The second appearance to the disciples.
There was one member of the apostolic band still in doubt and darkness.
I. THE ABSENCE OF THOMAS FROM THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH THE LORD. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came."
1. The character of this disciple, as already made known, left him open to profound discouragement at the death of Christ. "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).
2. His temperament would incline him to await in solitude the solution of the mystery of the Passion of Christ.
3. His absence from the first meeting might have cost him dear, even the loss of his faith, but for Christ's mercy. We know not what we lose by absenting ourselves from the fellowship of Christ's friends,
II. THOMAS'S OBSTINATE UNBELIEF. "When therefore the other disciples said to him, We have seen the Lord, he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
1. Mark the deep interest of the disciples in their skeptical colleague. They were eager to impart to him the gladness of their own satisfied faith.
2. Thomas carries his faith at his fingers' ends, as if he could not believe in a fact amply established by the testimony of worthy brethren. The death of Christ in all its details had made an impression upon his mind so deep that he could not entertain the possibility of life returning to his Lord's body.
III. OUR LORD'S CONDESCENSION TO THOMAS'S UNBELIEF. "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy fingers, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing."
1. This interview occurred a week after the first. The disciples did not leave Jerusalem for Galilee till Thomas's scruples were overcome. They could not think of abandoning him to his unreasonable unbelief.
2. It was the urgency of the disciples which, no doubt, secured the presence of Thomas on this occasion.
3. Our Lord offered to Thomas all the evidence he has been demanding for eight days.
IV. THE CONVICTION OF THOMAS. "Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God!" This exclamation implied:
1. The instant dispersion of all his doubts.
2. The rapture of a holy admiration.
3. An act of sincere adoration. Thomas saw in Jesus supreme Deity. it cannot be maintained that it was a mere exclamation addressed to God rather than Christ.
V. OUR LORD'S PROCLAMATION OF THE HIGHER BLESSEDNESS. "Jesus saith to him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
1. It is natural for us to suppose that it would bare been an advantage to us to have seen Christ in the flesh. It was not so, however, to the Jews, Who saw him in the circumstances of his earthly humiliation.
2. Even those believers who saw him in the flesh had to get beyond the evidence of the senses to see his Godhead and authority. It was not this evidence that convinced Thomas. Eyesight showed him only a wounded man, but something more was needed to enable him to see Christ as Lord and God.
3. Our Lord's rebuke of Thomas marks his consideration for the Church of all ages. He seems to say to him, "You think you were doing a right thing in remaining unconvinced till you could receive the fullest evidence of the senses; but what is to become of future generations if the same evidence is to be demanded by them? All future believers must accept the fact of my resurrection upon your testimony."
4. The higher blessedness is ours; for we can act in the terms of that faith which "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). We are to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).
The dose of the evangelist's narrative.
It has an abrupt termination. The Gospel began with an assertion of Christ's Deity; it ends with a confession of the same blessed doctrine.
I. THE EVANGELIST'S METHOD OF WRITING HIS NARRATIVE. "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book."
1. These words imply the existence of the other Gospels, with their fuller narratives of miracle. He thus ratifies the contents of those Gospels.
2. The miracles were wrought in presence of the disciples, because they were to be our Lord's witnesses to the world.
II. THE AIM OF THE EVANGELIST. "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his Name."
1. It is a blessed security for the faith of the Church of all ages that the gospel was written, and not left to the uncertainties of traditional recollection.
2. The object of Scripture is to minister to faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." This faith has:
(a) Faith is a fundamental necessity in Christianity.
(b) It brings life to the soul.
"The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20). This life is "through his Name." He is our Life, and he gives life.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON