THOMAS DOUBTS
MEMORY VERSE
John 20:31, ESV
but 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.
DAY 1
John 20:1-5, NIrV
1 Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. It was still dark. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. 2 So she ran to Simon Peter and another disciple, the one Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 Both of them were running. The other disciple ran faster than Peter. He reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there. But he did not go in.
BIBLE STUDY
There’s a lot of action squeezed into these five verses! Mary visited Jesus’ tomb, a cave-like place they laid his body in after he died. There was supposed to be a huge stone in front of it, but someone had rolled it away and the tomb was empty! After Mary raced home to tell the disciples, two of them raced right back to the tomb! One was Peter. The other? The Bible doesn’t tell us his name, but many believe it was John, the writer of these verses. John took first place in the race to the tomb, but only took a peek inside. He noticed that something very important was missing: the body of Jesus!
+ Why did Mary run from the tomb to the disciples? (vs. 1-2)
+ What two disciples raced to the tomb? Why did they go there? (vs. 3)
DAY 2
John 20:6-10, NIrV
6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him. He went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. 7 He also saw the funeral cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place. It was separate from the linen. 8 The disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
BIBLE STUDY
John may have won the foot race to the tomb, but Peter was the first to step inside. Jesus’ body should’ve been exactly where it had been laid Friday night, wrapped up in cloths like a mummy. Those cloths were still there, but Jesus’ body was nowhere to be seen! Poor Peter couldn’t solve this mystery. If robbers stole the body, they wouldn’t have bothered unwrapping Jesus from these cloths. And strangely, one of those burial wraps had even been neatly folded! While you and I know exactly what happened, Peter and John walked home from the tomb with tons of questions and zero answers!
+ What was missing from Jesus’ tomb?
+ What did Peter and John not understand yet? (vs. 9)
DAY 3
John 20:11-18, NIrV
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she cried, she bent over to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels dressed in white. They were seated where Jesus’ body had been. One of them was where Jesus’ head had been laid. The other sat where his feet had been placed.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said. “I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. So she said, “Sir, did you carry him away? Tell me where you put him. Then I will go and get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him. Then she cried out in the Aramaic language, “Rabboni!” Rabboni means Teacher.
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me. I have not yet ascended to the Father. Instead, go to those who believe in me. Tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news. She said, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
BIBLE STUDY
After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene decided to check out Jesus’ empty tomb for herself. When she peeked in, she saw something that hadn't been there before: angels sitting where Jesus’ body was supposed to be. Certainly this was an amazing sight to see. But what she saw when she turned around was a million times better – Jesus, risen from the dead! Mary mistakenly thought he was the man who cared for the gardens around the tombs. But the moment this mystery man opened his mouth and spoke her name, Mary immediately discovered his not-so-secret identity!
+ What question did both the angels and the “gardener” ask Mary? (vs. 13 and 15)
+ What did Jesus tell Mary to do? (vs. 17-18)
DAY 4
John 20:19-21, NIRV
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together. They had locked the doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came in and stood among them. He said, “May peace be with you!” 20 Then he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were very happy when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “May peace be with you! The Father has sent me. So now I am sending you.”
BIBLE STUDY
After an exciting Sunday morning racing back and forth from Jesus’ tomb, nighttime arrived. Jesus disciples’ met with their doors locked. They feared the same people who killed Jesus might be coming to get them next. But locks couldn’t stop Jesus! He came and stood right in the middle of them. After a mysterious morning filled with questions, the disciples finally had their answer: Jesus had really risen from the dead! To prove he was the same guy they had seen nailed to a cross, he let them touch his hole-y hands and his hole-y side, which soldiers had poked with one of their spears.
+ What would the disciples have seen when they looked at Jesus’ hands?
+ Look at vs. 19. Does the Bible tell us how Jesus got inside the locked room?
DAY 5
John 20:24-28, NIRV
24 Thomas was one of the 12 disciples. He was also called Didymus. He was not with the other disciples when Jesus came. 25 So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “First I must see the nail marks in his hands. I must put my finger where the nails were. I must put my hand into his side. Only then will I believe.”
26 A week later, Jesus’ disciples were in the house again. Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came in and stood among them. He said, “May peace be with you!” 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.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
BIBLE STUDY
Ten of Jesus’ disciples believed the good news that he had risen from the dead. Why? Because these ten saw him with their eyes and touched him with their hands. But disciple #11, Thomas, wasn’t there that exciting night. He told them, “Unless I can poke my finger through the nail hole in his hands, I’ll never believe this crazy news!” One week after Thomas’ promise, the disciples were again huddled in a locked room. Yet again, Jesus still found his way inside! Seeing a very-much-alive Jesus made Thomas believe without having to poke a single finger through Jesus’ nail-scarred hands.
+ Why didn’t Thomas believe Jesus had risen from the dead? (vs. 24-25)
+ What did Jesus tell Thomas to do? (vs. 27)
DAY 6
John 20:29-31, NIRV
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in front of his disciples. They are not written down in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. If you believe this, you will have life because you belong to him.
BIBLE STUDY
Jesus’ disciples believed he was the Messiah (or the Christ, which means the same thing). He was supposed to be the long-promised savior sent by God to rescue them. Those dreams died the day they saw their beloved leader hanging dead on the cross. When the women rushed in with news that Jesus’ tomb was empty, it seemed too good to be true. What did it take to get these doubting disciples to finally believe Jesus had risen? Seeing him with their own eyes and touching him with their own hands!
Like the other disciples, Thomas didn’t believe until he saw Jesus face to face. Of course, poor Thomas had to wait a week longer to see Jesus than they did! But what about you and me? About a month and a half after rising from the dead, Jesus rose up into the clouds and into heaven. That was thousands of years ago! How are you and I supposed to believe this unbelievable news when we can’t see or touch Jesus?
That’s exactly what Jesus talked about in the verses we read today. Jesus knew exactly why Thomas (and the other disciples) believed: they had seen and touched him! But Jesus said, “Blessed (or truly happy) will be all the people who believe the good news about me without ever seeing or touching me!”
Guess who Jesus was talking about? People like you and me! We haven’t seen Jesus’ body with our eyes. We haven’t touched his nail scars with our hands. But we can still believe that he died for our sins and rose from the dead. How can this be?
The last words of this chapter, verses 30-31, tell us how it’s possible for us to believe the good news about Jesus even though we haven’t seen him. John tells us that Jesus did lots and lots of miracles, signs, and wonders for his disciples to see. In fact, Jesus did so many of them, John couldn’t fit them all in his book! But John did write about how Jesus turned water into wine, fed 5,000 people using a small lunch, walked on top of water, raised Lazarus from the dead, and more!
Why did John write down all these miracles for us? So that people like you and me could believe. The disciples believed the good news because they saw Jesus with their eyes and touched him with their hands. But you and I can believe because we can read all about what Jesus said and did in the pages of our Bibles.
As we study the four gospels, the good news stories of Jesus’ life, it’s our way of seeing and touching Jesus, even though we live over 2,000 years later! And the best news of all? John tells us that anyone who believes the good news about Jesus will be given an amazing gift: forever life in God’s good kingdom, where every day will be the best day of our lives! It’s too-good-to-be-true news that’s actually true!
+ Who did Jesus say was “blessed”? (vs. 29)
+ Why did John write down the things Jesus said and the miracles Jesus did? (vs. 31)
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.