Five Thomas: Hope for the Hard to Convince: John 20:19-31
THOMAS: HOPE FOR
THE HARD TO CONVINCE
John 20:19-31
Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas just couldn’t believe that the other ten disciples had seen the Lord the way they had told him they had. What an extraordinary way for Thomas to behave! This was the evening of the day that changed the world. Jesus, who had died as a sacrifice for our sins and rose from the dead, now showed himself to be alive and well.
The disciples had been huddled behind locked doors. The Jewish leaders had recently disposed of their Master’s body, and now the disciples were afraid that the same people would be after them. Yes, the tomb had been found empty earlier that morning, but it was women who found it—and first-century Jewish men did not take too seriously things that women told them.
Suddenly through the locked door, somehow (they never knew how), came Jesus in his resurrected body. He spoke, and his first words were “Peace be with you.” I think he spoke the words slowly so that the disciples would think about their meaning. When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. He then commissioned them to be his messengers in the world from that point on: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Next came an odd gesture. He breathed on them. It was an act of prophecy of what was to happen at Pentecost. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said.
All of this happened when Thomas wasn’t there.
Group Discussion. Would you say that Thomas’s skepticism in this situation was bad or good? Why?
Personal Reflection. Have you ever doubted God or his promises but later discovered that you were wrong? What caused you to change your mind?
Thomas, like all of us, knew that dead people don’t rise from their graves. So when he heard from his friends that Jesus was alive, he couldn’t believe it without firsthand evidence. Read John 20:19-31.
1. Examine the two appearances of Jesus and the responses he receives in each. What similarities and differences do you see?
2. If you were Thomas, how do you think you would have responded to the report of Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples?
3. In verses 19-20 and verse 25, what was particularly important to Thomas and the other disciples?
4. Why did Jesus show the disciples his hands and his side (v. 20)?
5. Thomas was dealing with several possible obstacles to faith, among them temperament, stress, pride, and resentment. When and how has one of these forces made it hard for you to believe in Jesus?
6. After Thomas met Jesus and was convinced of Jesus’ resurrection from death, he said, “My Lord and my God.” What does this statement imply that Thomas now believed about Jesus?
7. Why might this have been particularly difficult for a Jewish person to say and believe?
8. When you have had moments of doubt or skepticism about Christianity, what questions did you have?
9. In verses 30-31, John shares his reason for writing the book of John, his eyewitness account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He says, “These are written that you may believe.” Our belief bridges the centuries and joins Thomas in his faith. What should be the content and result of our faith, according to these verses?
10. What evidences of Christ’s resurrection do you find most convincing?
11. Jesus blessed Thomas, but he also blesses our long-distance faith: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v. 29). When and how have you responded to this invitation? (If this has not yet occurred in your life, what steps toward faith are you willing to take now?)
12. Thomas’s life was transformed by his encounter with the resurrected Christ. Identify two or three ways the promise of having life in Jesus’ name should change our attitudes and actions.
13. The apostle Peter, who undoubtedly was at both of these appearances of Jesus, speaks of the “living hope” we receive “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). How does this hope affect your daily life?
Express to God your own level of faith and commitment, and ask him to bolster your hope in the resurrection.
NOW OR LATER
Think through your own doubts about the Christian faith. In the presence of God confront these. Ask him to enlarge your understanding, to give you faith to believe even what you cannot see or touch. In prayer, place yourself under Christ’s blessing: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Write about some attempts you have made to find a way, truth, or life by some other route. Then write of how Jesus has become the way, truth, and life to you.