Reflective Bible Study

One of the few events that the gospels record following Jesus’ resurrection stands out to me as an incredible witness to us regarding our belief. Through Thomas’ example, we are able to understand another level of God’s blessing for those who follow Him.

John, who was present for both times Jesus was present records what happened. He tells us, “Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. So they told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’” (v. 24-25a)

We don’t know why Thomas was not with the other ten remaining disciples during that first meeting. He may have been getting supplies while they were hiding out in Jerusalem, or he may have been nervous to be with the remaining disciples as they feared their lives were in danger as well.

Whatever the reason was that he wasn’t with them, Thomas was not happy to have missed seeing Jesus. He responds to the other disciples’ joy by saying, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!” (v. 25b)

Thomas stands out to me as a first-century example of many people living throughout time. Many people take Thomas’ approach to believing in God/Jesus. These people reason that if God cannot be seen, touched, or measured, then God does not exist and there is no reason to believe in Him. Skeptics throughout time have used this argument for their lack of belief.

However life itself, with all its complexities is one example of evidence that God exists. The notion that evolution took a single living cell and transformed it into all the life we see around us is irrelevant when we simply look at the millions of dollars that are spent creating and developing devices that can preserve living (and life-worthy) tissue. Once a cell has died, there is a point when it can no longer be brought back to life – and that is with the best science and minds living today. Evolution says that random chance started life from nothing that we cannot even replicate being “intelligent” beings.

Looking at life makes it easy to believe in a Creator. It is easy to believe that Someone or Something smarter than us started life on our planet. Those who want to reject God because they cannot see Him have to make up theory after theory to support their foundation for this planet’s life and even its existence. While some theories have lasted longer than others, believing in a Creator is the simplest explanation for life on this planet.

However, when we return to our passage and look at what happened next, we see an amazing picture of God and His blessing us. The following weekend, the disciples were back together and Jesus appeared to them again (and Thomas was with them). After Jesus has invited Thomas to touch the scars and after Thomas has made his statement of belief in Jesus for having seen Him, Jesus responds by saying, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!” (v. 29)

Jesus elevates those who have faith in Him without needing to see Him personally. Faith in Jesus simply from looking at the evidence present in the world today brings blessings into our lives that those who require a visible sign cannot grasp. Too many scientists and people have rejected God because He doesn’t fit into their measurable picture of what He should be and by doing so, they miss the blessings that come from believing in Him – blessings that not only come in our present lives, but also blessings that come in the next age of “HisStory”.

While this is a short, four verse passage, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t multiple things we can pull out of it. The one BIG idea that we can focus on today is what is implied by the very last phrase of verse 44: “. . . because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!”

This phrase jumped off the page (err screen) when I read it. With a simple “because”, Jesus hinges all the destruction of Jerusalem on their one failure to act/recognize/accept Him. Jesus is predicting Jerusalem’s destruction, which will happen a few decades from that point in history, but this phrase seems to indicate that if Jerusalem (we could probably include “Israel”) had accepted Him, God would have changed the course of history and Jerusalem would have been saved from destruction.

This big idea has real-time applications as well. We could ask ourselves the question, “Am I failing to recognize God moving in my life to save me?” Often times, we struggle with a nagging thought, a bad habit, or something else we would like to change, and while it is hard to admit, most of us do know what we need to do to remedy the situation. I might suggest that God has planted that knowledge in our mind (whether divinely or through observation/experience). By not moving towards the solution, are we delaying our spiritual growth – not to mention any physical, emotional, or relational growth that is also present?

We are holistic beings, and this means that our physical, emotional, and spiritual lives are connected. What we do in one area will affect the others. For example, if we are sick physically, it is going to be difficult to grow spiritually; or if we are locked up emotionally, it may affect our health long term.

In this passage, Jerusalem was spiritually locked and this caused them to not recognize Jesus. They were too set in their ideal image of a messiah that they missed the Messiah who came with a much bigger vision then they thought. Are we failing to recognize Jesus working in our lives to save us?

