Today, in the Church Lectionary, the
Gospel reading comes from John 20: 24-29. July 3rd is the Feast Day of Thomas the Apostle, so the church tells
us one of the stories about this follower of Jesus. It’s the one story that 2000 years later,
Thomas still can't live down. From the
passage below, he’s forever known as “Doubting Thomas.”
Here’s
the story:
Now
Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So
the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to
them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my
finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not
believe." Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and
Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them,
and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your
finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side;
do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord
and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
I’m
choosing to write about this particular man today, because I’ve always felt an affinity to
him. After all, how many of us – even those
with the deepest faith – have not had moments, maybe days, of doubts or even
unbelief? But it’s not wrong to wonder about what we can’t see – it’s human.
Moreover,
the fact that Thomas doubted that his friends were telling him the truth, doesn’t
make him a disciple-gone-wrong. Just
because he wanted to see Jesus for himself, in order to be sure that what they
told him was true, doesn’t make him a bad person.
And what Jesus does next proves my point.
When
Jesus returns this time to the locked room where the disciples are hiding, the
first thing He says to everyone gathered is “Peace be with you.” He wants them to be unafraid, to feel good
about him being there with them. And
then Jesus approaches Thomas, but He doesn’t reproach him. Instead Jesus does the opposite. He uses the occasion
to tenderly show Thomas that it is He by pointing out the scars from the nails
in his hands and the scar from the lance in His side. And then Jesus continues to teach us by
saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Blessed! Yes, anyone who believes in Him is blessed,
because it takes faith to believe in
that Someone whom we can’t see or physically touch. When I have moments where I question, or when
I see followers of Jesus today who appear to miss the mark, or if I just feel
too beat up by life, I remember how Jesus responded to Thomas. Christ treated Thomas kindly, and by His reaching
out to the apostle, we’re reminded today that, as humans, we are going to have
moments of doubt – and it’s okay.
