John 20:19-29
I have many reasons as to why I enjoy the four gospels. One of them being because it is like having a conversation with each of the authors. Each disciple renders his account from their eye and ear witness and perception of their account. None of these men inform us with secondhand knowledge. Many of us were taught and in our reading, we silently or verbally speak to others that Thomas was a doubter, so we all are guilty of labeling him doubting Thomas. Nowhere in the Bible do we find doubting before or after his name. FATHER, in the name of JESUS, please have each of YOUR children drop the labeling of Thomas, from themselves, and others if it is not labeled in love and compassion through your eyes and heart. Amen.
Though I will like for each of you to read the entire text that I have appointed for this blog, as I write I will only concentrate on verses twenty, twenty-five – twenty-seven, and twenty-nine. Let us begin.
We find JESUS amid the disciples in the room where they kept themselves out of fear of the Judeans believing that they may be captured, tortured, imprisoned, or crucified for being followers of JESUS. Take note of what JESUS did after HE said to them “Peace be with you”. [This should be our greeting and or salutation before we speak to anyone or just before leaving their company, what do you think]? JESUS took it upon HIMself to show to them HIS Hands and HIS Side. Have any of you taken notice of this and if so, have any of you considered why JESUS did this for HIS disciples? Well, here is my take on that, I believe that JESUS showed HIS wounds so that the disciples would know that who they were seeing is JESUS. I believe that HE also did this to dispel the doubts of disbelief that each of them had regarding HIM being Alive as the women had informed them. Notice how as the disciples were looking at HIM, I am certain they were wondering how this Man got into their lodging, one because the door was locked, and two without anyone hearing HIM enter in. Next, notice as they were all gazing upon this Man, none of them realized that this Man is truly JESUS standing in the middle of them, not until HE revealed to them all HIS wounds. JESUS would have never had to prove to HIS disciples that HE is Alive had there not been doubt in their hearts. But none of us had ever been taught to label any of the other disciples as doubting Peter [Simon], Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew [aka Nathanael], Matthew [aka Levi], James, Judas [aka Lebbaeus, Thaddaeus] Mark [aka John Mark, Marcus, John], Simon [Zelotes], or Matthias who replaced Judas Iscariot. No, the only disciple we have been taught to negatively label is Thomas.
And I believe that the reason why he is so wrongly labeled is that it is the record of his words for our benefit to learn from. Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in HIS hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into HIS side, I refuse to believe it.” But how many of us are guilty of saying something along this same line, no we may not say verbatim what Thomas said because it would not fit but we do say things like “I will believe it when I see it, I do not believe it, whatever, prove it to me, let me see it” does not some of what I wrote have a ring of truth? What if we were all labeled [I do not know any of you with these names so do not take this personal] by our past mistakes such as adulterating and envious Annabelle or Beau, fornicating and murdering Cathy or Donald, unclean and alcoholic Esther or Frank, lewd and loud party participant George or Harriet, idol-worshipping and drug-using Isabelle or Jack, witchery Karen or Larry, hateful Maxine or Nick, contentious Octavia or Perry, jealous Queenie or Raymond, angry Shirly or Theodore, selfish Ursula or Victor, disagreeable Wendy or Xavier, atheist/agnostic Zora or Zeb and so on. We all have done things that we are not happy about but bless GOD for washing us all clean from all sin, forgiving us, delivering us, and all the other attributes which come with our gift of being saved in JESUS.
So, after reading the entire text that I gave we see that Thomas was not present with the eleven disciples, however, after JESUS visited them and knew that Thomas was not there HE returned.
Before JESUS returned the disciples kept trying to convince Thomas that JESUS visited them and that HE truly is Alive. So, if seeing the wounds on the body of JESUS was good enough for the eleven why not Thomas as well? Thomas would have never known that JESUS had shown HIS wounds had the eleven not said so in trying to convince him that JESUS is Alive. Therefore, I believe the reasoning behind what Thomas said. Do you see how Thomas got a bad rap from all of us from generation to generation that had been told these verses of scriptures and who have read them for themselves without receiving revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit?
Now, JESUS has made HIS return to the place where the disciples were living out of fear of the Judeans. Thomas is now there as well and after JESUS said “Peace be with you” JESUS said to Thomas “Put your finger here and look at MY hands. Put your hand here on MY side. [here I am going to use various translations as to what was said by JESUS] Do not be unbelieving, but believing; Do not be faithless and incredulous, but stop your unbelief and believe! Do not be lacking in trust but have trust! Stop being an unbeliever [doubting] and believe”.
You see it was not known before JESUS revealed to us that it is that faith is not what is seen but rather what is unseen. Therefore, we who were not visible at the time JESUS walked this earth and were among the many who witnessed that HE is Alive are truly blessed. None of us have laid our natural eyes on JESUS and none of us have touched JESUS in the natural, yet we believe. We believe what we have heard, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of GOD” Ro.10:17 and “For we live by faith, not by sight” 2 Cor. 5:17. See how blessed we are all because we have chosen to believe though we have not seen, we are joy-filled and envied by those who do not understand why we are willing to adhere, believe, rely on, and trust someone we have no visual proof is.
For those of you who are reading this article and still find it foolish, here is a question for you, how do you know that George Washington was all that is said about him, were you there to witness these accounts? How do you know that because your entire family past and present have been broke, busted, and disgusted that this is the way you and your descendants are to remain? We believe these things because of what we have been told down through the generations, and by what we have been taught and read. We believe these things because of what we can see and what we are consistently hearing. But I challenge us all to dare to have faith in the invisible and tangible things of GOD. Have faith in what is not seen, and they will manifest themselves as to our being able to see. Faith is the things hoped for the evidence of things not seen, Heb. 11:1.
AMFBeM™