I’ve always felt that the disciple Thomas gets a bad rap because of today’s Gospel lesson. Based on these few verses, Thomas has been known for 2,000 years as “Doubting Thomas,” and that nickname become so well-known that even non-Christians use them in a derogatory sense. People who don’t have a clue who Thomas was will say things like “You’re just a doubting Thomas” or “Don’t be such a doubting Thomas.” All because of one little incident.
It seems wrong to talk about Thomas as if he were the only one who had doubts about Jesus’ resurrection – after all, if you go back and read the resurrection accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, just about everyone who first heard about Jesus’ resurrection had some kind of doubt. It’s pretty easy to understand why all of them could have been doubtful.
Imagine that you were in Jerusalem on the day that Jesus was crucified. You know that He was crucified and you know that He died. You know that his body was placed into a tomb and a large rock was rolled in front of the entrance to that tomb – a rock that would do a more than satisfactory job of keeping dead bodies inside the tomb and living people outside of the tomb. Would you believe it if someone told you that the lifeless body in that tomb was alive again? Could you honestly believe something like that without any proof? Wouldn’t you have your own doubts? Just like Thomas?
What about the other disciples? Before they had the opportunity to see Jesus, did they believe that He had risen? Let’s look at what Luke tells us in chapter 24 of his Gospel: “and returning from the tomb they” – the women – “told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” So even though the women saw the empty tomb and saw the evidence and saw the angels, the disciples – those men who should have known better – didn’t believe. But no one ever refers to any of them as “Doubting James” or “Doubting Andrew” or “Doubting Matthew” or – well, you get the point.
It’s interesting that in John 20:9, John tells us that after seeing the empty tomb, John himself “saw and believed.” But he was the only one who believed. And even though he did believe, John admits that neither he nor the other disciples did could “understand the Scripture that he” – Jesus – “must rise from the dead.”
And what about Peter – Peter the rock? Did he believe what the women told him? Let’s pick up again in Luke’s account: “But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” He marveled? The verb that Luke used in his original Greek manuscript means that Peter wondered, he was amazed, he was surprised, he was astonished – but Luke never tells us that Peter actually believed.
So now it’s Easter evening, and the disciples have been told that Jesus has risen, but do they believe it? It sure doesn’t sound like it. They’ve heard the stories – but up to this point, none of them have actually seen Jesus. They’re in hiding. They’ve locked themselves into a room. They are afraid. Jesus had been killed – and when the leader has been killed, the followers are going to be next on the list.
But all of a sudden Jesus appears right in their midst. Listen to what John tells us: “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” Do you see what’s going on here? For the first time, the disciples saw the risen Jesus. They saw His hands and His side. And now they believed!
What about our friend Thomas? Well, he wasn’t there in that room with the other disciples. Thomas is at a distinct disadvantage here. He didn’t get to see Jesus – he didn’t get to see the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet and sides – and so he doesn’t believe. The only difference between Thomas and the other disciples is that theygot to see – and he didn’t. And so the poor guy gets called “Doubting Thomas” – and people have been calling him that ever since!
Scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about Thomas, but what little we are told makes him sound like a pretty good guy – and a very faithful disciple. When Jesus announces that He is going to Bethany because His friend Lazarus has died, Thomas is the only one who speaks up to encourage the others. “Let us also go,” Thomas tells them, “that we may die with him.” Later, on the evening of what we now call Maundy Thursday, when Jesus was talking about preparing a place for the disciples in heaven and none of the disciples can understand what Jesus is talking about, Thomas has the courage and the honesty to tell Jesus that they don’t understand. “Lord,” Thomas says, “we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” You don’t get the sense here that Thomas doubts what Jesus has told him and the other disciples – he just doesn’t understand. And remember – none of the other disciples understood, either.
