On the evening of the Resurrection, the disciples were all together in a room. Have you ever wondered who was there? John does not use the word, “eleven,” which Matthew, Mark and Luke all used to describe the faithful apostles, so might there have been some of the women present that night as well as others loyal to Jesus?
The door was locked.
All of them were hiding in fear that the Jews who had captured Jesus and murdered Him might come after them next. This was not out of the question. The Jewish leaders were fiercely determined to squash the competition to their authority that Jesus had so boldly challenged.
Everyone present that evening had heard the rumors that Jesus was alive from the women who’d been at the tomb, but none of the men had seen Him. Luke reports bluntly in his Gospel, “the words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).
Suddenly Jesus came and stood among them. Imagine their shock, their wonder, their slow realization of, “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”
Then Jesus showed them His hands and His side. Recognition sank in. “Peace be with you,” He said. “As the Father has sent Me so I am sending you” (John 20:21). If some of the women who saw Jesus at the tomb were there that night, they must have felt vindicated and grateful. But I imagine their focus was all on Jesus. To see Him again, a second time, was a dream come true.
But absent from the group that night was Thomas. The next day the disciples, with great joy, told him what they’d seen and heard. But Thomas famously said, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Reputations are difficult to change. Thomas will always be known as “Doubting Thomas” for his stubborn, or was it disappointed, unbelief.
Like many of us, he drew a line in the sand and declared specific conditions be met before he’d back down from his position that a risen Jesus was impossible. Leaders of nations draw “lines in the sand” in disputes with other countries. Married couples measure each other’s performance and draw lines for change “or else.” Siblings make demands and negotiate in their relationships, too. Sound familiar?
In Thomas we see ourselves.
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