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These are the words uttered by Thomas after being told that the
other disciples had seen the risen Christ. Thomas was skeptical and
so he told them that unless he could literally touch the wounds of
Christ, the wounds which he felt would make it clear that this
Christ was no hoax, then he would not believe. It is easy for us to
understand Thomas' disbelief. He had not been there to see Christ
arisen nor had he had the opportunity to assess things for himself.
He was left with only the testimony of others and his own experience
of the world; that the dead did not come back, with which to process
this information. Thomas takes a bad rap for this; tradition has
not dealt kindly with him for his lack of faith. His nickname
alone, "Doubting Thomas," has seen to that. But none of us are any
different from him, really. I think few of us would decline the
opportunity to see Christ in the flesh, to know, for a fact, that he
was the Christ and had risen from the dead. Most of us would line
up for just such an opportunity.
But I ask you this, what would it change in your life if you knew,
for certain, that Jesus is the Christ? Would you be nicer to
others? Would you give away more money? Would you attend worship
more frequently? What in your life would actually change? And,
further I ask you, if you knew for certain and did more to serve
Jesus, how would your feelings change? You would likely feel
compelled to do these things. The joy, the hope, the choice in each
individual act of service to Christ would slowly be taken away and
we would be left as Christian slaves, compelled to follow Jesus by
the knowledge and experience of our encounter with him. Jesus
frequently talked about his disciples being slaves (the Bible
sanitizes this for us and substitutes the word "servants") but this
was not what he meant. He did not want Christian automatons, rather
he wanted disciples and followers who conformed themselves to him
and his teachings not because they had to but because they
wanted to. Very few people have had such encounters with the risen
Christ and for good reason, Thomas' way is not the best way to
experience him.
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Prayer: Holy God, fill me this day with the promise of
your presence and the power of your Spirit, that I might be a
passionate follower of Jesus Christ. Help me to joyfully give of
myself in service of him. I pray in his name, Amen.
[Phil Blackburn, First Presbyterian
Church]
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