GodReflection: A Brand-New Life and Have Everything To Live For.
Thomas what a great man. Perhaps most of us have heard of “Doubting Thomas” since we were youngsters. Unfortunately, Thomas’s moment of doubt is out of proportion to his courage and commitment as a disciple of Jesus who trained with his teacher for three years to become one of the great founding apostles of the church.
All of us are children of Adam and Eve. We experience every human weakness including doubt. As followers of Jesus, it is important that we allow our faith and our trust to conquer our times of doubt. The apostle Thomas teaches us this gracious and wonderful truth.
No one can tell the story like the old Apostle John. Listen as he sets the stage for what we know about the life of Thomas, this great apostle. We begin with the death of Jesus’s close friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. Jesus spent many nights in their home.
Word was out that a plot had been laid by jealous Pharisees who decide Jesus is not following God in the right way and in addition, he is attracting multitudes to his erroneous beliefs. To stay true to our religion, it is time to kill Jesus. Therefore, his apostles are afraid to get near Jerusalem. John’s story is found in Chapter 11:14-16 in his Gospel. Then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Can you hear Thomas’s faith and commitment to his friend Jesus? Should he be killed let’s have the courage to die with him! It is courageous Thomas who convinces the other eleven doubters to follow Jesus.
The little phrase in parenthesis (also known as Didymus) catches my attention. It is one of the missing links in our Bible and in recorded history that I wish we knew more about. Interestingly, both Thomas and Didymus are words for twin in their original languages. Was Thomas a twin? Who was his twin brother or sister? We receive no Biblical Revelation or speculation—only silence.
A short while later in the story, Jesus has raised Lazarus back to life from a four day stay in a graveyard. Jesus and the apostles are still alive. However, Jesus knows why he has come to earth and the time is close for his return to Father God.
Listen as Jesus gives them reassurance:” Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7).
Can’t you hear the heart of Thomas? His inquiry is warm and honest. Lord, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way to get to this home you will prepare for us? We don’t have a road map. How can we be sure you will come back and take us there?
Jesus gives Thomas the answer. It’s an answer he will come to understand after Jesus’s resurrection. It’s the only roadmap we will need: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Aren’t we glad Thomas asked? We, like Thomas, must follow that map in faith.
And now John tells us the great and famous lesson Thomas left for those of us who live in the 21st Century. Not only for us, but for all who have heard his words since John’s pen first touched the paper with wet ink.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 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.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:19-28).
You will remember that Jesus followed these words with a comment especially relevant for us. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).
Stay with me for one final Thomas story from the old Apostle John.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coal there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So, Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14).
According to tradition, Thomas shared Jesus’s good news and planted churches in India, where he was killed in the year 72 AD. But more important than tradition, Holy Scripture teaches us Thomas The Doubter Shows Faith And Trust and that you and I have A Brand-New Life and Have Everything To Live For.
Let us join Thomas who trusts and remains faithful to Jesus. How about it?
Say tuned.
Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: Thomas The Doubter Shows Courage And Trust.
God Reflection 