w/c 17th April

Our reading this week is John 20: 19-31

Jesus Appears to His Followers

¹⁹ The day was Sunday, and that same evening the followers were together. They had the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ As soon as he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the followers saw the Lord, they were very happy.

²¹ Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. It was the Father who sent me, and I am now sending you in the same way.” ²² Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven. If there is anyone whose sins you don’t forgive, their sins are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴ Thomas (called Didymus) was one of the twelve, but he was not with the other followers when Jesus came. ²⁵ They told him, “We saw the Lord.” Thomas said, “That’s hard to believe. I will have to see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side. Only then will I believe it.”

²⁶ A week later the followers were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand here in my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “You believe because you see me. Great blessings belong to the people who believe without seeing me!”

Why John Wrote This Book

³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs that his followers saw, which are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you can believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Then, by believing, you can have life through his name.

Prayer for the week:

Dear God,​
Help us to ask questions and to seek answers to things that we don’t understand.​
Thank you for people who teach us.​
Thank you for people who listen to us.​
Thank you for people who are always there for us if we have fears or doubts.

Amen

In school:

Mrs Newland asked us some very strange questions:

How would you feel if you saw an elephant flying?

What about a football walking down the street?

How about if a burger waved at you?

We decided we would feel amazed, surprised, confused and scared. This is because these are things which should be impossible!

We then listened to Not a Ghost Story from Bob Hartman's Rhyming Bible.

We thought about how Christians believe that Jesus died on a cross, but then came back to life and is still alive today. This is what Christians celebrate at Easter. They believe that Jesus went back to heaven and is alive there today.​

It isn’t surprising that in the story, Thomas wanted to see Jesus for himself before he believed that he was alive. It’s always good to ask questions when we find it hard to understand something.​

Questions to think about at home:

How do you think Thomas felt when he saw Jesus and had his doubts removed? How would you describe Jesus’ attitude to Thomas? How did he react?

What do you believe in without actually having ever seen it?

Have you ever felt brave and spoken the truth even when someone told you to be quiet? What happened? What would stop you speaking the truth?