How Was Thomas Healed?
Good Morning Friends,
We are a people of hurt every one of us….physical pain, emotional pain, addictions, cancers, insecurities and angers plague all those in the pews and those who have never seen one. Sadly it is how we identify who we are. The question though is whether or not we want to own our hurt forever. And we probably will if we do not overcome our doubt enough to believe in a love greater than ourselves. Yes, part of the question is whether we want to get well. So today we explore this reality in the healing at the Sheep Gate pool. But if God has given us the power to heal maybe we should not be praying alone for the sick and their faith but for ours and with others who can heal with God’s help. And so today we poke at this wound in the integrity of our faith…in the integrity of the disciples faith… in what we hope will help us answer today’s question. How Was Thomas Healed?
Scripture: Top of Form
Bottom of Form
24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross,* so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds* you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24 (NRSV)
1Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103 (NRSV)
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, and 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)
10Then Jesus* summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
Matthew 10:1 (NRSV)
Message: Perhaps you are working for God. Then again perhaps you are working for man. You really have to choose what you are going to do. 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…incredulous and in denial. Did he really believe there was not a gaping hole in this man’s side? Really, why where the holes in the hands and side a satisfaction for the burden of proof for the real issue at hand? 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 he contemplate poking a finger in Jesus to 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 than a mean of identification. 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. Here healing happens when we too realize we might be healed by Jesus’ wounds. Here healing happens when we realize we too might be an agent of healing and demonstrate we have faith enough to stand up for Jesus.
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 for those God has gifted to help heal. Pray for those empowered to tell others about Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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