Doubting Thomas

John 20:19-31

Poor Thomas!  He has been forever remembered as the doubter, and anyone who doesn’t immediately believe something is labeled with his name - a doubting Thomas.  Let’s take a closer look at Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, as see what we can learn from his life.

Prior to our passage today, Thomas is twice mentioned briefly in the Gospels.  Once is right prior to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  He knew that Jesus was heading into very dangerous territory where the Jewish leaders were plotting His death, and Thomas boldly says he would go with Jesus and die along with Him (John 11:16).  Though he, like the rest, would later flee for their lives, at this time Thomas courageously follows Jesus, strongly believing in His mission.  The other was while Jesus was giving His great discourse the night before He died, when Thomas said to Him that they didn’t know where He was going, how could they know the way (John 14:5-6).  This lead Jesus to respond with one of my favorite verses in the Bible, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

As mentioned, Thomas, like the others, fled in fear of his life when the Jewish leaders came to arrest Jesus.  It seems that most of the apostles were hiding together because when Jesus appeared to them in the upper room on the night of His resurrection, they were all there except for Thomas.  Where was he, and why wasn’t he with them?  Some people handle their grief and disappointment differently, and perhaps Thomas was one who strongly preferred to be alone.  Perhaps he felt badly that when he had bragged about being willing to die with Jesus, he had turned and run.  Now Jesus was dead and buried, and all of his hopes were shattered.

Now, a few days into the next week, the other apostles have broken into Thomas’ lonely, grief-stricken vigil, with some astounding news.  They have all seen Jesus!  He came into their room, behind the locked doors, and appeared to them! I imagine they would have said something like this; “What do you know, Thomas!  Jesus rose like He said He would!”  Having been alone for these last several days, nursing his grief by himself, Thomas can’t believe it.  “Get out of here!  You’re talking nonsense!  Jesus is dead!  We all forsook Him when He needed us, and He’s dead!”  “No, Thomas!  We’ve seen Him!  He talked to us!  He talked to Peter in particular!”  “Well, I’ll believe it when I can see His wounds, and put my fingers into them!” (vs. 25).

Poor Thomas!  Being alone with his grief has broken down and weakened his faith.  It hasn’t destroyed it, but it sure has fallen several notches.  The other apostles managed to get Thomas out of his solitary hiding, and he was with them a week later.  They were together again behind locked doors, as the unbelieving Jews were continuing to threaten their lives.  Jesus appeared to them again and called Thomas to Him.  He didn’t chastise Thomas, calling him a fool or an idiot.  Jesus doesn’t condemn honest doubts that are directed towards belief.  He lovingly held out His hands to him to show him the wounds.  Thomas fell down before Jesus and proclaimed “My Lord and my God!” (vs. 28) being one of the first to publicly declare Jesus’ deity.

Thomas had doubts, just like we often do when something terrible comes along in our life to knock us down and send us into a tailspin.  Where is God?  Does He even care?  Can He do what He says He can?  Is His Word even true?  When life has knocked us to the ground we can start asking these questions.  Thomas hadn’t become a skeptic, an agnostic, or an atheist.  However, the events in his life had deeply shaken him, and he had honest questions.  “Jesus, did you really rise from the dead like you said you would?”  God honored his questions with an answer.  For Thomas, his doubting was his way of responding to what had just happened in his life. It was not his way of life, and it shouldn’t be ours, either.  If things have happened in our life to cause us to wonder, and we have questions, honestly bring them to God with an open mind, which is what Thomas had.  He allowed the apostles to bring him out of his private hiding and gather together with them.  He didn’t close his mind to them or to God.  God then honored that, and appeared again, and specifically to Thomas.  Thomas didn’t let his doubts become a stubborn lifestyle, which would have destroyed his faith.  His faith grew much stronger, and later, after Pentecost, Thomas traveled to the west coast of India, preaching the Gospel and establishing churches.

I pray that you have enjoyed and benefited from these Bible meditations that I have written for this blog.   I hope you will prayerfully consider donating as the Lord might lead you.  This blog is not run through a large ministry with a wide funding base.  I am an individual with limited financial resources.  Thank you and God bless.