Thomas

Notes from NT Wright

Thomas offers a “breath taking statement of new-found faith.

First person to call Jesus of Nazareth GOD directly

Now, a week after Easter, it looks like this: a muddled, dogged disciple, determined not to be taken in, standing on his rights not to believe anything until he’s got solid evidence, confronted by a smiling Jesus who has just walked, as he did the previous week, through a locked door. This is what it looks like.

Tom Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 153.

What is happening? What are we dealing with?

It’s the same Jesus - the nails, the marks, the wound big enough to stick your hand into

“This isn’t a ghost, nor is it someone else pretending to be Jesus. This is him. This is the body that the grave-cloths couldn’t contain any longer

it’s not just the grave or death he’s escaped

He comes and goes as though he belongs both in our world and in a different world, one which intersects with ours at various points and doesn’t...

“The dour, dogged disciple who suggested they might as well go with Jesus, if only to die with him, who complained that Jesus hadn’t made things… clear enough, just happened to be the one who was somewhere else on the first Easter day. He sees the others excited, elated, unable to contain their joy. He’s not going to be taken in.

John v. 8 (saw and believed) just like Thomas

Jesus’ rebuke was more an encouragement to those who come later...