First, a little postscript to yesterday's entry: I have been using the English Standard Version for my Lent study of John; however, yesterday I was reading in the NIV, and it fails to state that the napkin was folded. That's unfortunate. Whomever was working on that translation back in the early 1980's obviously didn't know the significance, so didn't make that point clear.
But one thing is clear in both the NIV and the ESV which I have overlooked in previous readings.... I was shocked to take note of it this morning. In that very first meeting on Sunday evening, when Jesus appeared to those gathered behind a locked door, verse 22 states that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." I had never noticed that before. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost didn't occur until 50 days after His resurrection - - but they were given His Holy Spirit and the power that accompanied the gift later the same day that He arose from the grave!
Thomas didn't happen to be there that day - and when the other disciples told him they had seen the Lord, he proclaimed he wouldn't believe Jesus had risen from the dead until he could see and touch the nail marks in His hands and put his hand into the pierced wound in Jesus' side. It was 7 long days later before that happened. Again, the disciples were together secured behind a locked door when Jesus appeared and stood among them. The first item He attended to was to address Thomas' stated conditions for belief. He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thank you, Thomas. You've gotten a bum rap over the years, but who is to say any other disciple would have believed had they not seen with their own eyes? It just happened to be Thomas! And, the proof Jesus provided is a witness to us. Thomas did believe because he saw for himself, and we believe because of the legacy the disciples' accounts provide for us - which is attested to us through the affirmation of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, John 20 ends with a couple of pretty cool statements! In verse 29, Jesus says to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." That's us! In all fairness, Thomas didn't have the Holy Spirit as his ally yet, and he experienced the devastation of Jesus' death and the end of the hope he thought was to be.
Fortunately for us, we have that great cloud of witnesses and what they witnessed as a record, which is the subject of the last cool thing stated in John 20. John states that Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples which have not been written down for us, 'But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.'
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. i.e., I don't always live up to my beliefs, but I want to. It takes being intentional and it requires discipline that I sometimes don't want to invest....
No comments:
Post a Comment