Dear Friends,

Deacon Andy Packer will be leading a Zoom service this Sunday (19th April) at 10.30am. Please try and join us if you are able, access details in our newsletter.

REFLECTION by Richard Cracknell

Thomas: (John 20:19-31)

Thomas slipped out of the upper room locking the door behind him… someone had to get the provisions. Peter was the obvious choice but he wanted to lie low, he was still nervous about being challenged in the street as a follower of Jesus. So it fell to Thomas, who was known to have a fearless streak (John 11:16), to go out and get what they needed.

Gradually his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight as he stepped out into the hot and dusty streets. He blended into the bustling market place, he envied the people going about their normal lives and wondered if there would ever be a ‘normal’ life again for him and his friends now that Jesus had gone.

When he got back, he noticed the change as soon as he entered the room… his friends whom he had left moping in the upper room were now chatting animatedly, there was a new spirit in the air. It was clear that something had happened and the other disciples couldn’t wait to tell him about it, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ they exclaimed, but he wasn’t in the mood for their riddles:

“Unless I see the scars of the nails in His hands and put my hand in His side I will not believe”

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It may have disappointed Jesus that Thomas was unable to believe his friends but He definitely didn’t want Thomas to miss out. And so a week later He appears again to the disciples and this time Thomas is there too. Jesus turns to Thomas and says:

“Put your finger here and look at my hands then stretch out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting and believe!”

I prefer to think that Thomas didn’t inspect Jesus’ wounds, as he was invited to, but just sees the Lord he knows so well and exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”

It was a shame that Thomas wasn’t there to meet Jesus the first time and unfortunate that his friends couldn’t convince him that they had. But it is rather unfair that Thomas is forever labelled ‘the doubter’ and viewed in a negative light because, in reality, he was a very loyal and perceptive disciple. It was a question from Thomas which drew out of Jesus that great statement found in John 14:5,6:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.”

And in our passage today he draws out of Jesus another great statement and a blessing for us all:

“Do you believe because you have seen me?” Jesus says to Thomas

“Blessed are those who have not seen me yet believe.”

This is a blessing from the Lord Jesus Himself to all those who believe in Him without the benefit of Thomas’ resurrection experience. And that includes you and me!

So, in those moments of doubt that we all encounter in our Christian life from time to time we can relate to one who was closest to Jesus, one who had heard the promises of Jesus with His own ears yet still struggled to comprehend that the resurrection of Jesus had happened just as He said it would.

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Thomas strode out of the upper room, this time he left the door open for the other disciples to follow. Gradually his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight as he stepped out into the hot and dusty streets. He went into the bustling market place but no longer envied the people going about their normal lives, there was a new normality now – a post resurrection normality – and world that needed to be told.

Richard Cracknell