Easter 2009: Doubting Thomas?

John 20:19-29

How would you feel if your name was an epithet, an insult? If people walked around saying, “Oh stop being such a J.P.!” or “You’re such a Vicki!” Some people throughout history have that undistinguished distinction. This is easy since people seem to always recall failures more readily than successes. To name a few: Benedict Arnold, Brutus, Jezebel, Judas… Today I want to go a step beyond the empty tomb and talk about a man who’s name is synonymous with doubt, Thomas.

I don’t think about Thomas all too often. Honestly, what got him back into my head was the only TV program I follow (Lost). During an episode a few characters go to a church (not to pray) and there is a massive canvas of Caravaggio’s “Thomas”.

According to John, after the Resurrection, Jesus makes a few appearances to select almost as if he is giving them one more opportunity to “get it”; another chance to some of those who had not entirely comprehended his mission and ministry. He appears to Mary Magdalene at the Tomb, then to the disciples (except Thomas), then again to the eleven all-together, and finally to Peter, James, John, Thomas, and Nathaniel at the Sea of Galilee (where we have the “do you love me” discussion).

I feel that Thomas’ story is important in our age of exceptional skepticism. Just this morning I was reading a post where someone simply said, “JESUS… who is he…”, the tone echoing “and why should I care about Him since He doesn’t seem to care much about me?” Much of our skepticism may be well deserved. Recent polls suggest that people trust the government less, have little faith in the financial system, feel the world in general is getting worse, and have less interest in the church. Wars and rumors of wars, decaying infrastructure, a general depreciation of life and the quality of life; the lines are being drawn… sounds almost, apocalyptic... It is easy to despair, to doubt.

The decline of Empiricism (five senses, scientific method, etc.) has left a vacuum, filled partially by a strand of post-modernity which refuses to make declarative statements on anything except that it refuses to make declarative statements… So then, it appears that we are left to the mercy of cynics, skeptics, and talking heads.

19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said* to them, "Peace be with you." 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said* to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

So there, Jesus just simply appears. Instantaneously He is among them. Barrett notes that just as he passed through the grave clothes (and perhaps the stone; I mean do you really think the stone was rolled away so that Jesus could get out?) he walks through or materializes right there among them! Hard to believe? Perhaps. Fully awesome to be sure.

While there, he breathes upon them, which should sound familiar. He’s done it once before, when He breathed life into us all. (There is a tradition that I follow where into the breath of every newborn child is whispered 1 Jn 5:12, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (NASB)” in hopes that the child will one day come to know the Source of their life (Jn 1:1-14), and of eternal life).

Here, just as He has breathed the breath of life into us all, He breathes power into the lives of the disciples. This power is to accomplish the work He has given them, to go to the world and proclaim forgiveness. It has been said that God is not so much in the business of calling the equipped (the intelligent, lovely, etc) but in the business of equipping those whom He calls. Perhaps that is the case here, He first commissions them, then, conditions them for service through the Holy Spirit. The cryptic statement at the end seems to be similar to the declaration Peter received at the Mount of Transfiguration, that he (and by extension the Church) would hold the keys to the kingdom (Mt 16). We can either open the door with them, or lock them tight through indifference.


24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus , was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless, I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

We don’t know where Thomas was, but we must to be certain that Jesus does. Whatever we may say about the ante-Resurrected Christ, we have to know that by now He is glorified and knows exactly where Thomas was. It caused a stir. Thomas doesn’t buy it. Simply put, he says seeing (and touching) is believing. But before we are too hard on Thomas lets look at his record a bit.

Thomas has some things going for him. First off, he made the cut, Jesus chose him along with eleven others to share three years of ministry with. That is something else. But he’d had doubts in the past. In Jn 11, while Jesus is headed to raise Lazarus from the dead, Thomas quips “Let us go to that we may die with Him…” Now folks have taken this different ways. It may be a matter that Thomas simply thinks it is time for the end, that he misinterpreted Jesus’ words to mean that it was time. But one can’t help but hear the slightest bit of cynicism in his voice. “Fine then… if He wants to go within arms reach of the people who want to kill Him (v.17), we might as well all go along…”

Thomas comes up at almost every funeral. In Jn 14 Jesus has just told the disciples that He will be handed over to the bad guys and killed (and will raise up again). To which Thomas replies, “Lord, we do not know the way where you are going, how can we go with you?” Now, surely Thomas knew the way to Jerusalem, so then, he must be talking about the way to where Jesus will ultimately be going, the Inaugurated Kingdom of God. Jesus’ reply is famous. “[Thomas], I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.

Perhaps these two events are what moved Jesus to give Him another chance, a chance to change (has God ever given you another chance?).


26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came* , the doors having been shut , and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then He said* to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said* to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

This passage says so much about Jesus. God has more patience with skeptics than we might imagine. He understands our doubts, but expects us to overcome our fear and place our trust in Him. The fact that Christ came at all proves that God is willing to go great lengths for us to come to a saving faith in Him. For instance, when is the last time you stopped to ponder just that fact, that GOD came to Earth? And remember, He came twice for Thomas. Judas had made his choice, but Thomas was not yet a lost. Jesus had heard/known what Thomas asked for, and so, the opportunity was presented to Him.

This is particularly interesting considering that Jesus expressly told Mary to keep her hands off of Him (although for reasons that make little sense to those of us who are not Jesus, cf. 20:17). So then, He appears to be making an exception. This is what we might call an act of extreme grace. Jesus wasn’t very complimentary toward signs (cf. Jn 4:48), yet out of His great grace He would give many, and would give this one, and He still gives many today.

For me, one of the most fascinating things about this story is that we don’t know if Thomas ever actually followed through. Did he touch Jesus? We don’t know. It would appear that simply seeing Him in His resurrected state was enough to cut through the fog of disbelief.

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:19-31 (NASB)


I have a soft spot for skeptics because I have a lot in common with Thomas. Two hours after I was born I stopped breathing, I was resuscitated and spent the first three months of my life in the neo-natal ward of a Detroit hospital. Throughout my life I had many health problems, in my adolescence I had mental health issues, family strife, and came dangerously close to destroying my life.

Even though I had seen God, that is, I grew up in and out of church, and had never fully abandoned the kernel of faith planted in me, I was living a wholly Godless life. At the age of fifteen, I challenged God, I gave Him an ultimatum (or so I thought, it was really a desperate cry for deliverance). I told Him that He had a week to show Himself to me or I would never believe in Him. Well, the next day I was brought to my knees, and then to my face during a worship service, and I have never been the same.

We may not be able to prove the ministry of Jesus. But that is actually a good thing according to Jesus who said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

You know, I’d hope to one day be an epithet, a byword, but of a different sort. I’d like demons to use my name like a cussword. I’d like to be an Enoch, or an Elijah, a Lazarus or a John the Baptist, A Timothy or a Paul, one known for great faith and trust in God. Not for my glory, but for His.

Jesus has risen. The proof? Billions of changed lives throughout history. People whom Christ has irrevocably changed… including Thomas.

One of the things that the Bible does not do for us is tidy up all the loose ends. However, sources close to the times of Jesus and the Disciples that tell us what happened to most of the disciples. All but two were martyred, including Thomas who after preaching the Gospel in Parthia and India angered the priests of the local sun gods and was ran through with a spear around 70 AD.

So, I guess that encounter really made an impression. Perhaps we should find another name for “Doubting” Thomas.

How about you? Do you doubt? The power of God to raise His Son from the dead, to work in your life in some way? Have you trusted the Risen Christ?