In
the book of John chapter 4, Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman. The end
of the dialogue (vs. 19-26) goes like this:
“Sir,”
the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on
this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in
Jerusalem.”
“Woman,”
Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do
not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a
time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and
in truth.”
The
woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he
will explain everything to us.”
\
Then
Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Then
the woman left her water jar and went back to the town and told everybody, and
they came to see for themselves, and many believed.
Enter Thomas
Later
in John chapter 20, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to his
disciples who were gathered, but Thomas wasn't with
them. vs. 24-29 states:
But
Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said
to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger
into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not
believe.”
After
eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came,
the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with
you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands;
and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving,
but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus
said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who
did not see, and yet believed.”
What's this all about
anyway?
At
first glance one might wonder how the woman at the well and Thomas are related,
especially since the woman at the well was before Jesus'
crucifixion/resurrection, and Thomas was one of Jesus' disciples who hung out
with Him during His ministry... so one would think he would have believed Jesus is risen. But a deeper look will show
that they are both very similar in one thing:
they both wanted a direct encounter with Jesus - they wanted it
straight from the Source.
The
woman at the well said “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming.
When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” She wanted to
hear from Jesus the answer to her question " Our ancestors worshiped on
this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in
Jerusalem.” The woman at the well didn't seem to put too much faith in what
the other voices were saying to her, she was waiting to hear from the source
--Jesus.
Similarly,
Thomas had doubts when he was told by
the other disciples “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless
I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place
of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” It
seems that Thomas also wanted to hear/see directly from the source --Jesus.
It's very interesting what he says when he does see him: “My
Lord and my God!”(v.28)
Thomas not the only doubter
Poor
Thomas usually gets a bad rap for not believing, but, as pointed out in the
books of Mark and Luke, the others didn't believe at first either: In Mark
16:9-14:
When Jesus rose early on the
first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and
weeping. When they heard that Jesus
was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
Afterward Jesus appeared in
a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe
them either.
Later Jesus appeared to the
Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and
their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had
risen.
Also
note in Luke 24:9-12:
When they came back from the tomb, they
told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told
this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their
words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the
tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went
away, wondering to himself what had happened.
The point of this is that none of these believed
until they saw it for themselves. There
is a saying that "God doesn't have grandkids". One can't ride the
coattails of somebody else's relationship with our Lord. We can tell others
about Jesus and point them to Him, and we can live our lives as reflections of
Him (hopefully good reflections).
Ultimately each one in their own time will
come face-to-face with the Lord and see for themselves. Thankfully Jesus has made the way for each
and all to come to the source of the Living Water, He leaves none out,
none are left behind.
John
17:3 Now
this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent....Amen
Lisa Owens
Grace Communion at Wheeling, Wv.-Lansing, OH.
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