The time following the crucifixion of Jesus was a confusing and fearful time for the disciples. They expected Jesus to be recognized as king and they anticipated reigning with Him as His inner circle. They saw Him perform miracles and heal multitudes, but then they saw Him arrested and killed. For fear that the same thing would happen to them, they hid. In fact, we're told here that the room the disciples were in was locked because of their fear of being found and potentially captured and killed.
We find peace in the presence of Christ
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” ”
At this point, Jesus had risen from the grave and was appearing to people in His resurrected body. Some day, we too will have a resurrected, glorified body and it's interesting to observe some of the things Jesus was doing because it gives us a picture of our future reality. One of the things we can see He did was walk through solid walls and appear among His friends.
Naturally, experiencing something like this would freak just about anybody out, so Jesus attempted to calm them down and reassure them that He had peaceful intentions. He said to them, "Peace be with you." He was encouraging them not to be consumed with fear. Then, to make it clear who they were seeing, Jesus showed them the scars on His hands and side. He wasn't there to capture them or harm them like they must have feared. He was there to encourage them and build them up through faith in Him.
I had a conversation the other day with a friend who is a software developer. He mentioned to me that one of the hardest aspects of his profession is the many hours he spends in solitude. I admitted to him that I often struggle with the same thing, but we both agreed that the nature of our work often demands that. I imagine that just about all of us have at times wrestled with feeling alone, and I think that this was something that the disciples were feeling as well. They felt both fearful and alone, but Jesus interrupted that perspective, returned to them in His resurrected body, and offered them peace.
When we mistakenly believe we are abandoned or alone, we experience anxiety and fear. When we remember that Jesus is present with us, we can experience a sense of peace through His presence.
Having established His presence with them, Jesus breathed on His disciples and the Holy Spirit indwelled them. Jesus then invited His followers to proclaim forgiveness of sins in His name. It is Jesus' role to forgive sin, and these men would be used by Jesus to proclaim forgiveness throughout the known world.
We find peace through faith in Christ
“Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ”
One of my favorite things to do with my family is sit down for a good conversation. With each of my children, I have had the privilege to spend some time together, usually in the evenings, to recap our day and talk about some of the things we experienced over the past 24 hours. When I’m sharing my stories, they don’t seem to question or doubt me, and they haven’t given me reasons to doubt their stories either. We believe each other's testimonies.
I don't know what was going through the Apostle Thomas' head, but when the other disciples told him what they had seen, he wouldn't believe them. Now personally, I think Thomas gets a bad rap because of this account. Historians believe that in the years following this account, he travelled to what is modern-day India and faithfully proclaimed the gospel there, but it seems like the primary thing people remember about him was that he was a doubter. Now of course, the Lord inspired this account to be recorded for our benefit because if we're truly honest, we all wrestle with doubt from time to time.
As I read this passage, I can't help but wonder if Thomas was still feeling emotionally crushed by everything that had taken place in recent days. I wonder if at this point, he was trying his best to protect his heart from being hurt again, and in his defensiveness, he decided that the message the disciples were sharing with him was exactly what he wanted to hear, but it felt too emotionally dangerous to let his heart accept it, so he demanded proof.
Eight days later, Jesus provided proof. He appeared to the disciples again and this time, Thomas was present. Jesus showed Thomas His scars and invited him to stop doubting and believe.
A while back, I heard of an accident where a heavy storage container hit someone on the head and they needed to have the back of their head stapled. I thought to myself, "That's going to leave a bad scar." I have a whole series of scars on my body and with each one, there's a story to go with it. But I don't believe that these scars will be present on my resurrected body.
So why did Jesus still have the scars of His crucifixion? These scars are an intentionally visible and eternal reminder on the body of Christ that serves as a testimony of the fact that He was wounded so we could be healed. He bore our sin on His body so we could live sinlessly.
““And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain””
Thomas accepted Christ's invitation to believe and he testified that Jesus was indeed, "My Lord and my God!" And Jesus reminds us that we are blessed if we believe without having seen.
We find life in the name of Christ
““Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.””
I like to read biographies. I find them very interesting, and in many cases, I like biographies that have been written by someone else as opposed to autobiographies that have been written personally by the subject of the book. I find that when someone tries to tell their own life story, it can get rather dull because instead of getting to the highlights, they have a tendency to bog you down with every little detail because they can't figure out what to include and what to omit.
I tried reading a presidential autobiography a while back and I stopped because the author felt the need to tell you about the geography of his hometown, its placement on the map, and the rivers that ran near it. It was boring me to tears. I wanted to hear about the man, not the maps.
If you were in the Apostle John's shoes and were tasked with writing down a brief account of the earthly ministry of Jesus, what would you include? What would you omit? John says there were many other miraculous acts Jesus did in front of him and the other disciples, but John didn't write them down in this book. I would love to know more about these things, but they aren't included.
Rather, as the Holy Spirit carried John along and guided his pen, he was compelled not to bog us down with excessive details of topography, fashion, or other unnecessary information, but rather, he was inspired to share what needed to be shared in order for the reader of this gospel to come to a place where they personally trusted in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that through faith in Jesus, they would receive life in His name.
““This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” ”
Jesus offers us life, but I think we struggle to know what He's really offering us. He offers us life, but are we settling for predictable routines instead?
In an average lifetime, the average American spends:
3 years in business meetings
13 years watching TV
$89,281 on food
Consumes 109,354 pounds of food
Makes 1811 trips to McDonalds
Spends $6881 in vending machines
Eats 35,138 cookies and 1483 pounds of candy
Catches 304 colds
Is involved in 6 motor vehicle accidents,
Is hospitalized 8 times (men) or 12 times (women)
Spends 24 years sleeping. (Source: In an Average Lifetime, Tom Heymann)
There is much more to the kind of life Jesus is offering us than that. He's taking us from death and condemnation to eternal life and restoration. From slavery to freedom. From despair to hope. From cowardice to bravery. Just as sin, Satan, and death were unable to defeat Him, He defeats their power in our lives when we trust Him as our Savior and Lord.
As we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we do so with grateful hearts knowing that He offers us peace in His presence and new life through faith in Him. Don’t minimize or forget what Jesus has done on our behalf. Don’t hold any part of yourself back from Him. Receive the gift of salvation He’s offering you, and experience the kind of life that cannot be obtained any other way.
