From the Pastor's Desk (Apr. 2026)
Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach our your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to Him. “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ~John 20:27-29
Good old Thomas, one of the disciples we easily get frustrated with. How can you spend this much time with Jesus, and still have so much trouble with belief? He saw blind men receive vision. He saw thousands of hungry people being fed to satisfaction, with leftovers, from five loaves and two fish. He saw lame walk, leprosy cleansed, demons cast out, water turned into wine, and the dead raised back to life, all at the hands of Jesus!
But Thomas was not the only one. Mary Magdalene, one who had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus, had quite a lengthy conversation with Him after coming out of the tomb before realizing it was Him. She thought He was the gardener who had possibly taken Jesus away. On the road to Emmaus, two of His close followers conversed with Him for quite some time and over some distance, and still didn’t recognize Him until He broke bread with them. After that, He appeared to the eleven remaining disciples, and Luke 24:37 says that they were frightened, and thinking they had seen a ghost. And even after many of them started to believe, it took Thomas the gruesome act of touching the wounds of Christ before He would let go of his doubt.
Three years, unspeakable miracles, an intimate relationship that no one else would ever have with Jesus, how did they not recognize Him? Was it that, combined with their lack of faith and belief in all that Jesus had told them prior to His crucifixion, there were so many long-haired, bearded lookalikes? Possibly – yet that never seemed to be a problem when He was still alive. Did He really look all that different from what He did before, or did they recognize that He at least looked like Jesus, but didn’t truly believe He had come back to life?
We don’t know, and in our lack of knowledge, we can get pretty hard on those clueless followers. Yet…are we any better? God has given us life. He has saved our souls. He has given us the beauty of His mysterious creation. And, while perhaps we don’t always get what we pray for, or He doesn’t always operate the way we might prefer, He has
answered enough prayers and gotten us through enough challenging moments that we should have no problem recognizing His presence among us, yet don’t we still struggle? Don’t we still question Him? Don’t we still lack faith?
We are a people who demand evidence, though no world view (science included) contains complete evidence of all it claims. Somehow we have no problem putting our trust in any and all of “those other things” (social media, political promises, and other man-made “truths,”), but how quick are we to write God off and slow to believe, even though He’s proved His presence and work in our lives over and over?
May this Easter not be only about the resurrection of Jesus, but about the resurrection of our faith in Him who gave Himself for us, and then came back and showed Himself to hundreds of people just to give us the evidence we seek – something no other world view can do. Happy Easter!~Pastor Eric
But Thomas was not the only one. Mary Magdalene, one who had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus, had quite a lengthy conversation with Him after coming out of the tomb before realizing it was Him. She thought He was the gardener who had possibly taken Jesus away. On the road to Emmaus, two of His close followers conversed with Him for quite some time and over some distance, and still didn’t recognize Him until He broke bread with them. After that, He appeared to the eleven remaining disciples, and Luke 24:37 says that they were frightened, and thinking they had seen a ghost. And even after many of them started to believe, it took Thomas the gruesome act of touching the wounds of Christ before He would let go of his doubt.
Three years, unspeakable miracles, an intimate relationship that no one else would ever have with Jesus, how did they not recognize Him? Was it that, combined with their lack of faith and belief in all that Jesus had told them prior to His crucifixion, there were so many long-haired, bearded lookalikes? Possibly – yet that never seemed to be a problem when He was still alive. Did He really look all that different from what He did before, or did they recognize that He at least looked like Jesus, but didn’t truly believe He had come back to life?
We don’t know, and in our lack of knowledge, we can get pretty hard on those clueless followers. Yet…are we any better? God has given us life. He has saved our souls. He has given us the beauty of His mysterious creation. And, while perhaps we don’t always get what we pray for, or He doesn’t always operate the way we might prefer, He has
answered enough prayers and gotten us through enough challenging moments that we should have no problem recognizing His presence among us, yet don’t we still struggle? Don’t we still question Him? Don’t we still lack faith?
We are a people who demand evidence, though no world view (science included) contains complete evidence of all it claims. Somehow we have no problem putting our trust in any and all of “those other things” (social media, political promises, and other man-made “truths,”), but how quick are we to write God off and slow to believe, even though He’s proved His presence and work in our lives over and over?
May this Easter not be only about the resurrection of Jesus, but about the resurrection of our faith in Him who gave Himself for us, and then came back and showed Himself to hundreds of people just to give us the evidence we seek – something no other world view can do. Happy Easter!~Pastor Eric
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