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John 20:19-31 : Christ in the Upper Room (Doubting Thomas)

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19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Commentaar

 

Two Meetings in Jerusalem after the Resurrection

Door Joe David

The risen Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room. 22.4.2010: Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Emilio Romagna, Italy.

Late on the first Easter Sunday, after the Lord had risen from the sepulcher, ten of the disciples gathered for the evening in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem (John 20). They were afraid and probably confused. Since their leader had been crucified by the Roman power, as organized by their own Jewish leaders, they feared that now his followers might also be hunted down and punished. They closed and locked the doors. Were any of the women there? The story does not say, but Peter and John were, who saw and talked with the angels that morning, and the stories of the women were known. Some time must have been spent wondering and perhaps arguing - was He really alive? How could they know it was really Him? This kind of thing, coming back to life after you’re dead, this doesn’t happen in this real world, there must be some mistake!

Then two of the followers, not of the twelve, but the two that had gone to the village of Emmaus, came in, excited and bursting with their news. They had seen Him! They had walked with Him for seven miles and He had told them wondrous things! They had only recognized Him when He broke bread and ate with them. "Don’t doubt us, it really was Jesus!"

And then as they all talked and argued, there He was, standing with them in the room. "Peace be unto you," He said, and He showed them His hands and feet and His side, where he was wounded. He calmed them, and told them that just as he had come down to mankind, so they must go out and teach to all people all the true things that He had taught in the years He was with them.

It was these truths about how to live one’s life that were saving, not the disciples themselves. These saving truths have the power to remit or retain sins, because they were from the Lord, the disciples only transmitted them from the Lord to those who would listen and take them to heart. Then He breathed on them - representing His holy spirit - so that they would not only want to pass these truths on to people, but would also be given the words to say whenever the times came. And then He was gone again.

Thomas was not there that night. We don’t know why. And Thomas, when he heard the story, just could not swallow it. "Except I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe", he said. (John 20:25.)

The next verse tells us that the next Sunday they gathered again, and that Thomas was present this time. As before, the Lord was suddenly there, saying again, "Peace be unto you", and then directly to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger… and reach hither thy hand… and be not faithless but believing". Now Thomas's response was, "my Lord and my God". It seems as if the Lord came this time just to convince Thomas, because it was Thomas who needed Him.

I think He does work this way. I am reminded of another story, from the gospel of Mark (Mark 9:17-27) where a father comes to Jesus with a young son who is possessed by a devil, and asks Jesus to cure him, and is asked in turn: "Do you believe I can do this?" In Mark 9:24 the father responds. Crying out, he said with tears, "I believe, help thou my unbelief."

I think many people have this conflict between lingering doubts and a desire to have the doubts taken away. If we carry on and make our decisions in life as if the doubts were indeed gone, then indeed they will lose their strength and actually will be gone.

These are the only details given of these two meetings in Jerusalem. Chronologically the next post-Easter stories are the ones that take place in Galilee.

John does go on to say at the end of his gospel "...many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God...." (John 20:30-31). Perhaps there were more post-Easter stories that weren't written down, but the ones we do have are strong. For the disciples who were involved, there was an unstoppable impact from the life and teachings of the Lord, and His crucifixion, and physical death, and now - in these stories - His resurrection. Hearing the Lord's charges to them, these Galilean fishermen and their colleagues launch out into the wide world, and work to achieve the Great Commission, enduring hardships and persecution, and succeeding - probably beyond their wildest dreams!

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

True Christianity #342

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342. The preceding part of this chapter (337-339) showed that the faith that saves us is faith in the Lord God our Savior Jesus Christ. The question is, what is the first step toward faith in him? The answer is acknowledging that he is the Son of God. This was the first step toward faith that the Lord revealed and proclaimed when he came into the world. If people had not started by acknowledging that he was the Son of God, and therefore God from God, it would have been pointless for him, and later for his apostles, to have preached faith in him.

There is in fact something like this today among people whose thoughts are based on their own self-importance, that is, on their outer, earthly selves alone. They say to themselves, "How could Jehovah God conceive a son? How could a human being be God?" Therefore it is necessary to use the Word to establish and support this first step into faith; the following passages are offered for this purpose:

"The angel said to Mary, 'You will conceive in your womb and give birth, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. ' And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this take place, since I have not had intercourse?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will descend upon you, and the power of the Highest will cover you; therefore the Holy One that is born from you will be called the Son of God'" (Luke 1:31-32, 34-35). When Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22). Furthermore, when Jesus was transfigured, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him" (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).

[2] "Jesus asked his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. ' Jesus said, 'You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. I say to you, on this rock I will build my church'" (Matthew 16:13, 16-18).

The Lord said, then, that he would build his church on this rock, that is, on the truth and the confession that he is the Son of God. In fact, a "rock" means a truth, and also the Lord's divine truth. The church does not exist in someone who does not confess the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. That is why I said just above that this is the first step into faith in Jesus Christ - this is faith at its very outset.

John the Baptist saw and testified that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:34). The disciple Nathaniel said to Jesus, "You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel" (John 1:49). The twelve disciples said, "We have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69). Jesus is called the only begotten Son of God and the only begotten from the Father, who is close to the Father's heart (John 1:14, 18; 3:16). Jesus himself confessed before the high priest that he was the Son of God (Matthew 26:63-64; 27:43; ; Luke 22:70). "Those who were in the boat came and worshiped Jesus saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God'" (Matthew 14:33). The eunuch who wanted to be baptized said to Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts of the Apostles 8:37). After Paul was converted, he preached that "Jesus is the Son of God" (Acts of the Apostles 9:20). Jesus said, "The hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25). "Those who do not believe have already been judged because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). "These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing may have life in his name" (John 20:31). "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life and so that you may believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13). "We know that the Son of God came and enabled us to know the truth. We are in the truth in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). "If any confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God" (1 John 4:15). Also elsewhere, as in Matthew 8:29; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 8:28; John 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; Romans 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 John 3:8; 5:10; Revelation 2:18.

There are many other passages in which Jehovah mentions his Son and the Son himself calls Jehovah God his Father, as in the following: "Whatever the Father does, the Son does. As the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so does the Son. As the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son to have life in himself, therefore all should honor the Son as they honor the Father" (John 5:19-27). This also happens in many other passages, including David: "I will announce this decision: Jehovah said to me, 'You are my Son. Today I fathered you. ' Kiss the Son or he will be angry and you will perish on the way because he will flare up with his brief anger. Blessed are all those who trust in him" (Psalms 2:7, 12).

[3] On the basis of these passages, we can now draw the conclusion that everyone who wants to be a true Christian and be saved by Christ has to believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

Those who do not believe this and think of Jesus as only the Son of Mary implant in themselves various ideas about him that are damaging and destructive to their salvation (see above, 90, 94, 102). One could say the same thing about them as about the Jews - instead of a royal crown, they put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head, give him vinegar to drink, and shout, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" [see Matthew 27:40]. Or else they say what the devil who tempted him said: "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread," or, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [from the Temple roof]" (Matthew 4:3, 6).

People like this desecrate the Lord's church and his house of worship. They make it a den of thieves. They are the people who turn devotion to the Lord into something like devotion to Muhammad. They do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is worship of the Lord, and materialist philosophy. They could be compared to people riding in a carriage or a wagon on thin ice, and the ice breaks under them, and they sink, and they and their horses and carriage disappear into the icy water. They could also be compared to people who weave a life raft out of rushes and reeds, using tar to glue it together; and they set out onto the great expanse of the ocean, but out there the tar glue dissolves; and choked by the brine, they are swallowed up and buried in the depths of the sea.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.