Thomas says Happy Easter
It has been a while since posting in
this blog. Like most of the people I have a busy life. My hours are consumed with work, family, and
other interests. Work and family are common to most of us. It’s the “other
interests” that can vary widely from person to person. Those other interests
are the things that help to define us. We are what we do, or what we invest our
time in, or what we are into.
Since making Jesus Christ my Lord and
Savior with a simple prayer in response to a radio message, one in which I listened
to only with the intent to mock by the way (Ha, Ha, the jokes on me. Right, God?),
my other interests have changed. Since
placing my faith in Christ alone, one of my major interests is reading and
studying the Bible. It is an interest
that I am passionate about and which receives daily attention.
Yesterday’s Bible reading of John 20
highlighted the interaction of the resurrected Jesus and the apostle,
Thomas. For those who don’t know, my
middle name is Thomas. I go as MT Clark
on Facebook and that partially explains why I do. Ironically, I think I have a lot in common
with Thomas. Thomas is known as “the
doubting Apostle”. Here is what I read
yesterday:
John 20:24-25
(NKJV)
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one
of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore
said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them,
"Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into
the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not
believe."
Just to give you some context, the preceding 23 verses of John 20
tell the story of Christs resurrection and how it was witnessed by other
disciples. They told Thomas about it,
but he wasn’t buying it. Even though he lived and traveled with these other
disciples for three and a half years, he didn’t trust what they said. Not only that but he made an extreme demand
for proof: probing the crucifixion wounds.
Who does that?!! Well as extreme as
that request was, we find out that Jesus would oblige him.
John
20:26-27 (NKJV)
26 And after eight days His
disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"
27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look
at My hands; and reach your hand here,
and put it into My side. Do not
be unbelieving, but believing."
So, eight days later, with everyone
talking about how Jesus came back from the dead, Thomas remained unmoved. Had Thomas been American he would be from
Missouri because unless he saw it, he wouldn’t believe. Thankfully, Christ loved him enough to prove
He was who He said he was and, as my experiences in my relationship with Him
would confirm, He even used his own words to convict Thomas. The proof presented, Thomas proclaims the
truth:
John
20:28 (NKJV)
28 And Thomas answered and said to
Him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus’s
response is to Thomas is to us as much as it is to Thomas.
John 20:29 (NKJV)
29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have
believed."
Jesus Himself admitted that the resurrection
was hard to accept but for those of us who didn’t have the benefit of see the
resurrected body of Christ, we can rest in the assurance that we are blessed. Through our faith in Jesus we are given a life
that is free of sin and death. Our faith in Jesus gives us eternal life on the
other side of death and the actual power to turn from our sinful ways if we ask
Him to help us and trust in Him.
Due to this exchange in John 20, Thomas is forever
associated with doubt. David Jerimiah
addressed this issue in the Jeremiah Study Bible and I had to share his
insights.
“Often called “doubting Thomas” for his
questions. We can learn much from this man and his encounter with Jesus.
1.
Jesus did not
rebuke Thomas for his questions: He simply answered them. While we may not
receive answers from God so quickly, a sincere and loving relationship with
Jesus allows His followers to seek Him out with their questions.
2.
Thomas went on to
serve God. He preached Jesus in India and was killed by a spear in his
back. The church is there today because
of this man who asked a question.
Doubter? Not really. Believer who asked a
question and then bore much fruit? Absolutely.
Christianity ultimately comes down to
something more than theological questions.
In the end it is all about a Person, not a proposition.
The questions are the beginning of the
journey, but the answers come finally in experience- in reaching out to touch,
and to be touched ourselves, by those nail scarred hands. Jesus meets His followers
where they are.”
I was a doubter. I knew who Jesus was and
heard the stories of His life, but I doubted their truth and I didn’t see how
they applied to me. I understood that
Jesus died for our sins, but I thought that I had to be a “good person” to be
accepted by Him. I knew my heart and I
knew I had desires and feelings that were far from holy so because of my sin I
felt hopeless to be “a good person” so rather seek the Lord’s help to change I
decided that there was no God and thus I didn’t need to change. I thought I was
intelligent and religion was a creation of man, made to control the feeble
minded.
I spent most of my life searching for meaning,
identity, and purpose. After atheism,
hedonism, and materialism came up empty, I rejected it all to try to find inner
peace and wisdom on my own not realizing that by doing so I became my own god: “I
am on the path to enlightenment where my efforts at my practice will result in
perfect knowledge, wisdom, and escape from all realms of suffering.”
I was on this idealized path when I heard a
simple gospel message on the radio back in 2010. I heard the truth of gospel of Jesus Christ
as if for the first time and I quickly accepted Jesus as my Lord and
Savior. I had a hunger to verify my
faith and started investigating Christianity with the skepticism of a
Thomas. While I couldn’t probe the
wounds of Christ, I wanted to know that I hadn’t blindly turned my life over to
a fairy tale. I joined a Bible preaching
church, listened to countless teachings, and have read books on Christianity,
theology, and apologetics. I joined a
Bible college and received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies. Beyond this
academic research, I applied the teaching from the Bible to my life, causing me
to go into recovery for my lifelong habit of consuming mass quantities of alcohol. Within all of this, I have come to know beyond
all doubts that God is real, Jesus is the Savior, and the Holy Spirit is active
in our world today.
The Lord understands if you doubt the truth of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is on you to thoroughly investigate the
question of Jesus Christ. I, like many
others can tell you, that if you seek God, or truth, you will find Jesus
Christ.
·
To those who know Christ, I wish you a Happy Resurrection
Sunday and, if you insist, I will even wish you a Happy Easter. I encourage you to know Him more and to take
hold of the new life that He has promised you, now.
·
To those who don’t know Christ, I invite you
to begin asking the questions that will begin the journey, that I pray, will
lead you to the kingdom of God and eternal life.
God
bless you all!
