19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus and Thomas

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twinc), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The Purpose of This Book

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believed that Jesus is the Messiah,e the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

The scene in which Thomas extends his hand to touch the Lord became a favorite theme for later artists. Nevertheless it is unlikely that Thomas did any such thing; otherwise the Evangelist would have made the point that Thomas became convinced when he touched the body of the risen Lord. But v 29 speaks only of Thomas seeing the Lord. The impression given by the narrative is that Thomas was overwhelmed by the appearance of the Lord and his words to him, and without any further demonstration he burst out with his confession.

29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

44 Then he said to them, ‘This is what I was talking to you about when I was still with you. Everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and the psalms, had to be fulfilled.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Bible.

Luke’s closing scene, for all its joy and excitement, brings into focus for us the real problem of what happened at Easter. What sort of a body did Jesus have? How could it at the same time be solid and real, with flesh and bones, able to eat baked fish, and to demonstrate that it wasn’t a ghost—and also to appear and disappear apparently at will, and at the end to be carried into heaven? Just what sort of a body are we talking about?

But if our minds are still reeling from trying to take all this in—and it seems, not surprisingly, as though that’s how the disciples were too—then what Jesus has to say in his last days with them is very practical, and points the way to the whole mission of the church. People often ask me, What, after all, is the point of Jesus dying and rising again? It’s no doubt very nice for him to be alive again, but what does it have to do with the rest of us?

The answer is here, in a few sentences which will take a lifetime, and in fact all the history of the church, to work out. The church is to be rooted in scripture and active in mission. ‘Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations.’

‘Repentance’ and ‘forgiveness of sins’ are not, therefore, simply a matter for the individual, though they certainly are that. At the heart of being a Christian is the personal turning away from sin, and celebrating God’s forgiveness, which is after all at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer itself. But these two words go much wider as well. They are the agenda which can change the world.