Bible and Beyond
Good Afternoon everyone,
Please join the Bible & Beyond gathering this Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM via zoom.
This week, we're looking at John 20:19-31 This remarkable passage recounts the early days following the crucifixion when the disciples were scared for their very lives. But the faith they exhibited became a model for us all. Please come this Thursday night via Zoom and let's try to see why living in fearful, turbulent times can also be a time when our faith really shines within us.
A study sheet is attached to help us along.
Thank you!
Bible & Beyond for April 24, 2025
The doubts and fears expressed by the Disciples in those very early days following the Crucifixion would come to define the very nature of Christian faith
John 20:19-31
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 [a] ), 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 [b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in his name.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved
worldwide.
Questions for Discussion:
1.) What do you imagine the disciples were feeling, with doors locked & Jesus crucified?
2.) Among the Disciples, which one do you relate to the most?
3.) Many of the early church leaders like Thomas and Paul, never met Jesus. What do you imagine it
was like to actually meet Jesus?
Bible & Beyond Question of the Week – Who was the last Disciple of Jesus to pass away?
Of the 12 Apostles appointed by Jesus, 10 of them died as martyrs. Judas, the traitor, took his own life.
But the last Apostle to die, John, met a very different fate. Living nearly to the very end of the 1st
century, he died of natural causes – and it was because of an amazing miracle.
Tradition says John was the author of the cryptic bookend of the New Testament, Revelation, as well as
the three New Testament letters and Gospel that bear his name. In the latter, he’s described as “the
disciple whom Jesus loved” and is charged by Jesus on the cross to care for his mother Mary. He’s
also believed to have been the youngest Apostle. This partially explains why scholars think he lived all
the way until around A.D. 95.
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