April 07, 2026 | Be Connected
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Scripture: John 20:19-31(NIV)
19 On the evening of that 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!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as 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.”
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 performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Devotional
Nicknames can be hard to shake. When I was in high school, some of the other kids called me Alka-Seltzer instead of Ellcessor. That is when the “plop, plop, fizz, fizz” commercials were all over the TV. The nickname stuck. The irony is that I’ve never used an Alka-Seltzer.
The disciple Thomas has the same problem. Because of this one moment in his life, he is known as Doubting Thomas to this day. It probably irritated him. Maybe he should have taken an Alka-Seltzer.
The irony for him is that he wasn’t the only doubter, nor the first. In today’s reading, we see that Thomas was out of the room when Jesus first appeared. John gives a rendition of that encounter with the rest of the disciples. But Luke gives a more thorough account of that first meeting with the risen Jesus.
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? (Luke 24:36-38)
Doubting Thomas? How about Doubting Andrew. Doubting Matthew. Doubting Peter. Doubting John. In fact, even after appearing to the disciples multiple times, just before Jesus ascended to heaven Matthew 28:16-17 says, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” How about Doubting Disciples.
What became of these doubters after Jesus left them? They went throughout the known world to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Doubting Andrew went to Greece.
Doubting Matthew went to Ethiopia
Doubting Peter went to Rome.
Doubting John went to Ephesus.
And Doubting Thomas went all the way to India.
Do you have any doubts? You’re in good company. Be prepared. God uses doubters for great purposes!
