Each man approached Thomas with a look of excitement on their face and fire in their eyes. The urgency of his friend’s news was impossible to contain. One after another they cried out in jubilation, “We have seen the Lord!”
Thomas heard this news and couldn’t deny the pit of joy building in the depths of his stomach…but as quickly as that feeling came…it went away as flashes of Jesus torn open on a cross filled his mind. As hard as he tried, he could not fight the doubt that crept inside his heart…and maybe the truth was; he didn’t want to fight it.
“Until I see His hands, feel the wounds of the nails, and put my hand to His side…I won’t believe what you are saying,” Thomas finally replied.
I’ve watched and listened, on so many occasions...my brothers and sisters in Christ relentlessly go after other believers who have turned from their faith. I have seen and read arguments that start in civility and end in chaos. It comes to a point that listening to each other’s hearts goes out the door in the desperation of wanting to be right. And I suppose the truth is it’s hard to watch a Christian in the grip of intense disbelief and doubt. It’s even frustrating when they completely turn their back on God and everything they once claimed to be true.
But who is it more frustrating for…the doubter? The one that still believes?
I ask myself these questions when I read the book of John chapter 20. What must it have felt like for Thomas to be bombarded by his friends with their news when he was no doubt in the grips of grief, pain, and confusion that we today couldn’t even imagine?
What must it have felt like for these 10 followers, overjoyed after having seen the resurrected Jesus and wanting to share this news with Thomas, only to be told that what they believe they witnessed was not true?
That’s really what all this comes down to right? The choice to believe or not to believe…it’s rooted in how we feel at any given point in the existence of our life. It’s what influences a criminal on a cross to ask Jesus to remember him after he dies…it’s what influences a disciple of Christ like Thomas to refuse to believe after everything he witnessed before Christ’s crucifixion.
Brothers and sisters, why are we so surprised when a believer gets lost? Do we all not get lost sometimes?
If you read the rest of John chapter 20…8 days after Thomas made his stand that Christ was not resurrected…Jesus appeared before him. And what happens? Does Jesus start a debate? No, He shows Thomas his scars…Jesus revealed Himself to this believer who had lost their faith. And it is AFTER this revelation that He shares with Thomas the reality of belief and disbelief for a follower of Christ.
“Thomas, you have faith because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who never see Me and yet they still believe.” – John 20:29
Should this not be where the argument stops?
Because from what I’m reading, Jesus isn’t desperate…He’s never pleading or arrogant…He isn’t acting frustrated or disrespectful in an attempt to change Thomas’s mind. He’s only laying out the truth and nothing more.
Maybe it’s time we do the same.
If you're a Christian than you know the truth already, so we all have a choice to make…we shouldn't expect for God to chase us down and deal with us the way we deal with each other.
We have the information we need to make our choice and we always will.
There will always be a choice before us.
There will always be a choice before you.
So where does that leave you?
What do you believe?
