Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
It may have been his own fault that he missed out on the first appearance of Jesus to the apostles. He may have been heading in the wrong direction at the time, like disciples heading away from Jerusalem. The others seemed to value the group to which they belonged, which Jesus had established, more than he. It is possible that he had reverted to a former definition of himself as an individual apart from that group, and that he was less able to face what had happened than the others. The others who gathered together seemed to be unable to entirely abandon who Jesus had been in there lives. But Thomas seemed to want only to forget. If this was so, it seemed that he could not forget, since he was only able to stay away for a week at most. Or, perhaps, he was running an errand, and only coincidence made him miss the first visit of Jesus. But whatever the reason Thomas missed out there was a deeper reason for which Jesus allowed it. Yes, he had to experience a deep degree of loneliness and abandonment, the feeling of missing out and being neglected. But from this deeper darkness there emerged greater faith.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Probably if Thomas had been there the first time he would not have pushed his skepticism so far. Returning to hear the testimony of the other disciples he found himself unwilling to believe them, unable to accept that Jesus would appear to them when he was not present. If it was true, it was something of which he would be envious. More likely, then, it was some kind of delusion that resulted from their despair. If Thomas, a cooler, more rational, and more empirical individual had been there, he could have prevented them from being carried away, as he thought they were. Thus, what he demanded as proof was not only for himself, but also to unsettle the belief of the others. Had they touched him? Could they? Wasn't it just a vision, or a flight of fancy? Had they really thought things through and made certain of what they thought they saw?
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Jesus once again appeared by surprise to reveal himself. Before this moment, Thomas no doubt assumed that if Jesus was going to appear to him he would not have appeared when he was absent. He thought that, if the others were in fact somehow telling the truth, he had missed his own opportunity. If they were right, it seemed, it meant that Jesus did not care. But by appearing to Thomas, Jesus demonstrated that he had not forgotten Thomas, had not been unaware of the struggle and the sadness he felt in his heart. From Thomas we can learn to never assume we missed out entirely just because we missed the obvious opportunity. When everyone around us is rejoicing because they received some blessing it does not mean we will never receive it. When we have to wait, it is often because God has something better for us. When he allows us to fall back upon ourselves, our sadness, our cold rational empiricism, our unwillingness to trust, it is so that we can more completely give ourselves over to faith in him when he does at last appear.
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Of all the people in all of the Gospels, it was doubting Thomas who most explicitly stated the divinity of Jesus himself. The Gospels were always explicit on this point, but the speech of the disciples recorded within them never said it clearly, except here in the case of Thomas. It seemed that it was finally the experience of being known by Jesus that did the trick for him, as when Mary Magdalene heard Jesus call her name, as when he saw into the heart of Nathanael under the fig tree. Jesus knew exactly the privation that Thomas felt, and submitted himself to the standard of proof Thomas demanded. Before this moment Thomas might have been afraid that Jesus did not care if he believed. But now that fear was banished. He knew Jesus was sincere when he said, "do not be unbelieving, but believe". Did he even need to touch the wounds of Jesus at this point? John doesn't tell us. But there is every indication that he was totally overwhelmed by faith in response to this encounter.
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
We ourselves often prefer the mindset of Thomas the doubter. We want definitive empirical proof for all of our beliefs. We are reluctant to accept anything on the basis of trust. But the revelation of Jesus to Thomas was not only for Thomas, but us as well. The testimony of one who had all of our questions but responded to the invitation to faith with the utmost affirmation can help us to trust as well. And Jesus himself explained that this way of coming to faith was in nowise inferior to that of seeing his risen Body.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
Since we couldn't hear the testimony of Thomas directly Jesus appointed evangelists to record that testimony in written form. He breathed his Spirit not only onto the Twelve but also onto the pages of the New Testament. The Spirit helped direct the people then to an encounter with Jesus through the ministry of the disciples. It helped them to receive his forgiveness and his gift of joy. In the pages of the Gospels this same Spirit is alive and guiding all who read them to that same encounter. Books about historical figures may be interesting. But the Word of God is living and active, precisely because Jesus lives and will never die again.
Robin Mark - Lion Of Judah
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