Honest Thomas and the Hospitable Disciples
Today at church a friend of mine, Doug Weber spoke. Doug works on Capitol Hill in Washington DC in a ministry there. It sounds pretty important, and it probably is.
Doug spoke on doubting Thomas, who he thinks we should rename "Honest Thomas", because he was honest.
One thing I picked up on today that I hadn't noticed before was that the other disciples had seen Jesus, but Thomas hadn't.
They tell Thomas they saw him.
Thomas retorts with,
"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
In other words - sorry guys, your testimony isn't good enough. YOu aren't credible witnesses to me.
How would you feel if someone questioned your experience? They had ALL seen Jesus - they all told Thomas the same thing.
But, Thomas doesn't believe them - and in fact demands experiential proof of Jesus' existence by actually seeing and touching the pierced body of Jesus.
Thomas did not believe his friends. The disciples could have used Thomas' unbelief as grounds to kick him out because he failed the orthodoxy test.
But they didn't - because a week later the disciples were in the same house where they had seen Jesus - AND THOMAS WAS WITH THEM.
The disciples were able to withstand their friends doubts, his skepticism, his lack of belief.
And Jesus says to Thomas:
Thomas responds with, "My Lord and My God". And his skepticism evaporates through this encounter with Jesus.
And what challenged me was the question of wether we would be able to embrace the contemporary doubter, seeker, nonbeliever in our midst. Someone who questions US - questions OUR experience, OUR reality.
Would we be angry and offended and ignore them and hope they go somewhere else with their questions?
Or will we still be meeting with them
IN THE SAME HOUSE/CHURCH/COFFESHOP/OFFICE a week later - creating the possibility for Jesus to enter in our midst and speak to our friend:
See.
Reach out.
Believe.
Doug spoke on doubting Thomas, who he thinks we should rename "Honest Thomas", because he was honest.
One thing I picked up on today that I hadn't noticed before was that the other disciples had seen Jesus, but Thomas hadn't.
They tell Thomas they saw him.
Thomas retorts with,
"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
In other words - sorry guys, your testimony isn't good enough. YOu aren't credible witnesses to me.
How would you feel if someone questioned your experience? They had ALL seen Jesus - they all told Thomas the same thing.
But, Thomas doesn't believe them - and in fact demands experiential proof of Jesus' existence by actually seeing and touching the pierced body of Jesus.
Thomas did not believe his friends. The disciples could have used Thomas' unbelief as grounds to kick him out because he failed the orthodoxy test.
But they didn't - because a week later the disciples were in the same house where they had seen Jesus - AND THOMAS WAS WITH THEM.
The disciples were able to withstand their friends doubts, his skepticism, his lack of belief.
And Jesus says to Thomas:
“Put your finger here; see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into my side.
Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas responds with, "My Lord and My God". And his skepticism evaporates through this encounter with Jesus.
And what challenged me was the question of wether we would be able to embrace the contemporary doubter, seeker, nonbeliever in our midst. Someone who questions US - questions OUR experience, OUR reality.
Would we be angry and offended and ignore them and hope they go somewhere else with their questions?
Or will we still be meeting with them
IN THE SAME HOUSE/CHURCH/COFFESHOP/OFFICE a week later - creating the possibility for Jesus to enter in our midst and speak to our friend:
See.
Reach out.
Believe.
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