From Locked Rooms to Resurrection: Thomas' Doubt and Faith

The wounds are still there. His hands are still marked by the horror of the nails that were beaten. Beaten into him for our sin. His feet are still marked with the suffering of Good Friday as he gasped for breath. And his side is still open from where water and blood flowed. The resurrection did not erase what had happened. The risen Christ carries the cross with him, not as a defeat, but as the proof of a victory won through suffering, not around it. [00:54:53] (55 seconds)  #RisenWithWounds

Mary Magdalene has passionately shared with the disciples that Jesus is alive. She has told them everything she has seen and been told. And yet, here they are closed up in a house. The doors are locked out of fear for their own lives. The life giving news that Jesus is risen has not removed the cloud of grief and doubt. It has not taken away that weight. Mary's witness does not on its own merit have the power to awaken joy in them again. [00:50:13] (45 seconds)  #WitnessMetWithFear

We are blessed by the risen Lord and yet we too are still trapped in the shadows of the locked room. Desperate to hold on to the comfort of now rather than receive the blessing of what is to come. But the blessing of Jesus invites us to unlock the doors of our faith, to leave the security of what we know, and to go into that world, into our world, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. [01:02:15] (34 seconds)  #UnlockYourFaith

Notice Thomas's hands and nails. He hasn't scrubbed them clean, but he comes to Jesus with the dirt of life caked into his hands and under his nails. Notice his cloak is dirty. It's worn. It's torn. He has come exactly as he is and still, Jesus takes his hand. And then, notice the other two figures. Peter and John looking on with fascination and surprise as Thomas puts his finger into the wound. The scene makes you wonder, are they really so different from Thomas? Do they not doubt also? [00:48:03] (54 seconds)  #ComeAsYouAre

But Thomas wasn't there. Where was he? He wasn't locked behind the safety of the door. Had he maybe gone to the tomb to see for himself through his own eyes what Mary had said? Had he risked the threat of death and arrest to go and no more? Was he out getting supplies while others refused to leave the safety of the sanctuary? We don't know. John doesn't share that with us. All we know is that Thomas was not behind the safety of the locked door. [00:55:49] (50 seconds)  #ThomasWasOut

Look more closely and the man with his hand outstretched is none other but Thomas. And, as we look more closely, we notice something extraordinary. His hand appears to be trembling. And Jesus with a kind of quiet steadiness reaches out and takes his trembling hand. He doesn't recoil from it. He holds his hands tenderly. As he pulls it in towards him ever closer. He holds the outstretched hand and directs the outstretched finger towards his own wound. [00:47:18] (45 seconds)  #HeldInHisHands

But in that moment, the man labeled a doubter offers the highest declaration of faith in the entire gospels. My Lord and my god. Like Caravaggio, we are not in the room where it happened. Instead, we are those whom Jesus blesses in verse 29 saying, blessed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. [01:01:39] (35 seconds)  #MyLordMyGod

Because notice what happens a week later. A week has passed since that extraordinary encounter when Jesus stood among them and said, peace be with you. When he showed them his wounds, and as we are told, he breathed on them, giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he said, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. They had been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. [00:56:46] (33 seconds)  #GiftOfTheSpirit