Saturday, November 17, 2012

John 20

John 20 is a really joyful chapter! I can feel God's presence and joy just by reading it! At the start of it, Mary goes to Jesus' tomb and finds it empty. She then runs and tells the disciples that someone took Jesus' body.

The disciples eventually get to meet Jesus, and Thomas has to put his hands in Jesus' scars before he believes. John 20:25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in  his hands and put my finger where the nails weer, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  John 20:27 Then he said to THomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." There is spiritual, physical, and archeological proof that Jesus rose. We all know he has from what He has done in our life. We need to stop spending time doubting Jesus, (I have been guilty of doubting lots of times) and believe in Him. We probably won't get to put our fingers in His scars till heaven, but Jesus in verse 29 blessed those who don't see Him and believe. John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed in me."


2 comments:

Brian Hinkle said...

I liked John verse 23. It says, "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven".

This means that since Jesus resurrected from the dead, we don't have to sacrifie lambs after every sin anymore, and we don't have such brutal consequences for breaking the laws in the books Leviticus and numbers. Instead we just ask God for forgiveness, and it's done. You only need to ask for it once instead of sacrificing a lamb every time you sin. This is a big part of the death of Jesus, because the reason He did it was because of this.

Joe Hinkle said...

Verses 27 - 29 "27Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. 28Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! 29Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Jesus here is speaking to us! Not every person has the chance to see Jesus face to face on the earth. Even though Thomas had spent years with Jesus, witnessing miracles and his teachings, he still could not believe he was risen. Thomas is in fact so stubborn that he says "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." (25)

Verses 30-31 "30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

This little reminder at the way end of the chapter is really important. Throughout Jesus's ministry, he did not only perform the miracles described in this book, but he did many other.

I also have a question. Why is John so prideful? Verse 2 "So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them..." was that really necessary? Or in verse 4 "Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first." I feel like ask him really John??? Bragging how great of a runner you are in the Bible. Is this just me or is John a bit egocentric?