Amy Rose's World: Doubting Thomas

Hey,

Sorry late post again but have been busy revising. So this past week at church Andy came in to talk about his time in India. This meant that after some songs he got us to fill in a sheet of questions about India before him talking about his time there. However, the last question was about teaching as we are looking at Jesus as a teacher. The question was . . .

In your opinion, What are the five most important traits a teacher can have?

I put Understanding, patients, passion, to teach and authority.

He then went on to talk about the topic of the service which was doubting Thomas. In the Sound of Music their head sister said, "I always tried to keep faith in my doubts". In this case the doubt was Maria who was overcome by the beauty of the world around her she was always late and never where she needed to be.

Many people have come out and freely said that they have doubts, here are some examples: Martin Luther King, CS Lewis, Mother Teresa and even Pope Francis who said

"who among us – everybody, everybody – who among us has not experienced insecurity, loss and even doubt on their journey of faith? Everyone! We've all experienced this, even me. This is part of our journey of faith, it is part of our lives. This should not surprise us because we are human beings marked by imperfections. We are all week, we all have limits: do not worry we all have them."

Now let's look at teachers in general before looking at Jesus as our teacher and saviour. Teachers have to create relationships with pupils so that they can understand them, gain their trust, to be able to calm them down. Teachers need to be able to changed their approach in teaching with different children as we are all very different and unique people. A teacher has to create an environment in which the pupils have the confidence to make mistakes so that they can learn and feel free to show what they have already learnt therefore the teacher will have a greater understanding of the pupils ability. The teacher needs to be calm and patient as they will have to repeat what they've already taught as pupils can make mistakes and they may misbehave. Now looking at Jesus we have to remember that he had been with his disciples who were his pupils for 3 years teaching them about God.

Andy also spoke about senses when looking at what Jesus taught us. I'm sure that everyone knows that in ‘Genesis 3’ Adam and Eve were told not to eat the apple from the forbidden tree but still Eve disobeyed God and took an apple from that tree, she just couldn't help but touch and taste the fruit from that tree. Now if we look at our lives, when you go into a restaurant and the waiter tells you that the plate is hot, you still touched the plate and find out that it is indeed hot. You needed to touch it to confirm that what you've been told was true.

Now we look at John 20:1 - 31 as this shows through our senses that the disciples begin to recognise their teacher who had risen.

John 20:3 – 8

"So, Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both are running, but the other disciple outrun Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along beside him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth is still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed."

Peter and John completely believed although they didn't understand what had happened, but they did believe.

John 20:11 – 18

“Now Mary is outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don't know where they have put him. 'At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. He asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?' Thinking he was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you had put him, and I will get him. 'Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, 'Rabbi! (Which means teacher). Jesus said, 'do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go inside to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascended to my Father and your father to my God and your God.' Mary went to disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!' And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Mary needed to hear his voice in order to believe.

John 20:19 – 23

"On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'peace be with you!' After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again, Jesus said, 'peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that he breathed on them and said, 'receives the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"

The other disciples needed to see the Lord, their teacher, in order to believe.

John 20:24 – 29

"Now Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 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 were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'put your hand here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to him, 'My Lord my God!' Then Jesus told him. 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed of those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"

Thomas needed to see and touch him to believe, which Jesus knew as his teacher. Jesus then continued to teach by saying to Thomas stop doubting. Through these verses you can see how much joy Thomas has once he understands that Jesus is in front of him. In the Bible, it states that by 'believing in me you will have love everlasting' therefore by believing in him will have joy. Throughout the Bible Thomas questions Jesus in a way so he can understand, Jesus said to Thomas 'I am the way to the father.'

The servers ended by saying 'peace be with you' and prayer. The prayer was thanking Jesus for being a great leader and teaching us as well as asking him to transform our doubt in to faith. We then ended by repeating Thomas's words 'My Lord, my God!'

Songs

There is not much to say about these songs except that to me they are traditional as I have heard them since I was a child and I love them.

Lord Reign in Me