Shocking Appearance

John 20:19-31 (NLT)

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

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By Chuck Griffin

This resurrection appearance by Jesus is packed with lessons. There’s one in particular I want to focus on while preaching this Sunday, a meditation on forgiveness I also will share in the Monday LifeTalk devotional.

Today, let’s take a quick look at some of the bigger points we can take away from the story:

Jesus’ resurrected body is simultaneously familiar and transformed. He bears the scars of his holy death, but he also seems to transcend what we think of as the material world, entering locked rooms at will. Certainly, Jesus performed similar miracles before going to the cross (walking on water, for example), but this seems different.

“Peace be with you” is more than just a greeting. It seems to be Jesus’ theme after the resurrection. What has happened should take away our fears, even when we are faced with unfamiliar and troubling situations.

Thomas clearly is the origin of the phrase, “Seeing is believing.” To say that phrase with conviction is to miss the point, however. Where Jesus Christ is concerned, the greatest blessing is for those of us who believe in the story without having seen. Our assurance comes directly from the Holy Spirit whispering to our spirits.

We are left to wonder about the stories we don’t have about Jesus. Surely they aren’t more dramatic than what we do have—water into wine, miraculous feedings, healings, people raised from the dead—but I have no doubt they would reinforce the principle we’ve learned already. Jesus Christ has the power to change everything.

Lord, thank you for the gift of the stories we have about the resurrected Christ. Amen.