(John 20:19-31)

On the evening of that first day of the week (the day of Jesus' resurrection), when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus was crucified on the Friday and now it is Sunday. The disciples lie huddled behind locked doors. A lot has happened and in reality it has been little more than a long weekend. The text stresses the fear felt by the Twelve, even though it doesn't specify precisely what their fear consists of. Are they afraid of the Jews because the Jews suspected them of stealing the body? Or of leading some kind of insurgency movement? I don't think they were just worried that those who killed Jesus would kill them as well. The fear went deeper. I think that they didn't want to deal with the scorn of those who knew they had failed. They had even failed at the talk of protecting Jesus. In spite of all their earlier bravado, they were afraid of what had happened at the cross.and they were ashamed .

Where is Thomas this first Easter evening when the other disciples are hiding in the upper room? Perhaps he is trying to find out the truth. Thomas is a practical, concrete sort of guy. He is plainspoken and gutsy. He wants to understand what's going on, and be able to face the situation at hand. Maybe he is the only disciple with enough sense to recognize that this hiding thing could take along time, and that he'd better go out and get milk and bread for the group. The words Thomas speaks in v. 25 are amazingly detailed and precise. Just as Judas is the treasurer of the group who wants to make sure that someone keeps track of money (cf. 12:4-5), so Thomas is the one who will not be carried away by "appearances." He is the sceptic, the one who only believes the testimony of the senses. Every group needs both a treasurer and a sceptic.

Thomas refuses to believe that the other disciples have seen Jesus raised from the dead (John 20:19-31). He has the priceless gift of cutting to the heart of an issue. It was too soon for Jesus' body to have healed and so he wanted to see the nail marks to be sure that the person the other disciples had seen was the same man who had been crucified a few days earlier. Thomas' thought process can be summarised simply - once he had seen Jesus' suffering he would be convinced by his new life. It is the same for us - suffering for others always brings with it the mark of new life. It is when we care for others that we realize ourselves as authentically human

One might think - being the obedient Son of the Father, God the Son, the creator of all that lives - these marks would vanish due to his divine perfection. We might expect some turbo-charged God (Flash - the Master of the Universe) flying around with Supersonic lighting but instead of this divinity expresses itself in humanity and a willingness to suffer.