Lessons from Doubting Thomas

Today we are looking at Thomas who missed out on seeing Jesus after his resurrection when he appeared to the other ten disciples and the women.

If a farmer was intending to buy a cow he wouldn’t send someone else to get one he would want to check it out for himself.  He would want to check its health by looking at its teeth and putting his hand over its body to check for problems.

  This is the kind of person Thomas was.  He wanted to see for himself.  He didn’t want to trust anyone else with such an important matter as that of the resurrection.  His fellow disciples had told him that they had seen Jesus alive, but he could not bring himself to believe it unless he saw him for himself.  This attitude is not a bad one really.  Is it wrong to be cautious?  We all need to find Jesus for ourselves we cannot live on our parent’s faith, we have to have faith of our own. This is the third time we read about Thomas in the gospel of John. Each time we find Thomas speaking it is something significant he has to say and on two occasions what Thomas says or does leads to Jesus speaking powerful words.

  Thomas showed much insight at the time when Lazarus had died.  When Jesus said they would all go to Lazarus, who lived near Jerusalem, Thomas said,”Let’s go with him that we might with him die also”  I don’t think he was referring to Lazarus’s death but he realised the danger Jesus would be in going so near to Jerusalem where the rulers had already shown their hatred of the Lord. Maybe he had understood better than the other disciples that Jesus must die.

  Again in John 14 Thomas has something to say. Let’s listen to a part of that chapter.

14:1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed.¹ You believe in God;² believe also in me. 14:2 There are many dwelling places³ in my Father’s house.⁴ Otherwise, I would have told you, because⁵ I am going away to make ready⁶ a place for you.⁷ 14:3 And if I go and make ready⁸ a place for you, I will come again and take you⁹ to be with me,¹⁰ so that where I am you may be too. 14:4 And you know the way where I am going.”¹¹

14:5 Thomas said,¹² “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 14:6 Jesus replied,¹³ “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.¹⁴ No one comes to the Father except through me. 14:7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too.¹⁵ And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

14:8 Philip said,¹⁶ “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.”¹⁷ 14:9 Jesus replied,¹⁸ “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known¹⁹ me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?²⁰ The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative,²¹ but the Father residing in me performs²² his miraculous deeds.²³ 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me,²⁴ believe because of the miraculous deeds²⁵ themselves.

  Here Thomas is not afraid to ask Jesus to explain something he doesn’t understand.  This leads Jesus to show them that he is one with the Father, if they have seen Him; they have indeed seen the father. Surely this is the basis on which Thomas is building his faith which leads him to make the declaration later, “My Lord and my God.” We should not dismiss Thomas as Doubting Thomas, but he is a man who will not build his faith on the faith of others

  I wonder why Thomas was not present on the first occasion when the other disciples saw Jesus.  What business could have kept him away. Was he visiting his twin? He missed the blessing the disciples had had by it.

 We all need to keep together as a church of people or we too may miss the blessing. Perhaps Thomas’s grief at losing Jesus was such that he needed to be alone to cope with it.

 It seems to me that after the other disciples had told him about Jesus risen from the dead he spent the next week keeping close to his friends.  He would have seen the joy they now had because Jesus was risen and that would have made a big impression on him. He may have thought, “Maybe they have seen the Lord, but no I can’t accept it until I see for myself.” When the Lord did appear again and told him to put his fingers in the nail holes in his hands and to put his hands in his side, it is then that we get his declaration, “My Lord and my God.”  This is every bit as important as Peter saying earlier, “Thou art the Christ.”  The important thing to notice is that Jesus accepts this title. Let’s look at Revelation 22v 8 and9 where John is about to worship an angel.

. 2:8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things,¹⁹ and when I heard and saw them,²⁰ I threw myself down²¹ to worship at the feet of the angel who was showing them to me. 22:9 But²² he said to me, “Do not do this!²³ I am a fellow servant²⁴ with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey²⁵ the words of this book. Worship God!
 Here the angel chides John for worshipping him.  Only God is to be worshipped.  When Thomas worshipped at the feet of Jesus and called him, “My Lord and my God,” there was no rebuke; Jesus accepted the worship, for he is God indeed.

  It is here that Jesus makes a statement which is very important for us living today, in verse 29 of John chapter 20.  Jesus said to Thomas,   "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  We are those who have not seen Jesus but have believed in him and we are indeed blessed.  Isn’t it wonderful to think that Jesus was thinking of us when he said this and all the other believers down the centuries, not able to see, but believing because of the testimony of other people. Jesus was thinking of each one of us as we would come to faith.

 I sometimes think when looking at a beautiful sunset, “God made that for me.” God loves each one of his children and provides these good things, just for you. Although God is great and mighty, he is tender and merciful to all his children.  When Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your hand in the nail print,” he was not telling him off, but saying that he understood what Thomas needed and now he had provided that proof and Thomas was utterly convinced as we see, as we hear him say those wonderful words, “My Lord and my God.” This experience would carry Thomas through the years ahead, through days of persecution and difficulty to his death bed where he would still be comforted by the thought of meeting his Lord and God.  He may have been doubting Thomas on that first Easter day, but since seeing his Lord the following week he never doubted again. He had also learnt his lesson not to separate himself from the other disciples and so in Acts chapter 1 We read that he is present when Jesus ascends to heaven. Again at Pentecost we read that they were all together, which of course, includes Thomas.  If we fail in our discipleship the Lord does not cast us off.  We are human as are all the heroes of the faith.  We can think of Abraham who is promised a child by Sarah, losing heart and having Ishmael with Hagar, but later to have the promised child with Sarah.  We think of Gideon hiding behind the wine press grinding corn, and yet the angel called him, “You mighty man of valour.” He went on to deliver Israel from the Midianites.  David failed and became an adulterer and a murderer and yet although Bathsheba’s first child by him died she went on to have Solomon and even more wonderful Jesus was born of their line as we can see in Matthew chapter 1. The Bible tells the truth about its characters and doesn’t white wash over their mistakes.  Why do you think this is?  I think it is so that we when we fail can be encouraged by the way God picks them up again and uses them for his glory.  He can pick us up like that too.

 There are traditions that say that Thomas went as a missionary to India.  We don’t know if that is true but I’m sure he did something equally worthwhile.  He may have been doubting Thomas at one point but once he became convinced that Jesus was his Lord and God, I’m sure he went wherever the Lord sent him and declared the things he had witnessed.

  We need to get it fixed in our minds that Jesus is Lord and God then we too will follow him wherever he leads.