Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Monday, September 3, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 114
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: The testimony of the disciples who were eyewitnesses the resurrection of Jesus from the dead will not be complete without the drama surrounding Thomas. At a time that Jesus had been informed of the sickness of Lazarus that eventually led to the death of Lazarus, Jesus had delayed in responding because He had other commitments to meet. During this waiting period, the disciples had been seriously contemplating whether to accompany Jesus on the trip to Lazarus’ place, fearing for their lives, as they had sensed a serious plot by the detractors of Jesus to assassinate Him.
Torn between preserving their lives or risk following Jesus, the disciples were at a crossroad. They needed to make a definite decision. They needed an icebreaker. Thomas, who would later on be classified with the negative tag as a doubting man, was the courageous disciple among the lot to have openly declared his emphatic decision to the other disciples to accompany Jesus to Bethany even if it was going to cost them their lives. Thomas served as the lone disciple to have rallied the others for the dangerous trip.
John 11:16, “Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.” This singular show of loyalty is in sharp contrast to the later inability of Thomas to accept the testimony of the other ten disciples to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His appearance to the rest of the disciples in their hideout during a brief absence of Thomas. Typical of Thomas as a person who wasn’t afraid to be different from the crowd, Thomas had been bold enough to voice out his dissent on the incredible testimony of the eyewitness account of the ten disciples. He wasn’t afraid to stand up to the rest of the disciples for his own specifications of what would constitute the truth.
John 20:25, “The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” The stringent specifications of Thomas demanded that he wasn’t prepared to accept hook, line and sinker, the credible witness of his ten fellow disciples unless he could be granted the benefit of running his fingers through the footprints of the nails through His hands and the piercing wound through the side of the resurrected Christ. This was because he had witnessed these incidents happen to Jesus on the cross.
Food for thought: What most people fail to appreciate is the fact that one eyewitness was prepared to go the extra mile to verify the authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus.
Declaration: And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. John 20:28
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
