Alba 4-20-2025
I WANT PROOF!
John 20:24-31
Have you ever been in a situation where someone told you something, but you just couldn't believe it? You wanted proof? Then you are like Thomas. Thomas is one of the better known disciples of Jesus, even though not much is said about him. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each mention him only once, just listing him as one of the twelve disciples.
Everything else that we know about Thomas is found in the Gospel of John which focuses the spotlight on him on three occasions. For the most part, Thomas’ notoriety is connected to when he doubted the resurrection. As a result, Thomas has been labeled, “Doubting Thomas.” To this day, Thomas is the unwitting poster-boy for doubt, skepticism, and unbelief.
Thomas did believe in Jesus. But after the crucifixion, his faith was attacked by doubts. This should help us if we struggle with the question of faith in our own lives. Like, “How can I believe when I have all these doubts?” His story teaches us that a dose of doubt may be good for our faith.
William Barclay called Thomas “The man who became certain by doubting.” Someone said, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith that keep it awake and alert”. So don't let your doubts stop you from trusting Jesus. You can trust Jesus with your doubts.
Jesus welcomes our doubts, and will answer them with evidence that demands a verdict. Actually, not just Thomas, but all the disciples were disappointed and despondent behind locked doors after the crucifixion. And all of them initially doubted the news of the resurrection.
Luke 24:11 says that when the women told the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead, “Their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” But then, like a shaft of sunlight piercing the dark, we read in John 20:19 the heart-warming words: "then Jesus came and stood among them."
Surely, that’s God’s answer to the need of mankind. The risen presence of Jesus is the remedy for our confusion when we are not able to understand what is happening to us. He blows away the fog of confusion with His words, "Peace be with you," and He gives a sense of purpose for the future. That is what happened when “doubting” Thomas finally met the risen Savior. This encounter shows us what it means to trust Jesus with our doubts. The story of Thomas gives hope to doubters, to those who say, “I want proof!”.
The Gospel of John 20:24 begins the first post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to His disciples with an attendance report. It says: “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. We are not told why Thomas was absent. Whatever the reason, Thomas missed out on a great blessing.
Look at verses 19-23: “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'”
Thomas missed out on all of this. And his absence warns us that the weeds of doubt grow fast and strong in the soil of isolation. Faith is cultivated through fellowship with Christ and other Christians. Which is all the more reason to get together with other believers. Feed your faith and starve your doubts by being marked present when the believing community meets together.
So after the appearance of Jesus to the apostles, verse 25 says: “The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” In the Greek, this statement is in a grammatical emphasis that means, “They kept telling him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’” They repeatedly and emphatically reported that they had seen the risen Savior. We should commended the disciples for this. They did not hold Thomas’s absence against him. Instead they made it their business to share the good news with him that Jesus is alive. We who are believers ought to follow their example and share that good news with every unbelieving man, woman, boy, and girl: That Jesus lives today! We serve a risen Savior!
But note, that even though they passionately shared the good news, they could not make Thomas believe. In verse 25 he says: “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Notice that Thomas did not say that he did not or could not believe. He says that without proof, “I will not believe.” It is emphatic in the original: “I will absolutely, positively, never believe.” It was a decision of the will. He made a choice not to believe.
Thomas refused to rest his faith on the experience of others, even if it was the credible witness of his close friends. I believe this is commendable. He shows us that faith in the risen Savior is a personal decision. There is no such thing as a “faith transplant” in which another believer’s faith can be transferred to you. Your family and friends’ faith can’t save you. You must trust the risen Savior for yourself.
For Thomas, that time came on the next first day of the week, which we now call the Lord’s Day. Jesus again appeared to the disciples – at the same place, in the same way, with the same greeting. But this time Jesus appeared specifically and especially for the benefit of Thomas. Verse 26 says, “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” (NIV)
Jesus could have let Thomas remain in his doubts. But Jesus loved Thomas so much that He met him in his doubts. And Jesus' loving disposition toward those who struggle with doubts has not changed. In spite of our sin, pride, and doubts, Jesus loves us enough to meet us right where we are.
Verse 27 says, “Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing'”. Jesus accepted Thomas’ doubt-filled demand for personal examination, challenging him to look Him over and touch His wounds to see for himself that He had truly risen from the dead.
