Here in the United States, one of our states, the State of Missouri, has the nickname “the show-me state”. Now whether or not the people there need to have everything proven to them, I don’t know, but according to that nickname, the people of Missouri are a skeptical bunch, and not easily convinced. Needing proof is good in many areas, particularly in legal cases. However, in spiritual matters, God does not always give us solid proof, but desires us to exercise our faith and trust in Him. In our Scripture passage today from the Gospel of John, we read of one of the disciples who could easily have come from the “show-me state”. Let’s take a look.
As our Gospel reading opens, it is the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection. His disciples had heard the testimony of the women who had gone to the grave and heard the angel’s message. Two of the disciples, Peter and John, had even gone themselves to the grave and seen for themselves that it was empty. Yet they were still not completely convinced Jesus had risen and were remaining behind locked doors because of threats from the religious leaders. While gathered that evening, Jesus suddenly appeared to them, and showed them His hands where the nail prints were visible, and also His side, where the spear had been thrust (vs. 19-20).
That Sunday evening one of the disciples was missing, that being Thomas. Later that week the other disciples shared with him that they had seen Jesus, and that He had risen, just as He had promised. Thomas, though, was skeptical, he was not convinced that what his friends said was true. He said, I’m thinking with scoffing, sarcasm and bitterness in his voice, that he would not believe unless he put his fingers into the nail prints of Jesus’ hands, and put his hand into Jesus’ side wound (vs. 24-25). He was hurting, and he did not believe.
The next Sunday, Jesus again appeared, and Thomas was there. Jesus did not harshly rebuke Thomas. He compassionately offered proof of His resurrection (vs. 26-27). He met Thomas at the point of his weakness. Thomas believed, and believed not only that Jesus had risen and is the Messiah, but also that Jesus is God (vs. 28).
Those who believe without seeing are particularly blessed by God (vs. 29). Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see, and seeing what He sees. Faith is when we don’t see God at work, but have confidence in Him anyway. We have all the proof we need in the Bible, the Word of God. A physical appearance of Jesus now would not make Him any more real than He is already. If we have to see, why would we need to have faith? As Christians, we are to walk by faith, not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Prayer needs to be accompanied by believing without seeing, as we ask God for that which is not yet.
Jesus showed His followers the nail prints in His hands as evidence of who He is, and the love He has given us (vs. 20, 27). We are engraved as scars on the hands of the Savior (Isaiah 49:15-16). All of the physical scars that we have, those from surgeries or from accidents, will be gone when we get to heaven. Our bodies will be perfectly scar-free, but not for Jesus. He will eternally bear the scars of our sins, those scars on His hands and feet, the deep scar in His side. He will always bear the scars that crisscross His back from the horrific scourging, and the scars around His head from where the crown of thorns dug into His scalp. These scars will be there forever, symbolizing and bearing testimony of our rescue from eternal flames, signs of His eternal love for us.
As our Scripture passage closes, we read that there were many other things that Jesus did throughout His ministry that were not recorded in the Gospels (vs. 30-31). However, everything we need to know to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, were included, so that we might receive salvation and eternal life.
Have you received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and do you have the promise of eternal life with Him? Or do you have some doubts, like Thomas did? We have the testimony of God’s Word. As the old-time hymn says, “Come to the Savior, make no delay. Here in His Word He’s shown us the way. Here in our midst He’s standing today, tenderly saying, Come!”
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