Have you ever heard something you thought was too good to be true? Have you heard someone claim to have witnessed something that you think is impossible? What did you do? What did you say? Did you ask them if they were playing a joke on you?
We hear people make claims that we can’t believe are true. We may think they are trying to pull one over on us. We hear promotions of products that we are sure is an exaggeration. There is no way anything can be that good. And of course, there are the scams we hear today.
We have heard and maybe said it ourselves, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Thomas operated in this way. So, when the other disciples told him they had seen Jesus, he balked at their claim. He knew there was no way Jesus was alive. He knew Jesus had died on the cross. Though he had seen Jesus raise people from the dead, he could not comprehend anyone raising Jesus from the dead.
It is true that Thomas had heard Jesus say He would rise on the third day. But like the other disciples, he did not understand it. It is likely Thomas believed in the resurrection, just as most Jews of his time did. Yet, their understanding was that the resurrection would come at the end of time.
The question we must wrestle with is much the same as Thomas wrestled with. Will we believe Jesus rose on the third day? If we do, how does it change us? Or does it? The resurrection should change us immensely. It should cause us to call Jesus Lord and Savior. It should be a life altering belief.
I pray we all wrestle with believing the resurrection. I pray we believe Jesus rose on the third day. I pray each one of us has a life altering belief in the resurrection that results in a strong faith. Wrestle with the question. Believe Jesus rose on the third day. Have a life altering belief.
John 20:24-25 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Marty Pressey 