19When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
22When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.
25The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26After eight days, again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Hebrews 11.24-26, 32-12.2 (Epistle)
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,
26considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
32What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets—
33who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.
35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
37They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—
38of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
39These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise,
40God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
John 1.43-51 (Gospel)
43On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
50Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!”
51He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Commemorations
Forty-two Martyrs of Ammoria
They were taken captive when Amorion in Phrygia fell to the Muslims in 838, during the reign of Emperor Theophilus. Many of them were officers, and because of their status and reputation, their captors, rather than kill them, attempted to convert them to Islam. The forty-two were kept in a miserable dungeon in Syria, where they were alternately promised the highest honors and privileges if they would convert and threatened with the most horrible consequences if they refused. This continued for seven full years, but none would deny his faith in Christ. Finally, unable to shake their faith, their captors beheaded them all in 845.