4/25/19
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Countless pages have been written about the apostle Thomas. Well, perhaps not countless, but it would take a long time to count them. We routinely forget that he is the apostle who, when others tried to persuade Jesus not to go to Lazarus, rather said he would go and die with him. In our Gospel for this week, though, Thomas is disheartened. He is fearful. He is unbelieving. He has heard but he has not believed.
I wonder if you have ever noticed that Jesus essentially made an extra trip to be seen by Thomas with the others, in very much the same way he had appeared the week before. Thomas is important to Jesus. So are we when we are having trouble believing.
So do we try to insist that Jesus needs to come around with his broken and wounded body for us to believe? No, we don’t get to insist on that, because Jesus already has. When he instituted the Sacrament, he said that his broken body and his shed blood were present for his followers and their forgiveness, that the bread and the cup are a “participation” in his body and blood. Jesus is there on the altar, just as he was there for Thomas. His words are also for us. “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (v. 27B, ESV).
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Countless pages have been written about the apostle Thomas. Well, perhaps not countless, but it would take a long time to count them. We routinely forget that he is the apostle who, when others tried to persuade Jesus not to go to Lazarus, rather said he would go and die with him. In our Gospel for this week, though, Thomas is disheartened. He is fearful. He is unbelieving. He has heard but he has not believed.
I wonder if you have ever noticed that Jesus essentially made an extra trip to be seen by Thomas with the others, in very much the same way he had appeared the week before. Thomas is important to Jesus. So are we when we are having trouble believing.
So do we try to insist that Jesus needs to come around with his broken and wounded body for us to believe? No, we don’t get to insist on that, because Jesus already has. When he instituted the Sacrament, he said that his broken body and his shed blood were present for his followers and their forgiveness, that the bread and the cup are a “participation” in his body and blood. Jesus is there on the altar, just as he was there for Thomas. His words are also for us. “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (v. 27B, ESV).
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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