after Passover/Easter. Frustrated because there was no evidence, no proof! No dead body to prove the story of death. No living body to prove the story of resurrection.
And Thomas was caught in the middle. From among the hundreds, thousands of fascinated followers of Jesus, Thomas had been personally selected by Jesus to come and be one of His 12 disciples! Think of it. Jesus called him by name and invited him to His side, to spend the next many months, day and night, with Jesus and His disciples.
It was the greatest privilege of Thomas’ life! Of course, Thomas had no idea how long this group would be together or exactly what they’d do as they walked with Jesus, or what Jesus would ask Thomas to do as his contribution to this team. But it was an invitation Thomas could not turn down, so he stepped out from the crowd, came to Jesus, thanked Him for the opportunity, and joined the traveling troupe, according to Luke 6:12-16.
Thomas had a nickname, ‘Didymus’. It means ‘twin’, so evidently Thomas had a twin brother or sister, but they are never identified in any record of the story of Jesus. Twins are special, aren’t they? In some cultures, they are considered a genetic mistake and killed. In other cultures, they are considered a double blessing from God. We don’t know how Thomas felt about being a twin or how he was treated by his family or anyone else.
It appears to me Thomas was cautious, careful and maybe a bit pessimistic. Three times John records that Thomas spoke up in the crowd of disciples during those months they were Jesus. First, when Jesus received news His dear friend Lazarus was very sick and near death. (John 11) Rather than rushing to Bethany where Lazarus lived, Jesus stayed where He was, several miles away, for several more days. Thomas knew Lazarus was a very dear friend, but Thomas also knew the word was out, Jesus was a hunted man.
The religious leaders in Jerusalem had put out a bounty on Jesus and anyone who could provide information for His arrest would be handsomely rewarded! Bethany was very near Jerusalem, so going to dying Lazarus would put Jesus and His disciples at risk of arrest. So, they stayed where they were for a few days.
But then one morning Jesus told His disciples that Lazarus had died and now it was time that they go to Bethany. In those days burial after death happened very quickly, if possible, the very same day. So, the disciples assumed their mission would be consoling the grieving sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and others who would certainly be there. But they also knew the risk of arrest would be high.
So, John tells us Thomas spoke up. John writes: “Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16) I wonder what you see here? I see courage. Thomas knew it was very likely Jesus may be walking into a trap, evil people were determined to eliminate Jesus. Logic would lead Thomas and the others to conclude those same people would want to eliminate these men who had been with Jesus for months. Thomas was evidently willing to stand alongside Jesus and die with Him! That tells me Thomas was deeply committed to Jesus and wanted to help accomplish whatever purpose Jesus had.
One week ago, Thursday before that Passover/Easter weekend, Jesus had drawn His disciples together for the long-anticipated Seder Passover meal, in an upper room in Jerusalem. At one point in the meal Jesus shocked them by saying one of the 12 would betray Jesus and He had identified Judas as the man. Judas had rushed out to everyone’s amazement. No one could imagine what Judas was planning to do that night.
Then Jesus had said to the rest of the group: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:1-4) Shocked again the disciples all looked at each other, but it was Thomas who spoke what they were all thinking: “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”
Now, what do you hear in that question my friends? I hear the same Thomas as in John 11. A man who wants to be with Jesus and is willing to go anywhere with Him but is uncertain how to find Jesus if Jesus is away from them somewhere. Now, one week later, Thomas finds himself desperately wanting to be with Jesus, but Jesus is nowhere to be found.
We have no record that Thomas was on the hillside that Friday afternoon watching Jesus die, but clearly Thomas is convinced Jesus did die. Thomas was at the tomb of Lazarus and watched Jesus call dead Lazarus out of that tomb 5 days after Lazarus died. It had now been 7 days since Jesus died. As much as Thomas wanted to believe his friends who claimed to have seen Jesus last Sunday… Thomas needed proof, and I’m glad he had the courage to say so!
So how about you my friends, on this Friday, 2000 years since Easter! Are you like Thomas? Over the next few days, we’ll be looking together at the accounts we find in the Bible of the various appearances of the resurrected Jesus to several different people, in several different places, over a period of several weeks. As we look at each one, will those eyewitness accounts be enough for you? Or maybe the best evidence of the resurrection will be the life changing work Jesus does in your life and mine over these next few days!
I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow and we’ll look, even more closely, at the unexpected encounter Thomas had with Jesus, and how it changed his life forever! And here’s another great resurrection song to help us celebrate that Jesus really is alive!
Today’s Scripture is John 20:24-25.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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