Slideshow image

Easter Week Devotional Five: “Put out your hand, and place it in my side.”

by Thomas Hawkes

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” John 20:27-28).

Thomas, Doubting Thomas as he has been known, has refused to believe that Jesus rose based on the testimony of others. He has insisted upon seeing, and not just seeing, but touching the wounds of Jesus.

Jesus knows this, so when he returns to the Apostles eight days later he turns his attention to Thomas. He invites Thomas to answer his own questions directly. Put your finger in my nail wounds, your hand in my spear wound.

Thomas is the surrogate for resurrection skeptics everywhere. They have questions, objections, doubts. Thomas did, too. 

But Christ is not afraid of questions. Christ does not shrink from cross examination. He has been prepared for two thousand years to answer all skeptics, all honest questions. 
Because of Christ’s openness to questions, to inquiry, to honest skeptics, Christians have been open to questions, as well, for all these centuries. 

There is, of course, an important difference between an honest question and the debater who asks a question to prove a point, rather than seeking information. Jesus did not directly answer the questions of the Pharisees meant to trap him, nor did he reply to Pilate’s cynical, “What is truth?” 

But to those who doubt and really want to know, he is ready with an answer. He explains to Nicodemus, he teaches the Samaritan woman at the well, and here he answers Thomas. He answers by humbling himself to offer his hands and side to be inspected. 

With the physical proof, Jesus also offers a verbal exhortation, more literally, he says, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Leave the state of being one without faith and become one with faith. It is not just the changing of an idea. It is a conversion to a different way of life. Stop being Doubting Thomas, become Faith-Filled Thomas.

And the honest nature of Thomas objection is demonstrated by his response to this reasonable reply from Jesus. “My Lord and my God.” Thomas does not merely welcome Jesus as Jesus, the teacher. He worships Jesus as his Lord and his God. He recognizes the full implication of the resurrection of Christ. It proves every claim to divinity Jesus had made! It explains his ability to feed five thousand, to walk on water, to raise the dead. He was not merely a godly prophet, but THE Prophet, who is God. 

We see here Jesus the apologist—one who explains and proves the faith—engaging sincere doubt with real facts and honest answers. We are encouraged by his example! We need not fear honest questions, while still recognizing cynical ones. To the Doubting Thomas’s of the world, we stand ready, as did Jesus, to answer their real questions. 

Peter learned from that day and others like it, writing: “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). 

Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is the ground of our confidence. It changes everything, as Thomas finally understood. We need not ever shrink back from any honest inquiry. We need fear no question about Christ. Every question that can be asked of Christ has been asked, and well answered, countless times over the last two millennia. 

We stand with Jesus, believing and ready to help anyone, like Thomas, struggling with doubt. And like Jesus we offer real answers and a call to faith. “Put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”