But one week after the resurrection, everything changed for Thomas. On the evening of this very day – the day that our church calendar refers to as the Second Sunday of Easter – the disciples were again gathered in a room with locked doors. Once again Jesus appears in that room, and He gives the disciples the same greeting that he gave them on Easter evening: “Peace be with you.” But this time Thomas is there in that room with the other disciples. Jesus shows Thomas the wounds in His hands and His side – just as He had shown them to the other disciples a week earlier. Now Thomas believes – just as the other disciples believed after they had seen the risen Jesus. Thomas responds with this simple but powerful statement of faith: “My Lord and my God!” And Jesus responds: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Now let’s stop talking about Thomas for a minute – and talk about our own doubts. Aren’t there times when all of us are Doubting Thomases, too? No, we may not doubt the resurrection of our Lord, but we have other doubts. Jesus tells us not to worry in Luke chapter 12, but we still worry, don’t we? “Therefore I tell you,” Jesus says, “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.” But we’re still anxious. Will there be enough money to pay the bills? Will I lose my job? When a loved one is seriously ill, do we doubt God’s goodness? When there’s a serious accident or perhaps a national tragedy such as what happened on 9/11, do we doubt God’s presence? When a family loses its home to a tornado or a fire – loses every one of its belongings – do we doubt God’s mercy? When a friend or a family member dies – do we doubt God’s love? In those moments of quiet and solitude when we face our human frailty … when our fears rise to the surface of our thoughts … when we wonder if God can ever forgive our sins that seem so unforgivable … when we even for a moment question where we will spend eternity … do we doubt like Peter or James or John? Do we become Doubting Thomases?
Today, on this second Sunday of Easter, there is a Doubting Thomas inside each and every one of us. Even though we have been redeemed by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, we are painfully aware of the fact that as long as we draw breath in this sinful world, we remain sinners. Sinners who are continuously tempted to rely on ourselves rather than rely on Christ. Sinners who let our doubts lead us away from Jesus. Our Lord tells us, “Do not be anxious” – but it’s a lot easier for us to say those words than it is for us to live them, to follow them, even, sometimes, to believe them.
When Jesus first appeared to the disciples on Easter evening, He came to assure them that He was alive. He came to assure them of His love and mercy. Since Thomas wasn’t there, he returned to the disciples – this time when Thomas was present – to assure Thomas of His resurrection and His love and His mercy. And even when doubts and worries flood our hearts and our minds, Jesus comes to each of us, too. He comes to us in the Words of Scripture. He comes to us in the words of absolution when we confess our doubts, our worries and all of our sins. He comes to us in the cleansing waters of Holy Baptism. He comes to us in the Lord’s Supper, where we receive His true Body and Blood, given for us for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus comes to us with the words of comfort that he brought to the Disciples: “Peace be with you.” He comes to us and to all who have been brought to faith by the Holy Spirit with the same words that he spoke to Thomas: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
As is true of most of Jesus’ original disciples, Thomas fades from sight pretty quickly after this night when he sees his risen Lord and makes his confession of faith. John mentions him as being present with the other disciples when Jesus makes another appearance to them by the Sea of Tiberius, and Luke mentions him in Acts chapter 1. And after that?
According to church tradition, Thomas followed Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations,” and he reportedly traveled as far as southern India. Today a group of Christians in that area are known as the Syrian Malabar Nasranis, and they trace their faith back to the missionary journeys of Thomas. Although it becomes virtually impossible to separate legend from fact, early church leaders taught that Thomas died a martyr’s death when his body was pierced by four spears. He died proclaiming Christ – the risen Christ, whose hands still bore the wounds caused by the nails of the cross, and whose side still bore the wound of the soldier’s spear.
So ask yourself: Did Thomas get a bad rap? Does he deserve to be known to Christians of all ages – and to non-Christians as well – as “Doubting Thomas?” Before you answer, consider this. No matter what Thomas may have said – no matter what doubts he may have expressed – Jesus loved Thomas so much that he died for him. Jesus loved Thomas so much that he came to Thomas to personally reach out to him – to assure him of the life that he had in Christ. Jesus loved Thomas so much that he forgave his sins – forgave his doubts—and sent him to preach the Gospel so that others too could be assured of the forgiveness of sins won for us by Christ’s death and resurrection. Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas because of his doubts. Jesus reached out to him in love. Just as He has reached out to each of us.
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