The unbelief of Thomas.
I. THOMAS AND HIS FELLOW-APOSTLES. When they told Thomas they had seen Jesus, and he refused to believe, they must have been rather staggered at first. They would insist on how they had seen Jesus with their own eyes, and heard him with their own ears; not one of them, but all. They would point out how the sepulcher was empty, and how Jesus had said that it behooved him to be raised from the dead. They might ask whether Thomas imagined that they were all in a conspiracy to play an unseemly practical joke upon him. Yet there was really nothing to complain about in the incredulity of Thomas. Who of them had believed Jesus as he deserved to be believed? Their thoughts had never been really directed towards resurrection. They had been dreaming of individual glory and sell: advancement, and all that tended in a different direction had been unnoticed. We must do them the justice to say that no tone of complaint against Thomas appears. They would be too conscious that with the beam so recently taken out of their own eye, they had no right to declaim against the mote in their brother's eye.
II. THOMAS AND JESUS. What is Jesus to do with Thomas? Is he to remain in this state of emphatic unbelief, with no means taken to help him into faith? Will Jesus make a special appearance, all for Thomas's satisfaction? Surely that can hardly be, but time will tell. A week elapses, and the disciples are gathered again, Thomas being with them. Jesus reappears, just after the former fashion. What, then, will Thomas do? Will he rush to Jesus, confessing and bewailing the wickedness of his unbelief? Jesus removes all difficulty by taking the first step himself. All the apostles need to be taught a lesson. Jesus knows well that faith can never originate in things that can be seen and felt and handled. Such things may help faith, but cannot produce it. The confession of Thomas, prompt and ardent as it seems, counts for little with Jesus. He does not say, "Blessed art thou, Thomas; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Thomas had to be both lovingly helped and delicately rebuked.
III. PROBABLE AFTER-EXPERIENCES OF THOMAS. Thomas would meet many of an unbelieving spirit, who could not, just upon his word, accept the resurrection of Jesus. And then Thomas would have to reply, "I once thought as you do; I insisted on seeing the marks of the wounds; and my Master, in his boundless condescension to the infirmities of his servants, let me see what I wanted to see. But, at the same time, he taught me a lesson, in the strength of which I have gone ever since." All the apostles had soon to believe in One whom they could not see. Where he had gone, they knew not; and how he was to communicate with them and they with him, they could not explain; but most assuredly a real and fruitful communication was established. Jesus was not speaking of an impossible blessedness, or dangling the attractions of a dream before the eyes of his disciples. The unseen, and not the seen, is what strengthens faith. What men see is the very thing that makes them unbelievers, confusing them, perplexing them, utterly disabling them from laying hold on anything solid and comforting. If the seen hides the unseen, so that Jesus himself becomes the merest of tames, then there is dreadful misery.—Y.
The purpose of John's Gospel.
This statement comes in very fitly after the narrative of Thomas's doubt. Many more things might have been told, but a mere record of actions is nothing in itself; it is precious just as it reveals the nature, the character, and the office of the actor. A record of Jesus more encumbered with details, and longer spun out, might not have given so clear a view of him.
I. JOHN'S PURPOSE. Many books have been written to destroy faith; here is a book written to produce it. If a man believes a lie, it is true kindness to destroy his faith in it; equally, if he does not yet believe the truth, it is a duty to do all one can to help him into faith. This was the bright work of John, not to pull down, but to build up; not to destroy faith, but to produce it. Certainly in producing a new faith he destroyed an old one; but the decaying and vanishing of the old was not felt in the joy of welcoming the new. To believe is to be strong, to doubt is to be weak. And now suppose one begins to read through John's Gospel, musing over the strange things there recorded—miracles of healing, language about the life, the light, the bread, the vine, the shepherd, pondering the raising of Lazarus, and still later the raising of Jesus—he might be inclined to say, "I cannot make anything of it; it looks utterly inexplicable." Then he comes to the words here, and how he ought to be helped. This work was not written to bewilder; if it does bewilder, such was not the writer's intent. John, a believing man himself, wanted to lead others to believe. His attachment to Christ was not the blind attachment of a fanatic. It was not an ignorant trust. John was not a hired advocate, not a skilful arranger of facts, hiding away what might be difficult to explain or awkward to reveal.
II. THE EVIDENT RESULT. Let us be true to ourselves, giving the book fair play, and the end will be the receiving of eternal life. Out of Christ we are all made to feel that the excellency of our present life is indeed in earthen vessels. A sudden accident, a few hours of disease, and all is gone. Without Jesus we know not where we are going, or what may happen to us. But, believing in Jesus, we are sure of a life hid away from all the perils of this present world. John does not put forward this book as furnishing the best arguments he can supply. It is rather Christ's own sufficient appeal to all who have an honest desire for salvation and eternal life. If there be not enough in this book to persuade us, neither would we be persuaded if Jesus himself were to come in bodily form. They that love the New Testament will be fullest of eternal life, for they will be fullest of faith and freest from doubts. The words of Jesus will never be to them as common words. Looking round on the widely spread and deeply penetrating evil of the world, they will feel that only he holds in his hands the complete remedy for it. The claim of Jesus is one that can never pass away, seeing it is the claim of the Son of God—the claim not merely of his appointment, but of his nature.—Y.
John 19
John
John 21
John 20 - john-20 - worlddic.com