Peace Be With You

And we're going to be looking at verses 19 through 31.

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Once you've found your place in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, beginning with verse 19, please stand for the reading of God's word.

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Hear the word of the Lord. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them both hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.

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As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit if you believe. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

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So the other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here your hand and put it into my side.

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And do not be unbelieving. But believing, Thomas answered and said to him, my lord and my God. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed. Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Therefore, many other signs.

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Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Let's pray. Father, may your will be done, Jesus, may your word be proclaimed in spirit. May your work be accomplished in us. We pray.

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Amen. You could be seated.

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I could count probably a handful of times that I've studied this passage and heard about it in Sunday school and growing up in the church, and it's always referenced, or the title of that teaching or the preaching was doubting Thomas. I remember my grandparents often attributing Thomas with this doubt of faith. And as I matured in my faith and as I continue to read through the scriptures and study all of scripture, and specifically here, the gospel of John. I do not know why so many have taught such a negative view about Thomas and why Thomas gets the bad rap over the last three days at this point, before they're gathered here in this room for fear of the jews, you have Peter denying Jesus in the courtyard. You have all the disciples scattering.

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But yet Thomas is the one that gets the negative rap. He's the one doubting because he won't believe his own brothers. The disciples that they witnessed and have seen, the resurrected Jesus, none of them have believed necessarily. Mary, remember, was the first one to encounter the resurrected Lord, and she was sent to go tell them. If Mary was sent to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen to go meet him in Galilee, why are they in a room with fear of the Jews?

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The gospel of Luke would tell us, matter of fact, Jesus tells us that they are fearful and doubting in Luke 24. So I'm of the mind that we can't have this negative view. And I don't know where it comes from honestly about Thomas, and Thomas alone. When all the disciples over the events that took place in the last three days left their allegiance to their king, Jesus, behind, who exercised very little faith, who have no peace, even though Jesus prepared them