“Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, ‘Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus’.” John 11:16
Just a bit of background. Jesus has been chased out of Judea by the religious authorities who are threatening to kill him. He learns that a friend, Lazarus, is ill and dying/dead/sleeping. So he (Jesus) wants to go back. He tells his friends that he is returning to Bethany which is in Judea, very close to Jerusalem, to visit Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Then we have Thomas’ line.
Now, most of us know Thomas as ‘Doubting Thomas’ b/c of the scene after the Resurrection in which he won’t believe the others about Jesus coming back, until he sees it himself. But with the quote above, there almost seems to be a tone of sarcasm as Thomas speaks. Now, I’m not sure there is sarcasm in the Bible, so it is probably more that he is fiercely loyal to Christ. The reality is when we fast forward about a week or so, we realize that when push comes to shove neither Thomas nor any other disciples for that matter are going to be found near Jesus when he is crucified. So for Thomas to say, ‘Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus’, we probably should chalk it up as, ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’.
I find a strange comfort in all of this. I think all of us at some point in a time or another have gotten ourselves in over our heads when it comes to our faith walk and commitments. We get on fire and we say, “I’m going to do this, that and the other” only to realize that things aren’t as easy as we thought or we don’t get as much cooperation and help as was promised. And so we lose heart. And backslide. And lament. And when all of this occurs, we realize we are in good company because the original disciples were no different.
Through those early followers, God changed the world. Through followers today, God is still wanting to do some amazing stuff. So how about it, as we start thinking about next week, anybody want to “go too so that we may die with Jesus”?
Be blessed,
B
<><
Now, most of us know Thomas as ‘Doubting Thomas’ b/c of the scene after the Resurrection in which he won’t believe the others about Jesus coming back, until he sees it himself. But with the quote above, there almost seems to be a tone of sarcasm as Thomas speaks. Now, I’m not sure there is sarcasm in the Bible, so it is probably more that he is fiercely loyal to Christ. The reality is when we fast forward about a week or so, we realize that when push comes to shove neither Thomas nor any other disciples for that matter are going to be found near Jesus when he is crucified. So for Thomas to say, ‘Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus’, we probably should chalk it up as, ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’.
I find a strange comfort in all of this. I think all of us at some point in a time or another have gotten ourselves in over our heads when it comes to our faith walk and commitments. We get on fire and we say, “I’m going to do this, that and the other” only to realize that things aren’t as easy as we thought or we don’t get as much cooperation and help as was promised. And so we lose heart. And backslide. And lament. And when all of this occurs, we realize we are in good company because the original disciples were no different.
Through those early followers, God changed the world. Through followers today, God is still wanting to do some amazing stuff. So how about it, as we start thinking about next week, anybody want to “go too so that we may die with Jesus”?
Be blessed,
B
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment