Doubting into faith

John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."


In my opinion, Thomas gets a bum rap. For two thousand years his nickname has been doubting Thomas.

John is the only one to write down anything Thomas had to say. The first time Thomas spoke was when Jesus was trying to prepare the disciples to go to witness the resurrection of Lazarus. Funny thing how some miracles require more preparation than others. The whole gang of the disciples were confused by Jesus' statement "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." John 11:11. The next verse says the disciples were thinking about natural sleep and Jesus had to repeat himself more plainly, "Lazarus is dead." Then Thomas spoke, "Let us also go and die with him".  Thomas was an "expect the worst hope for the best" kind of disciple.
He was not resisting the idea of going, but he was not expecting a miracle either. Then again, neither were the other disciples.

The next time Thomas speaks is in the upper room, the night Jesus was going to be betrayed. Jesus was giving his last speech to the disciples and trying to encourage them with words about the place that he is going and the place he is preparing for us.  In John 14:4, Jesus is speaking, "You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas, was listening, and he asked, " Lord we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?".... really this was true, Jesus had said yet exactly where he was going.... and his reply has become a verse every child learns in Sunday school, "I AM THE WAY....". Actually, it was a good thing Thomas asked that question. It cleared things up for all of us.

Finally, in John 20, we find the last words of Thomas. Unfortunately for Thomas, these words have branded him as a doubting, faithless Apostle. These words are how he gets the nickname, "doubting Thomas"... but is that really fair? Let's look into John 20, starting at verse 19, Jesus shows up in the midst of the trembling fearful disciples. They were hiding behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews".  Jesus stands among them and shows THEM his hands and side. Look in your Bible and highlight that, Jesus appeared among a group of cowering, fearful disciples and showed THEM his hands and side.... now look at verse 24, and highlight that.... BUT Thomas WAS NOT WITH THEM. Why not? The other disciples were too scared to be outside... where was Thomas... Scripture does not answer that but he certainly was not with Peter and John and the others cowering in fear behind locked doors.

So it is understandable then, when Thomas shows up later and the other disciples recount the story to him he has a hard time believing it. Wait a minute, "Jesus shows up while I am out running errands for you guys who are too scared to unlock the doors and He shows you his wounds. No I am not going to believe it unless he does the same thing for me." That is what Thomas was saying.  He just wanted to witness the same experience as any other APOSTLE. Intimacy with the wounds of Christ is an unmistakable hallmark of apostolic ministry.

And the good news is Jesus accommodated Thomas. He showed up and let him have the same experience as the others. Then Jesus told Thomas to stop doubting. Thomas was doubting himself. He was not cowering in fear. He was out there doing something, God only knows what, but he was not locked up inside a house fearing the Jews. Jesus wanted Thomas to believe, not only that Jesus was alive, but also that he was indeed one of the apostles.

From Thomas we can learn that is not necessary to be worked up into a crazed emotional state to see miracles happen. Run of the mill melancholy can see the miracles of God just fine. We also learn that some questions need to be asked, that questioning God leads to further revelation, but the greatest lesson of Thomas' life found in scripture is that Jesus has a place for the fearful and cowering just as much as the self-loathing and self-doubters. Sometimes the people who claim to have it all together are actually bound by fear and they need to touch Jesus wounds to find deliverence. There are some people who just never seem to have their "act" together and they get labled "doubters" and "faithless" just like Thomas.

Thomas was no Apostle Paul. But niether were the others in the room the day Jesus appeared just for him. Thank God, His grace is there through all our meloncoly, all our questions, all our fears and all our doubts. Thomas should be known as "FEARLESS" Thomas. He had other issues, but fear was not one of them.