I have been reading through the gospel of John, and there are some lovely moments in it. I love the way Jesus heals on the Sabbath, like He hadn’t noticed. “Sabbath? Really? I hadn’t clocked that. Ah well, I’ve healed the man now. Can’t really un-heal him and then heal him again at the start of the week can I? Wouldn’t be right. Sorry guys”
Actually we know that He knew exactly what day it was and what He was doing. He deliberately chose to heal on the Sabbath to illustrate something. He wanted people to know that Father God is not constrained by our interpretation of rules, that His love and mercy never stops, and that He is the absolute master of timing and events.
So, at the end of the gospel in chapter 20, just after His resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples in a locked room; shows them his wounds, imparts the Holy Spirit to them all and leaves. Thomas was not there at the time because he clearly had something more important to be doing. He is told that Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples. His response is that he won’t believe until he does more than just see the wounds of Jesus. He wants to poke his fingers in. Anyway, Jesus appears again and Thomas is there and he ends up believing.
There are some things to notice here. First up is the fact that Jesus knew that Thomas was not going to be there when He first appeared to the disciples, and yet He went ahead with the meeting (not sure what to call it, certainly the best, oddest, most marvellous meeting that there ever was!) He knew that Thomas was not going to be present when He imparted the Holy Spirit to the others. If it had been me, I would have put in a first appearance and said “I’ll be back on Tuesday after tea, make sure you guys are all here then.” But He didn’t do that. He just went ahead without Thomas.
The next thing is this phrase “a week later”. A whole week goes by before Jesus appears again. Obviously the disciples were expecting to see more of Jesus. But to wait a whole week, in these circumstances for Jesus to come again is a big deal. What is it like waiting for something that you’ve ordered, something that you really really want, to be delivered? What is it like waiting for someone you love dearly but haven’t seen for a long time to arrive? So, what was it like for the disciples who had already seen Jesus once, and more importantly what was that week like for Thomas?
His first reaction on being told that Jesus was alive was to say he refused to believe until……. As the week wore on he must have noticed quite a change in his friends. They knew that Jesus was alive. They were now filled with the Spirit. Something’s going on here!
The other thing to notice is that Jesus was the one who decided to wait a week. Not five days, or eight days but a week exactly. When you put a pie in the oven to cook you know how long to cook it. Five minutes less and it’s not quite ready – soggy pastry. Five minutes over and the pastry is starting to get overdone. I think Jesus had Thomas in the oven, and He knew exactly when Thomas ‘would be done’.
When Jesus did reappear at the end of that week Thomas was ‘ready’. I think that even though Jesus made the offer, Thomas did not find the need to touch Jesus’ wounds. The text tells us that although Jesus said ‘go on, feel my wounds’ Thomas just said “My Lord and my God.” Done to perfection!
Why did Thomas go through this process? Why did Jesus have to work differently with Thomas? You see we often look at this story from the wrong perspective and call it the story of doubting Thomas. Actually it is the story of Jesus ever so carefully preparing Thomas in a very particular way for what lay ahead for Thomas. In days to come, Thomas was to sail to southern India and take the gospel there. There is still a large church movement there that bears his name – the Mar Thoma Church (Mar Thoma is Aramaic for Saint Thomas). Anyway, the point is this. Thomas had a personal encounter with Jesus as his Lord. There were other people in the room but the spotlight as it were, was just on Thomas and Jesus. Thomas was going to need this individually tailored encounter. If he had been present at the first appearance of Jesus, he would have merely been part of the crowd. He was going to be separated from the rest of the disciples and the culture that he knew, to take the gospel to a new and distant setting. He needed this encounter moment that was uniquely personal to him, to help provide a solid foundation for him in the years to come.
Have you ever felt that God has you “in the oven”. Those times can be difficult. He can seem distant. But, He knows what He is doing. Not a minute too soon and not a minute too long. He is preparing you. For what? That is the question. Maybe you know; maybe you have had prophetic words over your life that give you some idea of direction. If you are in this situation and you don’t know what He is preparing you for, then why not ask Him to tell you? His love and mercy never stops, and that He is the absolute master of timing and events.
Church is out there 