A Devotion for the Skeptics
John 20: 19-31
We all have our doubts.
This week, the Scripture tells the story of Thomas. He is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, known often as Doubting Thomas. Though Jesus enters the room where the disciples have gathering through a locked door, Thomas’ suspicion gets the best of him. He asks to see the wound in Jesus’ side. To which Jesus replies: "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." (John 20:27).
We read this Scripture each year, but I don’t think we understand the graphic, human nature of this passage: Thomas literally puts his hands in Jesus’ wounds.
Yikes.
For Thomas, this visceral experience was crucial to his belief. To know, he had to feel.
So much of the story of the resurrection centers on doubt – the doubt of the crowds demeaning Jesus, the disbelief of the disciples when they discover the empty tomb, the hesitation to believe that the risen Christ stood before them.
The great arc of God’s story in human history is mired in doubt and disbelief and flat out wonder.
But isn’t that been the habit of God all along? To continually surprise us?
God takes a few fish and feeds thousands. God takes a handful of sinners and turns the world upside down.
And God takes death, the ultimate end, and makes it life for the world.
And so I ask you, might this be the purpose of the Christian life? To be continually surprised by what God can do? With God we know he will do wonders. The question is, how will he do it this next time?
If he made a cross life for the world what can he do with us? Our wounds? Our lives?
Just as Christ’s wounds are a source of wonder for Thomas and the other disciples, might the lives of the people we encounter hold a great sense of wonder. The survivors, the volunteers, our own co-workers, they all hold stories that are brimming with the wonder of God. Every single person is a marvel, a gracious and holy plot twist in the story that God is telling.
When Thomas looks at the wounds of Christ he stands amazed and he worships. So should we every time we see Jesus breaking our world open again, surprising us over and over. Making life out of our deepest doubts and hope from empty tombs and wounded sides.
In Easter hope,
Chaplain Amy
Yikes.
For Thomas, this visceral experience was crucial to his belief. To know, he had to feel.
So much of the story of the resurrection centers on doubt – the doubt of the crowds demeaning Jesus, the disbelief of the disciples when they discover the empty tomb, the hesitation to believe that the risen Christ stood before them.
The great arc of God’s story in human history is mired in doubt and disbelief and flat out wonder.
But isn’t that been the habit of God all along? To continually surprise us?
God takes a few fish and feeds thousands. God takes a handful of sinners and turns the world upside down.
And God takes death, the ultimate end, and makes it life for the world.
And so I ask you, might this be the purpose of the Christian life? To be continually surprised by what God can do? With God we know he will do wonders. The question is, how will he do it this next time?
If he made a cross life for the world what can he do with us? Our wounds? Our lives?
Just as Christ’s wounds are a source of wonder for Thomas and the other disciples, might the lives of the people we encounter hold a great sense of wonder. The survivors, the volunteers, our own co-workers, they all hold stories that are brimming with the wonder of God. Every single person is a marvel, a gracious and holy plot twist in the story that God is telling.
When Thomas looks at the wounds of Christ he stands amazed and he worships. So should we every time we see Jesus breaking our world open again, surprising us over and over. Making life out of our deepest doubts and hope from empty tombs and wounded sides.
In Easter hope,
Chaplain Amy
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