GC Easter Message - My Lord and My God

By Robin Caldwell

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 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.” 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!" 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.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” -- (John 20: 24-28, NIV)

Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is the hallmark of our faith as Christians. He kept a promise in the resurrection, He said He’d rise in three days, and He did.

The miracle of the resurrection is that in a single, promised and delivered act, we received the blessed assurance of eternal life.

And still, Thomas doubted.

Thomas is mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible a few times: once when he is introduced as one of the twelve, another time when Jesus hears of the death of Lazarus and Thomas leads the brigade of disciples to follow Him to Nazareth; at the Last Supper, and after the resurrection when it is mentioned that he wasn’t present at the tomb.

Our final encounter with Thomas involves the day Jesus shows up at the upper room, and tells Thomas to put his finger in the nail hole in His hand and his hand through the Savior’s sword-pierced side. One look at the wounds and Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

The Gospel of John documents that the doors were locked and Jesus just appears out of nowhere, which would have been more than enough to cure any doubts I’d had of His resurrection. But for Thomas it was the display of those wounds that sold him on the words of his fellow disciples who’d said, “We have seen the Lord!”