As I was studying John 11 yesterday I came upon a few verses that made me think a little more than usual.....Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?"....Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 So Thomas, called the Twin,(1 )said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Here are a few thoughts:
1.) Thomas is known for one thing: his doubt. Yet at this point he has no problem with risking his life to stay be Jesus' side (and encourages his boys to do the same), even though the 'goons' have it out for Jesus. As Shakespeare (via Marc Antony) reminds us, "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." Doubting Thomas was ready for the stones, and all we remember of him is his failure to believe. I wonder what my bad nickname I'll have after I'm gone.
2.) It's amazing to me that a man would find it easier to risk his life than to believe that Jesus truly did bodily rise from the grave. It took Jesus himself showing up and setting the records straight for Thomas to believe the resurrection really happened. For many people, it's the other way around. Believing isn't as hard; it's the facing persecution that can become a stumbling block. Different folks have different struggles. Some struggle more with intellectual matters, some struggle more with fear. Of course the Holy Spirit is aids us in dealing with either or both. That's our advantage.
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