Doubt and Confession

Doubt

Spoilers - Jesus didn’t stay dead.  On the evening of the first day of the week after His crucifixion and resurrection the LORD appeared to his disciples.  They were afraid and had locked the doors and windows but he was there in their midst in spite of their fear.  I should go without saying that they were amazed and astonished to see the man they had seen executed standing in their midst.

They should not have been so surprised Mary had told them earlier he was alive.  Peter and John had both run to the empty tomb.  Now here He was.  First he tells them to be at peace.  Then he shows them his wounds.  Overjoyed they see and touch realizing that something more wonderful than they could have imagined has happened.  Jesus is alive.

But one of them was missing.  We aren’t told why Thomas wasn’t there.  When he hears the news he is skeptical and doubtful.  Thomas also wants to see and touch the body of Jesus.  He is not going to simply take their word.  He needs the same experience they had.

A week later Thomas gets his chance.  Once again the disciples have locked themselves in and once again Jesus walks right in.  Thomas experiences the resurrected Jesus and is the only person in the Gospel of John to correctly identify him as“My Lord and my God!”

To Thomas Jesus is not simply a lord or a god.  Jesus is his lord and his God.  He over comes his uncertainty and doubt and believes!

We are challenged by this story to look closely at our doubts and seek truth to answer them.  We are to move past doubt to faith and belief.  Jesus tells them they are blessed because they see.  He also declares that we who did not see but believe are also blessed.

The power and truth of many stories from the Biblical narrative is not that they happened long ago and far away but that they are happening in our lives today.