John 20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the
doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came
and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When he had said this, he showed
them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the
Lord. 21 Jesus said to them
again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending
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, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is
withheld." 24 Now Thomas,
one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him,
"We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in
his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the
nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." 26 Eight days later, his disciples
were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 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 disbelieve, but believe." 28
Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you
may have life in his name.
This
is a fairly well known passage from John's gospel... at least some of the
details of this passage are well known. Everyone, for instance, knows that
Thomas is "doubting Thomas"... and this is the passage where Thomas
earns his infamous nickname. Ironically, this is not the first time someone has
had their doubts about Jesus. After all, Nathan wondered if anything "good
could come from Nazareth" when he first heard of Jesus (Jn 1:46); and
there are other stories of the disciples doubting at various times.
For me the true meaning of this story
is hooked to vss 25 and 27 where Thomas says: I will never believe (v25) and Jesus says: Do not disbelieve, but believe (v27). In
other words, Thomas wasn't "Doubting Thomas" in this story, he was
"UNBELIEVING Thomas".... and there's a difference between the two. Doubt
is not the opposite of faith. Doubt is what occupies the space that occurs when
one has less than perfect faith. In the Greek the word is 'distadzo.' It means
to waiver. Peter waivered in Matthew 14 when he was walking on the water. When
Jesus saves him he asks the question, why
did you doubt/waiver (v31)? The point is that all of us waiver from time to
time... it's a natural part of who we are as we try to live spiritually
centered lives in a world full of distractions.
In
John 20 Thomas isn't doubting, however, he is unbelieving (a-pistos in the
Greek). Whatever faith Thomas had had was lost. I'm fascinated by this and with
his stubborn refusal to take the
other disciples’ testimony at face value. Imagine that group dynamic for the next 8
days; all of them had had a shared experience but for Thomas. All of them
believed the Lord had risen from the dead except for Thomas. All of them had
faith except for Thomas. Yet there's nothing from within the story to indicate
that the group treated Thomas as a 2nd class citizen or that he was in any way
no longer welcome in their midst. They seemed to be giving him his space, and
giving God time to work in his life.
Of
course this all ended very neatly for Thomas. 8 days later Jesus visited the
group again and this time Thomas was there and had his faith restored. And in
the process Jesus echoes words that will soon come to apply to all believers: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
have believed (v29). Thomas himself will be placed in the odd position of
having to tell people... "you just have to take my word for it. I was
unbelieving once, but the risen Savior appeared to me."
The
Sundays of Easter all have a common theme. Imagine a pamphlet entitled,
"So, now that you're baptized..." and you sorta get the point. The
Sundays of Easter all, in their way, explore the new life of faith following
baptism or the renewal of one's baptismal commitment. With that in mind, the
big thing going on this Sunday seems to be all about believing without seeing.... or at the very
least.... believing without having all of the proof. We live in the world that
has come not only after the
resurrection, but also after the
ascension of Jesus. His post-resurrection bodily appearances stopped once he
ascended into heaven. Now people are being asked to believe based on the ancient testimony of others... and that's a
tall order.
We
can learn something from this passage, however. Though Thomas was unbelieving
(at least for 8 days) he was evidently still fully welcome in the fellowship of
believers. Something made him keep coming back... and to their credit, the
other disciples didn't exclude him. In our modern parlance, Thomas had become a
'seeker,' and he was welcome in the group. The lesson for us in the modern
church is to ensure that we do not become so exlusivistic, or so
private-club-ish that the unbelieving seeker doesn't feel welcome. It is only
with a quiet confidence in the truth of one's own faith that such an atmosphere
can be cultivated. A phobic insistence on 'purity,' and/or everyone on the same
page at the same time is evidence of just the opposite... of cracks in the
facade of faith. If your faith or your group's faith cannot tolerate a little
unbelief in its midst, one should wonder about the strength of such faith.
The
other thing that seems evident from this account is that the inner group of
believers was more than happy to let the Lord solve the problem. True, the
passage doesn't go into great detail as to what occurred during those 8 days,
but we do not get the sense that the other disciples took turns beating Thomas
over the head with their King James Bibles. They seemed content to leave it all
to the Lord. So, for those of us who believe in a risen Jesus, even though he
is now ascended into heaven we can still have FAITH that his continued activity
in the world is a personal activity; a
personal activity that is designed to call others to faith. Today's unbeliever cannot make the same bold demands that
Thomas made. Sorry. He's ascended into heaven now. But that doesn't mean that
he is no longer active in his world. He is. And what's more, he can still be
encountered in inspiring, life-changing ways.
Our
prayer... and our 'advice' to the open-minded seeker is to look for him. Have eyes to see & ears to hear. Like Thomas,
keep coming back. See him in the fellowship of believers; see him in their
changed lives; see him in the baptismal waters; see him in bread & wine;
see him as the ultimate good that is preventing this world from spiraling
totally into the depths of despair and evil.
Cheers,
TM
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