What is more, he issued a command: “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Literally, Jesus said, “Thomas, stop being an unbeliever and become a believer.” This command demolishes the myth of spiritual neutrality. The uncertainty of agnosticism is not a legitimate category of faith. There is no park or neutral, only drive or reverse. Either you believe, or you do not believe, in Jesus. Now, there is no record whether Thomas accepted Jesus’ invitation to touch Him. But he did obey Jesus’ command to believe. Verse 28 says: “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!”
This great confession declares two essential attributes of Jesus. Jesus is LORD, and Jesus is GOD. We ALL need a personal encounter with the Lord before we can declare that Jesus is, “My Lord and my God.” A second-hand Jesus just will never do. We need God to break into our locked hearts and to give us that encounter.
But still there are people who say, “I want proof!” So let's take a look. In the book of Acts 1:3, Luke told Theophilus that Jesus “presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”. The Greek word translated as “infallible proofs” is a technical term that refers to that which causes something “to be known in a convincing and decisive manner, proof”.
So what are these infallible proofs of the resurrection? Before answering that question, consider what it would take to convince you that someone was alive again after dying? Of course, the best evidence would be to have an opportunity to spend time with that person again—you could see him walk and talk, and you could eat with him.
That’s precisely what Luke is referring to here. After being crucified, Jesus showed Himself alive by appearing to the disciples on several occasions. He walked with them, talked with them, and He ate with them.
There are (not counting Paul), eleven recorded times that Jesus appeared to people proving that He was resurrected. These appearances were to: men and women, individuals, couples, groups, and at least one crowd of over 500 people. The appearances were inside and outside, in different locations, and at different times of the day. That is proof!
Again, He was physically touched, audibly heard, visually seen, and He ate food in the presence of witnesses. None of these witnesses believed that Jesus would rise from the dead before He rose from the dead. And all of them knew Jesus before His death, so they knew He was the same Jesus who had died on the cross. That is proof!
The four gospels are biographies of Jesus. They were all written by eyewitnesses and/or based on eyewitness testimony. They were written and circulated while many other eyewitnesses were still alive and could have challenged the report. Yet these biographies all say that Jesus rose from the dead. That is proof!
And then there is this: Many of the principal eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus were put to death because they believed and preached that Jesus was resurrected. Their lives would probably have been spared if they had recanted. This is very significant. We know that people will die for a cause. But these men and women died for a set of facts. They went to their grave rather than say that the facts were untrue. They died because they said the facts of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus were true! That is proof!
Besides this, there is historical evidence. The grave had been guarded by Roman soldiers; yet the grave was empty. The stone enclosing the tomb was rolled away; the grave clothes were neatly left behind. And no dead body was ever found, which any detractor would have been glad to produce. That is proof! Our faith has evidence and substance.
Thomas demanded proof, and he got it. In verse 29, Jesus said to Thomas: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.” Jesus is talking to each one of us, about you and me. We have not seen Him with our own eyes like Thomas. But we can see Jesus and the wounds in His hands, and His feet, and His side through the eyes of Thomas.
Let Jesus speak to your heart, just as he spoke to Thomas. Let Jesus take away any doubts you may have. Let Jesus cause you to be one who strongly believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Lord and our Savior.
In verses 30 and 31 the apostle John tells us that Jesus did many other miraculous signs that are not recorded in the Bible. “But these are written” he said, “that you may believe (that you may believe! that you may believe!) that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
CLOSE: Caterpillars Fly
Here is something that is hard to believe. Caterpillars can become flying machines. You know, that multi-legged worm-like creature that inches along as a hump travels down its back. What it is, and what it becomes, just doesn't seem possible! And yet it is.
But what if it never happened before, and you were hearing the story for the first time? Imagine someone explaining to you that a slow moving, fuzzy bug crawled into a little sleeping bag, looking something like a burial shroud, and several days later emerged as an exotically painted flying flower!
What would you think? “Oh, Don’t give me that!” might be your first reaction. And it should be. Just think of the massive reorganization of molecules required to produce such a thing. But it happens. And as a result, we have the beautiful Monarch butterfly.
Don't doubt that God can bring life from the dead. Jesus did rise from that grave! And God can bring new life to all who come to Him in faith, repenting of their sins and being baptized into Jesus, receiving His forgiveness.
In the Bible, baptism is always preceded by repentance – an awareness of sin, and a decision to turn from it. The Lord invites you to share in His resurrection life.
