foolish Doubt

Here we are! April Fool’s Day! If you are anything like me, you will enjoy pulling a prank on somebody today. Let’s make sure our jokes aren’t cruel though. I remember some in my past which were cruel. At a point when my favorite music style was rock, the only rock station in the Oklahoma City area where I lived as a teen decided to start April 1st one year by playing nothing but country and saying they had converted. That was cruel!

Anyway, imagine being Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus. All of the disciples came to him and said, “Jesus is alive!” He must have felt like this was a cruel joke. He knew Jesus died. He was around (although we don’t know where exactly). He heard things, saw things, knew what he knew. A man who was dead, especially for three days, could not be alive again. He knew that. So, he doubted what he was being told about Jesus.

It was not a cruel joke! Jesus walked into a locked room with Thomas in it right after Thomas had said, “For me to believe, I would have to see his nail scarred hands and touch his side where he was pierced.” Jesus extended His hands and said, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).

Thomas believed! He had doubted. It is foolish to doubt Jesus was alive. It is still foolish to doubt Jesus. Believe! It is the wisest thing you will ever do! And, that is no April Fool’s joke!