Who Is Jesus?နမူနာ

Jesus Is The Resurrected Lord

Have you ever been to a funeral? I know this is a morbid question and I am sorry for asking it right out of the gate. But funerals do raise all kinds of big questions about death, and even about life after death. 

Is death more like a period (or a full stop) that ends our earthly sentence? Or is death more like a comma that serves to transition us into some other type of existence? 

Is there any reason to believe in life after death, and hope beyond the grave?

The scene of the story we just read takes place in an upper room shortly after the Romans killed Jesus. The disciples have gathered, scared out of their wits at this crushing turn of events, when, all of sudden, Jesus appears in their very midst. 

Now, this was not the first time that Jesus had startled His disciples by presenting Himself alive again. Thomas, however, had not been there on those other occasions and he remained skeptical about the whole story, so Jesus approaches him individually and says, 

“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 “ (vs. 27, 28).

This is where we get the phrase “doubting Thomas”.

Now, like Thomas, we may all have moments of doubt; times when we question whether or not God is real; occasions when we wonder if Jesus really loves us. We might find ourselves asking, “Is this all really true?” “Can I trust what I can’t see?” 

Thankfully, God is not afraid of our doubts, and when we voice our doubts to God that is actually an act of faith. In fact, we learn in this story that Jesus is willing to draw near to us in the midst of our questions, and often a stronger, more confident faith is found on the other side of wrestling with our doubts. 

But, doubts aside, the good news is that we have many solid reasons to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Here are a few: 

• The tomb of Jesus was found empty on the Sunday after He was crucified and pronounced dead. 
• Jesus appeared to His disciples over a span of forty days, including to doubters like Thomas, and to skeptics like James and Paul, who were not originally followers of Jesus.
• As a result of these appearances, the disciples’ lives were radically transformed to the point where many of them were willing to suffer and die for their belief in Jesus. Obviously people die for causes (or religions) they believe to be true, but no sane person dies for something they know to be false! As this story reminds us, the first disciples were in the position to know whether or not the stories about Jesus’ resurrection were true!

The best way to explain the growth of Christianity and the continued transformation of lives to the present day, as well as all of the information listed above, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

This five-day Bible reading plan has focused on the identity of Jesus. The physical resurrection of Jesus gives us the final clue. 

God, Himself, has confirmed Jesus’ identity through a miracle. 

Jesus truly is the Son of God and our Saviour! 

The resurrection means that death does not get the final word.

There is hope beyond the grave. 

Death is not a period; it is a comma that ushers us into the presence of Jesus. 

And we are invited to respond to Jesus by echoing the words of Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”