I Don't Believe It!

Thomas entered the room.

Everyone began talking to him at once. In the chaos he heard,

“Jesus was here.”

“Jesus is alive.”

“Jesus rose from the dead, just like He said He would.”

“We saw his hands and side.”

“Jesus is sending us.”

“Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit.”

Thomas looked around him at the men he trusted with his life. But he didn’t understand them now. Jesus had died on the cross. All of his fellow disciples must be all mixed up. Jesus was dead.

When it quieted down, one of the disciples said, “Thomas, we have seen the Lord.”

He wondered if the tension, the fear, and the grief had gotten to them. Maybe he was the only one in the group that still had a grip on reality.

“Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe,” Thomas declared to the others.

As time crept by, the followers of Jesus continued laying low and staying out of sight. They remained afraid that the chief priests might arrest them. Thomas was miserable. The rest of the group tried to convince him that Jesus appeared to them. But he just couldn’t make sense of it. He hoped it was true, but he just couldn’t believe it.

Eight days later Thomas along with the other ten disciples were still gathered there with the doors locked. They were all in various stages of turmoil and confusion.

Then suddenly, Jesus appeared in the house.

“Peace be with you,” said Jesus.

He turned to a stunned Thomas and spoke directly to him,

“Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.”

Thomas must have been embarrassed and ashamed at the words he had uttered before. He had flippantly discounted the words of his fellow disciples and refused to believe them.

Standing before Thomas was Jesus, the Son of God. He’d risen from the dead. Yet Jesus bore the scars of His crucifixion—where He paid the price for the sins of all mankind.

Thomas did not need to touch the scars of Jesus. Thomas knew who Jesus was, and He was alive.

“My Lord and my God!” cried Thomas.

Jesus looked at Thomas with love.

“Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed,” said Jesus.

Carla Killough McClafferty

Fellow followers of Jesus, isn’t it thrilling to think that when Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed,” He was including us. More than two thousand years ago, Jesus knew you and I would believe He died on the cross, even though we have not seen His scars. While we haven’t seen Him with our eyes, we’ve seen Him with our hearts and our souls.

That is a comforting thought. Whatever sort of unrest we are dealing with, be it fear, worry, confusion, or an unlimited number of other emotions, Jesus says,

“Peace be with you.”