Jesus meets his friends again

Imagine the situation. The friends of Jesus are still confused and upset. They still fear arrest and the death penalty for being Jesus’ friends. The doors are locked. Terror fills them. And then, to their amazement, Jesus is among them, bringing his peace and love! They could not believe it. So he showed them the wounds in his hands and side.

Where was Thomas?

This statement about the evening does not even begin to describe their happiness: ‘... they were overjoyed when they saw the Lord’. But not Thomas. For some reason he was absent on this occasion.

A loyal but slightly discouraged person, he had said earlier, ‘Let’s go up to Jerusalem and die with him.’

The others told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he was not going to believe that Jesus was alive unless the evidence was very obvious. He wanted to put his finger in the nail holes and his hand into the spear wound on Jesus’ side.

Thomas doubted no more

A week later, the friends are gathered again and Thomas is with them. Despite the locked doors, Jesus comes to join them. He invites Thomas to check the things that he had demanded, and tells him to stop doubting and to believe. Thomas’ response was to cry out, ‘You are Lord and my God!’ Thomas believed because of the evidence in front of his eyes.

Jesus also speaks well of those in the future who would believe based on the evidence of those who were there. Are you one of them?

And, Thomas proved the reality of his response by taking the gospel far – to India!