Thought for the day – Sunday 19th April 2020
We sometimes refer to Christians as “Easter People” and I believe that means we are people who are changed because of the Easter story, I have written some Easter People reflections to share with you and invite you to reflect upon.
Thomas:
It felt strange as Thomas sat in the room all alone once more, on the one hand he was elated, he had seen Jesus, it really had been him, he wasn’t a ghost, he was real, Jesus had invited him to touch his hands and his side, he didn’t need to touch him, he could see, what a strange couple of weeks this had been, he didn’t know what to think, what did all this mean? Would things go back to normal now? Was all that they’d experienced a dream, more like a nightmare? Thomas had loved travelling with Jesus, listening to his stories, watching his miracles, oh if only they could go back to all of that, get on with the work they were doing, there were still loads of people to be healed and a whole world out there to hear the wonderful stories. What did all this mean?
His mind wandered back to just a week ago, people deal with death in different ways, the others had chosen to stay together, locked away for fear of their own safety, but together, supporting each other. Thomas was different, he liked things to make sense, to be clear cut, have a purpose and a meaning. He felt so lost last week, why had all of that happened, Jesus was a good bloke, the best man Thomas had ever met, from the outset he had believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, so how could God have been nailed to the cross? executed like a common criminal, none of it had made sense, then last week, Friday and Saturday were the worst days of his life, how could it have come to this? Then, just a week ago, on the Sunday people started talking about him being alive again, how could that be? The women had told them that he was most definitely dead, beside it was three days ago, in the heat, his body would have started to decay.
On that evening a week ago while they were all locked away behind closed doors, Thomas just had to be on his own, he had to figure out what this was all about, try to make sense of it in his own mind. Peter appeared to be ready to simply accept what the others were saying, even now after all that he’d experienced, just pick up and carry on, how could they, Jesus had been the one who had made the difference, they couldn’t just continue without him, he’d sat on his own in this very room trying to figure out the way forward, even now, a week on having seen what he’d seen with his own eyes, it was unbelievable, dead people simply don’t get up and walk, do they? He’d seen Jesus do some incredible things, he’d heard him make unbelievable claims, that’s exactly what all this was, unbelievable, yet he’d seen him with his own eyes, how could he not believe?
You see, that’s why he couldn’t simply take what the others had said at face value last week, that’s why he had to see for himself, were they barmy? had they lost their minds? that was why he’d said to them “unless I see the marks 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” and he meant it, he needed evidence, to see for himself to touch and to know, their word simply wasn’t good enough, he had to know for certain and now he did know. He should feel elated like going out into the streets singing and dancing, but what did it all mean? He thought again about the words Jesus had spoken to him, almost quoting verbatim what he had said to his friends, did he know Thomas that well? It was as though he’d been in the very same room when Thomas had spoken those words, had he been?
Thomas put his head in his hands, one thing he was absolutely certain about was that Jesus was indeed alive, he had seen him with his own eyes, he had received his peace, this had really mattered to him. In all the turmoil and the hatred they’d faced in the last few days the peace of Jesus was important, he was reminded that whatever the world threw at him, God’s love was greater and now that assurance was his, he had seen and believed, he tried to imagine the generations to come, who wouldn’t experience the things he had, how blessed they must be!
Maybe like Thomas, these days of isolation and solitude give us time to reflect on what is important, what we believe and why we believe it. The ministry of Jesus would continue in the generations to come, not the same, but continually changing, reflect for a moment on what matters most to you and what challenges you the most in this current situation.