Beginning (SA)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week . . . 

 - From John 20

The Bible is a book of beginnings.

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth."

"In the beginning was the Word."

"When it was the first day of the week."

We go from the Old Testament, in which God is launching everything, to the New Testament, where the baton is handed off to us, so that we may launch everything.

The Sabbath goes from being the last day of the week, when we have rested from our labors, and when we return gifts of praise and tithe offerings back to God, in return for His goodness to us.

Hard work . . . then good things.

But in the New Testament, the work itself is a good thing. We want to work. We choose to work because we are under grace. It is no longer something we are forced to do. In fact, it is no longer work at all. It's acts of service to others. We take on the mind of Christ.

Thomas served an important purpose. He wasn't just some stick in the mud holding us all back. Thank God for Thomas! He is like most of us!

In fact, I can imagine Thomas . . . at the Cross. Not understanding fully what had happened, he may have been the one most angry at the outcome. "Nothing ever turns out right for us!" He had to see for himself, that Christ was dead. Perhaps he touched the drying blood on the deceased Lord's face. Maybe he stuck his finger into the holes in Christ's hands and feet . . . just to be sure.

He took his hand, or maybe a cloth, and wiped the area around the wound in Christ's side. He could see that blood had drained, completely, from it. He bent over and listened for the sound of a breath coming from Jesus's mouth. He put his hand over Christ's heart, for the longest time, for any sign of beating.

Maybe he insisted that they wait, before removing Him to a tomb. "Didn't Jesus say He would rise up? Let's wait here a little longer . . . . let me check for a pulse again."

Maybe hours went by . . . and maybe Thomas was, at that point, the one in charge of declaring Jesus completely and sufficiently dead. The others got irritated. But finally Thomas said "It's over. Take Him away." And for two weeks, Thomas sunk into a deep depression. He went far away. How deeply did he mourn?

But while the others had been with Jesus for an entire week, some of them finally found Thomas and told him that they had seen the Lord . . . alive! And finally they were able to prevail upon him to met up with them on the next Sunday. He did . . . and it became another first - - - the first Sunday worship service in history, in which all of the Apostles (except Judas) were present with the Lord. And it featured the Thomas experience as the lesson of the day.

Thomas is not to be diminished because he doubted. He is to be valued because he doubted. And thank God, because that's how most of us are.

And it all happened on the first day of the week. The Beginning of the New Era places beginnings, themselves, in their rightful role. The first day of the week is now our worship time. We celebrate now, first. We tithe, first. We serve, first. We follow, first.

And everything else just falls into place.