The Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Friday, 01 April 2016 of The Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States "Thomas: from 'Unless…I won’t believe' to 'My Lord!'”
Daily Scripture: John 20:24 Now T’oma (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came. 25 When the other talmidim told him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replied, “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.”
26 A week later his talmidim were once more in the room, and this time T’oma was with them. Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!” 28 T’oma answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Reflection Questions:For unknown reasons, Thomas missed Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples. He refused to take their word for the remarkable claim that Jesus was alive. But Jesus was patient with Thomas’ fears and questions. He came again when Thomas was present, and said “Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side.” The presence of his clearly-alive Lord overcame all Thomas’ doubt. He worshipped, calling Jesus “my Lord and my God.”
- John began with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). At the end, Thomas became the first person in the entire gospel to fully get that, to look at Jesus and address him directly as “God.” Will you join him in bowing before Jesus and saying “My Lord and my God”?
- The risen Jesus was different—he could pass through locked doors, for example (verse 26). But he was not just a ghost—that was the point of “Put your hand into my side.” This was physically him, Jesus, the body the grave clothes could not contain. The Word who became flesh (John 1:14) arose as flesh still, with what Paul would call a “spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-47). In what ways can these hints about what the risen Jesus was like “flesh out” your hope and expectation for life with him eternally?
Lord Jesus, you are my Lord and my God. You are my Creator and my Redeemer. Because you live, I too will live forever. I thank you and I praise you today. Amen.Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.
Many of us have had moments where we felt our prayers weren’t being answered, when we crumbled to the ground crying, wondering why God wouldn’t show up. I think this is what Thomas is feeling as he grieves the death of Jesus and can’t get his mind around a resurrection. This faithful disciple became a grieving skeptic.
I imagine that as Jesus hung on a cross, Thomas was screaming to God to save his friend, to intervene, to bring a miracle. Maybe it was a prayer like many of us have prayed…‘Please, show up God, please turn this around, don’t let it end this way, bring us a miracle!’
And yet, Jesus died and was buried in a stone tomb. Thomas’ prayers appeared to go unanswered; he was forsaken and alone. I think Thomas was not only doubting, but grieving, too. He doubted his faith in God, in Jesus as Messiah, in everything he believed. What kind of God would forsake the most faithful of his children?
I remember feeling similar things when my husband and I journeyed through infertility and miscarriage. We were two faithful people who desperately wanted to be parents, yet for years it seemed God didn’t hear our cries. Finally we received a miracle–but a miscarriage occurred. I remember questioning, ‘Was I not faithful enough, was I being punished, did God even exist at all?’ I became a grieving skeptic. I doubted that prayers were ever heard, I wondered if there really was a higher power. I questioned how God worked and why he would allow this pain.
I felt like Thomas. In my lowest point of life, God wasn’t showing up.
Maybe it has been this way for you too. We may all feel this way at some point. And that could be why this story about Thomas is so important for John to tell us. Jesus does show up. Always. Sometimes in a form we don’t understand. Sometimes in a form that is too unreal to believe. Yet John shows us, through this dialogue, that it is okay to question, to doubt, to ask for proof–because our human minds just cannot move quickly from grieving skeptic to restored believer.
Jesus handles Thomas gently. He knows Thomas needs to feel his hand and touch his side to restore faith. Jesus knows that Thomas is grieving, scared, and doubting. He knows we get that way sometimes too. Eventually the evidence of God comes. Sometimes there is a very long wait. Faith is in the waiting.
Years later, we received a miracle baby, and then another one. But before these two loving souls came into our lives, I softened my heart and felt God’s presence in a way that I couldn’t touch or see–an awareness that there was more intended for me than pain. After the grief began to lift, I noticed miracles all around me. Not for me to claim, but for me to witness, to give me hope that someday my miracle would arrive too.
If you are a grieving skeptic, look around you. God is there. Just reach out your hand and open your heart.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Many of us have had moments where we felt our prayers weren’t being answered, when we crumbled to the ground crying, wondering why God wouldn’t show up. I think this is what Thomas is feeling as he grieves the death of Jesus and can’t get his mind around a resurrection. This faithful disciple became a grieving skeptic.
I imagine that as Jesus hung on a cross, Thomas was screaming to God to save his friend, to intervene, to bring a miracle. Maybe it was a prayer like many of us have prayed…‘Please, show up God, please turn this around, don’t let it end this way, bring us a miracle!’
And yet, Jesus died and was buried in a stone tomb. Thomas’ prayers appeared to go unanswered; he was forsaken and alone. I think Thomas was not only doubting, but grieving, too. He doubted his faith in God, in Jesus as Messiah, in everything he believed. What kind of God would forsake the most faithful of his children?
I remember feeling similar things when my husband and I journeyed through infertility and miscarriage. We were two faithful people who desperately wanted to be parents, yet for years it seemed God didn’t hear our cries. Finally we received a miracle–but a miscarriage occurred. I remember questioning, ‘Was I not faithful enough, was I being punished, did God even exist at all?’ I became a grieving skeptic. I doubted that prayers were ever heard, I wondered if there really was a higher power. I questioned how God worked and why he would allow this pain.
I felt like Thomas. In my lowest point of life, God wasn’t showing up.
Maybe it has been this way for you too. We may all feel this way at some point. And that could be why this story about Thomas is so important for John to tell us. Jesus does show up. Always. Sometimes in a form we don’t understand. Sometimes in a form that is too unreal to believe. Yet John shows us, through this dialogue, that it is okay to question, to doubt, to ask for proof–because our human minds just cannot move quickly from grieving skeptic to restored believer.
Jesus handles Thomas gently. He knows Thomas needs to feel his hand and touch his side to restore faith. Jesus knows that Thomas is grieving, scared, and doubting. He knows we get that way sometimes too. Eventually the evidence of God comes. Sometimes there is a very long wait. Faith is in the waiting.
Years later, we received a miracle baby, and then another one. But before these two loving souls came into our lives, I softened my heart and felt God’s presence in a way that I couldn’t touch or see–an awareness that there was more intended for me than pain. After the grief began to lift, I noticed miracles all around me. Not for me to claim, but for me to witness, to give me hope that someday my miracle would arrive too.
If you are a grieving skeptic, look around you. God is there. Just reach out your hand and open your heart.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, KS 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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