Most of us are familiar with the account of Jesus’ appearing to the disciples on the evening of His day of resurrection when Thomas was absent. The disciples present saw the Lord and the nail prints in His body while Thomas did not. He, however, was afforded the same opportunity one week later and exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”
Some people try to make this a lesson about attendance. (I have heard and read such presentations.) The thought goes something like this: “Thomas should have been assembled with the other disciples, and he would not have missed out on the opportunity to see the resurrected Lord. We should always assemble at every service of the church so we won’t miss out on anything.”
Really? Seriously? That’s the lesson we are supposed to get from this? Let’s be kind and label such exegetical work as “poor.” Where’s the rebuke from the other disciples for Thomas’ being absent? Where’s the rebuke from the Lord one week later? Well?
Such positions come from pre-conceived notions which set outside of scripture. In this case, some individuals believe that the truest test of a Christian is their attendance at every service, Bible study and gathering of the church. This means a person is “faithful.” Where this has come from I do not know for certain, but we’ll touch on that next time. Now let’s not draw any unwarranted conclusions here. We’re not saying that assembling with the saints isn’t necessary, important and even vital. It most certainly is. But the emphasis placed on it to the diminishing of other equally important (some more important) aspects of the Christian faith is faulty.
Let’s go back to Thomas. We’ve already seen there was no rebuke for his being absent that evening. What might he have been doing? Attending the evening sacrifice? Caring for a sick mother or wife? Perhaps he was the only one who was not afraid of the Jews, and he was out looking for the Lord! (After all, they had heard reports that He was alive.) Or maybe he was in deep mourning over his own cowardice when he fled in the garden. In any case, he wasn’t there.
More next time.
><> Jeff
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