But he [Thomas] 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.”
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!”
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The best place to hear what we as Christians believe about life after death is at a Christian funeral. You may hear all kinds of things. While everyone will be clinging to the hope of the gospel, the message is often inconsistent and muddled.
• The loved ones who died too early became angels.
• The mother will live on in our hearts.
• The great humanitarian will live on through what he taught us.
It’s time to put our hope in more than simple, tired clichés. What is it that will make people look to Jesus? That he lives on in our hearts? What will make people bow the knee to the Jewish Messiah? That his teachings live on long after he died? We need to figure out how to tell our story, because our story is better. Our story goes one step further.
In all the great stories, we are compelled to put our faith in the hero. The prince who will go anywhere, do anything to win the heart of the princess, or to gain her freedom. In the most moving stories, the hero dies. Ours did too.
But our Prince knew that long after he was gone we would still have to face death on our own. And we would be afraid. So he went wherever he had to go to rid us of our sins, and the door of death crashed closed behind him. He set down our load of sins there, and quietly, confidently, turned around to stare at the dogs of death guarding the gates.
And he kicked their teeth in on his way back out. He made a necklace of those teeth to present to his bride. And as those teeth saw sunlight on Sunday morning a miraculous thing happened.
They turned into pearls of faith. They became gems of hope strung together on a golden string of love.
Whatever the future holds, it holds more than even heaven can contain. It holds life. The gospel is not that Jesus died and went to heaven. The gospel is that Jesus died for our sins, and then came back from the dead.
That is what made Thomas kneel before the Christ.
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Lord, engrave on our hearts today what it meant when you came back from the dead. Thank you that our future holds not only heaven, but resurrection! You are the Great Hero of an eternal story. We worship you as Almighty God.
