Jesus 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
John 20:24-31
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 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 were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
26 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!” 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!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
When Jesus was on earth, certain people and even His Disciples had a difficult time understanding some of His teachings and what He said...He was to say the least a complex man...Right before His arrest and then death He comforted His Disciples with not only His Words, but with His Physical Presence...All throughout His ministry He talked about God and the Kingdom of Heaven...This night, when He was close to being arrested, He told His Disciples many things that were about God and things that were going to happen to Him...He told them that He was He was going away from them and then He would be coming back to them...And if they loved Him they would be glad that He was going to the Father and back to heaven, for the Father is Greater than Him...He clearly states here that He is going away and back to His Father and to heaven...He told them that He was going to leave and prepare a place for them...But He says He would come back and later take them to be with Him, so that they would also be where He would be going...Then He told them that they knew the way and the place where He was going...He told them that He would send them a Holy Spirit and that this would help guide them...Jesus told His Disciples these things before they actually happened, so that when it did happen that they would believe, and even believe in Him in a clearer and stronger way...He told them that He would not say much more to them because the prince of this world was coming...But that prince of this world held nothing over Jesus...Jesus was was who could not be tempted, by the tempter...Jesus was not tempted by the desires of the flesh or the material things on earth...But the evil one would come so that the world would learn more of how He LOVED the Father and He would always do exactly what His Father had and has commanded Him to do...He said believe Him when He say that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him; or at least believe on the evidence of the works and the miracles that He had done while on earth...These things were hard for His Disciples to understand, but they had been with Him for three years and they knew about His miracles and His deeds and His Ways...So they knew much about Him, and knew He was and is The Man of God...So, I believe these High and Divine Words were more understanding to them than anyone on earth at that time...He was very close to His Disciples, and had handpicked them...So, He knew those who would follow Him closely and He even knew and spoke about one who would betray Him...
So after Jesus rose from the dead and God resurrected Him, the Disciples would be very evident of who He was and what He was...Especially after hearing what He had said the night before His arrest...Trying to make sense of these verses in St. John's chapter fourteen were, I believe, were very difficult to understand at first when He said them, as He was alive and with them...But now He had died...Then He resurrected...So when He said He was preparing a place for them in heaven, and that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life these things would now make more sense, when they saw Him after His death...It would be easier to understand after He rose from His death and even when He would leave then and ascend to heaven, they could believe that He is the only Way to God, His Father...How could One ascend to heaven, and how does one take in and believe all these things about their Teacher?...So even though His Physical Presence was very nice and great and awesome to be around and very important to them, His resurrection would make it easier to understand when they saw Him again after His death, about the many things He had said and done in His three years with them...The resurrection would make it clearer to believe all of what He had said on earth after His resurrection...So even though His Physical Presence was necessary for them for three years (very much necessary), now that they had seen Him after His death, they understood better...They would probably come to know Him better after His death and ascension, and all of what He had said earlier while He was alive...These things would help them connect the dots better about Him and now what He said and did would make better sense to the Disciples...So when Jesus ascended to heaven and was no longer visible to their eyes or our eyes it is important to note...The Disciples had gotten to see all His Great Things of Service to man...Jesus' departure from earth and His going away to be with His Father would now make Him invisible and He would no longer be seen...I believe His Physical Presence was now less important to them...His Physical Presence was not necessary for them any more...They saw Him after His resurrection, and that was very important...Worshiping God was now changed because of Jesus' resurrection...And the Disciples knew this, and it very much helped them that they got to see Him after His resurrection...They certainly knew now Who He is -He is the Messiah, the Anointed One from God and what He is -He is Divine...And they now could better understand all the miracles He had done...
Jesus' resurrection is PARAMOUNT in the belief of the Christian, and the followers of Christ...Easter becomes, I believe, not only our most important holiday, but also the most important day of the year...This is because Jesus Has Risen and Is Still Alive after His resurrection...And what a great and completely different and amazing sight that would have been to see Him, after His physical death...And five hundred got to see Him after His death...
So the Disciples getting to know Jesus both during His ministry and then after His death -are both very important...After Jesus died, one of His Disciples did not believe that He had came back from His death...This Disciple thought that death was final on earth...He would never be seen according to the thoughts of this Disciple...Thomas did not believe that He had came back to life and was back on earth...But because Thomas got to see Jesus He believed...But blessed are those who have not physically seen Jesus and believe...And that is when Jesus said this...Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”...Let us be in this group those who believe in Him and are blessed because we did not get to see His Physical Appearance...
So because of Jesus' resurrection Thomas better understood Jesus...And after Thomas touched Him, he called Him His LORD and His God...Also, the rest of the Disciples better understood Jesus, after His resurrection...And because of His resurrection, we better understand Him...To me this makes the resurrection the most important historical fact in the history of mankind...