URC Daily Devotion for 6-08-2025

St John 20: 24 – 31

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’  Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Reflection

I always think that Thomas has had bad press over the years. After all, how much scorn has been heaped upon him for his doubting and unbelief? And because of this, we think of him as ‘doubting Thomas’. Indeed, we rarely speak of him without adding this epithet. Yet, in reality, he was no different from the other disciples in struggling to cope with the events that he had witnessed, and in being unsure of what he was told. Just for a moment, try and put yourself in his shoes. Would you have behaved differently? Would you have believed? Are any of us really any different from Thomas? And yet, we continue to deride him.

But when Jesus appears to the gathered disciples this second time, he speaks specifically to Thomas and invites him to touch his wounds. And we’re left with one of the great unanswered questions of Scripture, simply because it’s not the focus of the story, but we still want to know – did Thomas actually touch the wounds?

Tom Wright reminds us that,

The whole point of the story is that it’s the same Jesus. The marks of the nails in his hands, the wound in his side, big enough to get your hand into. This isn’t a ghost. Nor is it someone else pretending to be Jesus. This is him. This is the body that the grave-cloths couldn’t contain any longer.

And the truth is, that when Thomas is faced with the risen Christ before him, he sees, and he truly believes. There is more than the simple rejoicing and celebrating of the other disciples – an arguably shallow rejoicing that finds them continuing to hide away behind locked doors despite the reality of the resurrection. For when Thomas meets the resurrected Jesus there is a true recognition of who Jesus is, and Thomas boldly declares it, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” This declaration is every bit the equal to that of Peter’s statement that Jesus is, “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” that we regularly hold up as the epitome of revelation.

Thomas believed because he saw. It may be harder for us to believe because we don’t have the opportunity to see the risen Christ in the same way that the disciples did. Yet, as our reading states, these things have been written so that we might believe, and Jesus comments that those who believe even when they do not see are blessed.

Prayer

Loving God,
I believe in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen; help my unbelief.
Give me the wisdom and grace to proclaim him as my Lord and my God,
the Saviour of the world, in all I do and say.
This I pray in his name.
Amen.