Jesus Appears to the Disciples – John 20:19-31

The Story in a Nutshell

The story continues…

It was Sunday evening; the third day after Jesus was crucified.  The disciples were hiding in a locked room; they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.  Suddenly Jesus appeared in the room with them.  Jesus said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he showed them the wounds on his hands and side.  The disciples were happy and excited to see their Lord.

Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you.  Now go out and preach to others as I have preached to you.”  Then he breathed on them the Holy Spirit so they would have the power to do God’s will.  “Now you have the privilege and power of telling others that their sins are forgiven when they believe in me.”

When Jesus met with the disciples, Thomas, one of the disciples was not there.  So, after Thomas returned the disciples told him they had seen the Lord.  Thomas didn’t believe them.  Maybe he thought it was a trick, so he said, “Unless I see the nail wounds on his hands and touch them, and unless I put my hand in the wound of his side, I won’t believe.

Now it came about eight days later that the disciples were again in hiding and meeting in a locked room.  This time Thomas was with them.  Suddenly, as before, Jesus joined them.  Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put you hand on the wounds of my hand and put you hand in the wound of my side.  Now you can believe in me!” 

Thomas proclaimed, “It is you, my Lord and my God!”  Thomas believed!

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me.  Blessed are those who haven’t seen me yet believe.”

Jesus performed many miracles in addition to the ones that we have read about in the stories.  The miracles were performed and written about so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Jesus you have eternal life.

To be continued…

What did you learn from the story?

If you want to gain a better understanding of the complete story, and for help in answering some of the questions below, you may want to have the following items as resources:  a Bible, a dictionary, and a Bible commentary on the Book of John (optional).

1. When did the story occur?
2. What were the disciples doing?
3. What happened next?
4. What did Jesus tell the disciples to do?
5. What did Jesus do to give the disciples the power and authority to preach the gospel?
6. What did Thomas think when the other disciples told him they had seen Jesus?
7. What would it take for Thomas to believe that the other disciples had seen Jesus?
8. What happened a few days later?
9. What did Jesus tell Thomas to do?
10. What was Thomas’ reaction?
11. What did Jesus have to say about seeing and believing?
12. According to John 21:31, why did Jesus perform miracles?
13. What did you learn about God, Jesus, and people from the story?

Have questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible? An excellent source for answers to your questions is gotquestions.org. Check it out. gotquestions.org.

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