Thursday, April 21, 2011
Read: John 20:24-29
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2020&version=NIVwww.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2020&version=NIV
Reflection: OK...so I am sorry I didn't blog yesterday but the day got away from me. So, I am actually doing Thursday's devotional Wednesday evening as tomorrow is also a crazy day and I don't want to miss this. As I read this passage, it strikes me that Thomas is unfairly labeled the doubting disciple when all he asked to see was the very same thing that the other disciples saw. In addition, once he sees what they saw he believed as well. So, Thomas only needed to see what the others saw and when he did...he believed. So I don't think Thomas failure was necessarily that of doubting. So what was it?
Well, I think maybe Jesus final statement gives us a clue here. Jesus tells Thomas that the reason he believed was because he "saw what the other disciples saw." However, it was not supposed to be so. Thomas was to be the first to believe in the resurrection not because he "saw" something, but because he "heard" something. The something he was to hear was the testimony of those who had seen Jesus. So, get this. Thomas was to be the first of countless millions who would believe based on verbal testimony. However, he failed in that regard. He demanded to see, or he would not believe.
I hope we do not make the same mistake. Sometimes we insist on seeing or experiencing something to believe, as though the verbal testimony of God's spoken word is somehow not sufficient. Not until we see something amazing, or experience something special, do we believe. However, we are called to trust not in an experience or a miraculous vision. We are to trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ properly proclaimed. This is the path to faith we all need to take now that Jesus has been raised to the right hand of God. So, may we not see...but hear...and chose to believe. When we do, we join a long line of those who do not need to see to believe.
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