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Luke 24:17-21
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John 20:19-31
Thomas has become the face of post-resurrection fear and doubt. He had a decent excuse, however. John’s gospel reports that he was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them earlier. The disciples were a blue-collar bunch. And, like any group of average guys, I imagine that from time to time they gave one another a rough time. Maybe Thomas thought this was one of those instances. Maybe Thomas heard something in the other disciples’ voices that led him to believe they were joking. Maybe Thomas responded to the disciples telling him that they had seen the Lord in the way he did because he’d been burned before. Not this time guys. I am not going to believe you until I see the marks on his hands and feet, until I touch his pierced side. Whatever its source may be, most readers are drawn to Thomas and focus on him because of his doubt. Typically, Thomas is the primary character in a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of doubting the resurrection. Blessed are those who believe without needing physical evidence, who believe without feeling that it is necessary to see where the nails penetrated Jesus’ hands and feet and touch Jesus’ scars. This is one lesson to take away from today’s reading.
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John 20:1-18
Let’s get right down to it, shall we? As a child, I never was a Sunday School pupil who easily accepted what was dished out to me, and I am afraid it may be too late to change that now. I guess due to my nature, I cannot in good conscious stand before you today and not address what I perceive to be the elephant in the room, which is: Did it really happen? Did Jesus actually die and then rise three days later? And, if you’re anticipating that I will say yes, I know for an absolute fact what happened that day, then I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. Because if I were to stand before you today and proclaim to know with certainty this happened or that happened, I would be lying to myself and to you. I just can’t do that. If I were to do that, I should submit my letter of resignation and walk away from gospel ministry altogether. The truth is, I do not know what happened that day. I wasn’t there. There’s no historical evidence beyond the bible to tell me what actually transpired that day and to be quite honest the bible doesn’t give us much detail to begin with. The bible does not give us resurrection specifics. And, I haven’t seen any authenticated video footage of Jesus rolling back that stone and walking out of that tomb. I just don’t know exactly what happened.
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Mark 11:1-11
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John 12:20-33