Joy Is Not Enough

Easter was earlier this month. Most of you probably celebrated in some way. Kids looked for eggs and maybe dressed up in new clothes for Sunday morning. You sang happy songs and choruses about new life and greeted one another with, “He is risen indeed!” And with good reason; there is no more joyful occasion than death’s defeat and sin’s destruction.

                But there is a well-known story in the Bible that takes place after Jesus’s death and resurrection in which His disciples were at one point “overjoyed,” but it seems that was not enough to conquer their fear and doubt. The story is the one we refer to as “Doubting Thomas.” On the evening of the day Jesus rose from the dead, most of His disciples were together in a locked room. The doors were locked because they were afraid the Jews would find them and take them away as they did Jesus. But that night, Jesus came in the room and showed them His hands and side, which filled the disciples with joy. Their teacher was alive!

                But the next week, the disciples were again gathered together in a locked room, apparently still afraid. This time Thomas was with them. He got his nickname because when the disciples who had been at the first meeting told him that they had seen Jesus, Thomas, perhaps thinking they had seen a ghost, said he would not believe until he put his finger where the nails were and his hand into Jesus’s side.

                As you probably know, Jesus again came into the locked room, told them to be at peace, and then spoke directly to Thomas: Put your finger in My hands and your hand in My side. Stop doubting and believe.

He Got It

Thomas no longer needed to touch Jesus. He immediately said, My Lord and my God! Yes, their teacher was no longer dead, but now the disciples, at least Thomas, saw that Jesus was not just a teacher, their rabbi, but God Himself. He was known as a doubter, but he was apparently the first person to understand that Jesus was deity. He was God.

The disciples had thought Jesus was bringing the kingdom, but He had been killed instead. Now they had seen the risen Jesus – they had joy but not hope. They were confused and scared. They had seen Him alive again, but He still wasn’t challenging the Romans. Who was this man they had followed for years? Did His resurrection make any difference to them?

But Doubting Thomas got it. Jesus was God, and that changed things. The disciples no longer needed to be afraid of the Jews or anyone else. In just a few weeks, instead of hiding in a locked room, they were all speaking in public to thousands, preaching to the very people who had killed Jesus. Almost all the apostles would eventually be beaten, jailed, and murdered for the name of Jesus. Back in the locked room, Jesus replied to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That’s us, you and me. We’re blessed because we have the joy and the hope. We would have doubted too, but we have the Bible which put it all together for us and the Spirit, whom Jesus sent when He returned to the Father. Knowing who Jesus is and that we will be resurrected too, changes us. We no longer need to hide in a locked room but can live and speak without fear, with joy and hope, just as the disciples did.

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