Are We Like Doubting Thomas?
Good Morning Friends,
We are a people of hurt every one of us….physical pain, emotional pain, addictions, cancers and angers plague all those in the pews. Sadly it is how we identify who we are. The question though is whether or not we want to own our hurt forever. The question is whether we want to get well. So today we fast forward the Lenten journey as we explore this reality in the healing at the Sheep Gate pool. We poke at it in what we hope is a true healing as I contemplate my mother’s memorial service on Monday and the importance of the witness of a risen Christ for that time. Even so we ask, Are We Like Doubting Thomas?
Scripture: Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.”
John 3:3 (CEB)
Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
John 5:1-9 (NIV)
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “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.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:24-29 (NIV)
Message: Perhaps you are you working for God. Then again perhaps you are working for man. You really have to choose what you are going to do…whose plan you are going to follow. One really has to think this through….our actions…our motives. Take Thomas….doubting Thomas. Why was he so concerned with the wounds? Oh I understand his doubting. Without doubting there is no faith. What I do not get is Thomas’ logic. This is one confused man. Did he really believe there was not a gaping hole in Jesus’ side? Really, why where the holes in the hands and side a satisfaction for the burden of proof for the real issue at hand? The problem was that Thomas was not at the crucifixion and was not at the first Easter. Ok I get that. But if Thomas wanted some proof this was Jesus…a risen Christ…why does poking a finger in Jesus solve the issue? Why did Thomas not ask Jesus a personal question like, “Jesus, what did you say to me last week when you washed my feet?” If I was really doubting, I would have asked something like that, but it seems that the wounds were more of interest to Thomas. What is going on here? Friends, the only thing that makes sense to me is that Thomas was identifying his own wounds with Christ’s wounds more than worldly logic would lay claim to. Maybe we too will know each other by our wounds. Maybe Thomas needed the healing of his wounds. Maybe in a strange way Thomas was asking Christ to poke into his wounds too and to heal him as Jesus healed to man at the pool. Maybe that was what Thomas was really looking for all along….healing.
Friends, believing the evidence, logically and systematically deducted from the Bible accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection, bring us the healing that Jesus did conquer death and is alive. Let Jesus know your wounds and heal them.
Pray we do not underestimate the importance of the physical experience of Christ in our life. Pray we face the truth of ourselves and the wounds we cling to. Pray we do not so identify with our wounds that we reject getting healed. Pray we have a personal encounter with the Risen Christ. Pray we turn and see God’s Kingdom. Pray we experience the joy, love and peace of the Risen Christ. Pray we realize that rest, Sabbath rest is the prophetic presence of Christ that both is forgiving and healing. Pray we believe in a risen Christ. Pray we not miss out on experiencing Him in the lives of others through love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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