19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he 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 it.”
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!” 27 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.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Note how this day is referred to as the first day of the week. It's showing the transition from the Sabbath (Saturday) to now celebrating on Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, Resurrection Day.
Jesus appears to the disciples and declares to them that they are now at peace with God (due to His death and resurrection) and then He commissions them to spread the Gospel, promising them the Holy Spirit (who will come at Pentecost) and granting them the authority to tell people their sins are forgiven.
We all have that authority. It doesn't mean we get to decide! It means that when we present the Gospel and people respond to the Gospel message and receive Christ, we have the authority to give them the assurance of God's forgiveness. But to someone who willfully rejects Jesus we also have the authority to declare that they still stand condemned. If we didn't have that authority, witnessing would be useless.
And then Jesus demonstrates His willingness to meet us at the point of our faithlessness and bring us to faith. He purposefully went back to see Thomas. He missed the first Sunday church service, but he didn't miss the second one, and Jesus met him there. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
Thomas must've been an honest doubter, he must've wanted to believe, he must've been seeking God, because Jesus honoured that and met him at the time of his weakest faith and brought him to faith. And notice when Jesus met him there, he didn't even end up doing "the test" of touching the nail holes. He immediately declared that Jesus was his Lord, his God. Jesus strengthened his faith. And then encouraged him (and us) to continue to believe, even when he couldn't see. Believing when we can see is good, but it is better and more mature in faith to continue to believe when we cannot see. To live by faith, not by sight.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 21:1-14
1 comment:
Great post. I never noticed before that this showed a transition from the Sabbath on Saturday to celebrating on Sunday.
Good point about Thomas wanting to believe, too. The way it is stated, when he says he won't believe until he sees it for himself, sounds so opposing that I never noticed before that Thomas never actually did touch Jesus' wounds. He simply believed on sight, with no other convincing arguments.
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