(Text and Audio)
Title: But Some Doubted
Parallel Study
After the Women seeing Jesus at the Tomb Matthew’s Gospel jumps straight to the Great Commission, but we see there are some other events recorded by the other Gospel authors, which we will take a look at in just a moment.
The way we read Matthew, it might seem that Jesus appears to the women on the road and tells them to tell the disciples to meet him and gallantly, and when they get to Galilee Jesus pronounces the great commission and then a sentence.
But we know that there are more things that happen in that period of time. Scripture tells us that Jesus was alive for 40 days and appeared to over 500 people during that 40 days.
Therefore, we turn our attention to the other gospels for a moment to see some of that information that takes place between Jesus appearing to the women on the road and his pronouncement of the great commission which we will begin to study in depth next week.
Mark 16:12-14
After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Luke 24
It is the Gospel of Luke that contains the most information between the time of Jesus and ascending. In the Gospel of Luke we read about Peter running to the tomb after the women gave the word that they had seen Jesus, we then see the story of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appears to them, and then finally we see the account of Jesus appearing to the disciples and opening their eyes and explaining the meaning of the Scriptures and the resurrected Christ before ascending.
John 20:24-30
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
For a moment, let me just dwell on that final paragraph that is offered in the Gospel of John. Remember that the gospel authors were not writing a biography of Jesus’s life. They never felt it important to include each and every event, conversation, or miracle that Jesus took part in.
Their agenda was to share the good news, and where they felt led by the Holy Spirit to include details or stories, many of which overlap in the Gospels, they did so.
John helps us remember that the Gospel accounts were never intended to be a complete history of the life and work of Jesus but rather to give us enough information that we might ask that all important question: who was Jesus of Nazareth? Was he indeed the Messiah?
So let’s return to the Gospel of Matthew, and let me ask a question:
Why do you think Matthew doesn’t mention WHO doubted?
We can for correctly that it was more than one person who doubted. Now we know that John’s Gospel mentions Thomas by name, but I do not believe he was the only one that doubted, just that John chose to include the dialogue between Thomas and Jesus as a means to demonstrate the power of faith without seeing.
So why do you think that Matthew keeps it vague as to who among them doubted…and before you answer, consider this:
These were not the masses…not even the “disciples”
These were the “eleven” apostles…and there was still doubt among them! These were Jesus’s most trusted disciples, these were the ones with him day after day, for three years of ministry. They salt water turn into wine at Galilee, they saw the paralytic man lowered through the ceiling by his friends walked out of the house, they saw a handful of fish and a few loaves of bread feet five thousand people in one instance, and then a few weeks later feed 4000 people in another instance. These were the men that watched Jesus be crucified on a cross and now here he is standing before them…and they doubt.
So why MIGHT Matthew have resisted naming names?
POINT: Sometime ONE “mark” is all it takes to forever be remembered for that ONE thing, instead of the whole of your life’s accomplishments…let’s be careful to not define people by one thing.
(Story of Sach Bardwah)
Whether that event is a positive thing or a negative thing, we are not defined by one moment.
Even the moment of our salvation is not self-defining. For what do we look to to see if that moment of salvation was indeed authentic? We look to how our lives change over the course of years after the moment of salvation to see if that salvation is correct. I can speak to this having grown up in a Pentecostal church work every Sunday the organ played softly as the minister beckoned and wooed people to come forward and many be did and then he said the sinners prayer in their minds many people gave their life to Christ but within are you or five or 10 their lives were no more Christian than they were before that event we are more defined than by one instead.
I wish the gospels included positive information about the apostle Thomas, about his many ministry contributions and his great conversations with Jesus the Messiah, but it does not and now he lives in infamy.
We all doubt! And that is natural, but if that doubt overcomes our faith, that is a problem.
This precisely what James is talking about in James 1:6-8
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The litmus test is this: when you doubt, ask yourself: does this doubt lead me to be unstable in all my ways? Or does this doubt cause me to depend on my faith even more and thereby strengthen me?
Pray/QA