On the last night Jesus spent with the disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion, John’s gospel shares a conversation Jesus shared with the remaining disciples (Judas Iscariot was with the Jewish leaders assembling a mob). In this conversation, Jesus shares a statement that makes the disciples sad, and while Jesus acknowledges their sadness, He tells them that what will happen will ultimately be better than what they wished would happen.

During this conversation, Jesus told the disciples, “Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come.” (v. 5-7)

The two statements that jump out in my mind as I read Jesus’ words are, “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away”, and “If I do not go away, the Helper will not come” (the first and last phrases of verse 7).

While the disciples are sad at Jesus announcing His departure, He tells them that it is better for them if He leaves. While this sounds backwards, Jesus follows up by explaining that if He didn’t go away, the Helper would not come to them.

This prompts me to ask, “Why would the Holy Spirit not come to Jesus’ followers if Jesus was still around?” If God could do anything, and His is truly “everywhere” (i.e. omnipresent), then why would Jesus imply that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come to Jesus’ followers if Jesus were present?

The answer is amazingly simple. When we read lists and descriptions about what the Holy Spirit does, we learn that everything the Holy Spirit does leads and points people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s role is to draw people into a relationship with Jesus. This also means that the Holy Spirit won’t do anything that doesn’t support this objective.

With this in mind, while reading the gospels, it becomes clear that while Jesus is present, Jesus is the only One who is empowered to perform miracles. With Jesus present, the Holy Spirit moved exclusively through Him because that is who He wants us to pay attention to. The disciples never perform miracles while Jesus is present. However, part way through His ministry, Jesus sends pairs of followers out on a mission trip to nearby cities, and they return with stories of how they were able to cast demons out of people and heal others using Jesus’ name. These miracles were possible because the Holy Spirit came to them while Jesus was not present with them.

This means that when Jesus says, “it is better for you that I go away” because “if I do not go away, the Helper will not come”, Jesus is reminding these followers, and all of us followers living 2000 years ago that the Holy Spirit leads people to Jesus. If we want the Holy Spirit working within us and through us, we simply need to focus on Jesus, move towards Him, and help others do the same.

During the middle of Jesus’ ministry, He tells the disciples to travel around the countryside telling people about Him. In Jesus’ instructions to them, we can find some incredible warnings and concepts that can help us as followers of Jesus.

For example, at the beginning of our passage, which is part way into Jesus’ send-off remarks, He tells His disciples, “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves. Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues. For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles. When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say. For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (v. 16-20)

What amazes me about Jesus’ words is that I would have expected them to have been given following the resurrection, and as part of the “Great Commission” that Jesus gave the disciples before He returned to heaven. Instead, these words are given relatively early in His ministry, right after He has selected the group of twelve disciples from a broader collection of followers.

This distinction makes me wonder if Jesus is speaking into the future here, or if some of these disciples were arrested and brought before the synagogues in the towns they visited, which gave them opportunities to speak for Jesus. As relatively new followers, it may have even been intimidating to talk about Jesus because some of them likely hadn’t spent much time with Him up to that point.

However, while we don’t know if the disciples received hostility on this short term mission trip early on in Jesus’ ministry, we do know from reading about the early church in the book of Acts that following Jesus’ return to heaven, Jesus’ followers did receive hostility from multiple directions.

But what is interesting is that Jesus tells us that hostility towards us is actually an opportunity. Jesus says that “For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings…” (v. 18a)

What reason does Jesus give for us being brought to trial for Him?

Jesus doesn’t leave us wondering. He finishes the statement off with the reason: “For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles.” (v. 18)

When this happens, Jesus tells us to be calm and not to worry about what to say. This is because if God brings us into a situation for His purposes, He will give us the words to say to bring Him glory.

This truth is the same for Jesus’ original twelve disciples as it is for us today. If we are brought before people because of our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will speak through us to point those present towards God. Trials and direct challenges to our faith are sometimes the best ways for God to connect people who have a testimony with those who have turned their back on Him.