As we wrap up our series on post-resurrection appearances, we come to the story of Thomas. Poor Thomas who has missed it when Jesus first appeared to the disciples in the locked room after He rose from the dead. Poor Thomas who is remembered forever as doubting Thomas, as if he was the only disciple who doubted. But he wasn’t. And he isn’t.
Even before His death and resurrection, Jesus pointed out various incidents of the lack of faith of the disciples He called. There’s the story from Matthew 14 in which Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water to meet Jesus, but then starts to sink when he starts to doubt. There’s the story we read in our earlier passage of the withered fig tree the disciples questioned. When Jesus first appeared to the disciples, none of them believed at first – Mary thought He was the gardener, Peter and ____ ran to the tomb, Cleopas and his buddy told Jesus that some of the women had said they saw Him but they didn’t seem to believe it. And the disciples in the upper room the first time Jesus popped in thought He was a ghost. Even though they all knew Jesus was Lord and Messiah, they doubted what was in front of their very eyes, even when He was with them. It wasn’t only Thomas and doubt was not the strongest part of Thomas’s character. As the Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary notes, “Sometimes people overemphasize the doubtful part of Thomas’s character. John 11:16 reveals Thomas as tough-minded and committed, even if he tended to be pessimistic. And Matthew points out that all the disciples shared Thomas’s skepticism. It was part of his character to put the group’s feeling into words. Most of the other disciples did not believe until they saw Christ face-to-face.” The difference was that Thomas said out loud what the others were feeling – that what he was being told was unbelievable and he felt a need for proof.
Is it really such a surprise that Thomas felt that way? Don’t we often hear of people feeling doubt, wanting proof? Our entire justice system is based on the need for proof. Those who do not understand or disagree with our faith tell us to prove the existence of God. Every conspiracy theory that comes down the pike insists it either has proof of something or can disprove something. We are immersed in a culture of proof, a culture of wanting to see something in order to believe it. That concept of proof, of wanting to see the science behind things, is what drives large swaths of the economy. Every drug trial, every consumer testing organization, every regulating agency, even the cameras at traffic lights and in work zones that send you a photo of your license plate along with your ticket are based on proving things. We want the claims in advertising to be proven and insist on disclaimers when proof has not been offered. We gather innumerable statistics to prove mathematically what either cannot be proven some other way or to add a layer of proof to what already exists. We insist on testing of our athletes to prove they’ve not broken the rules and on photo identification for any number of things to prove identity. So we really have no reason to look down on Thomas who was asking for what so many of us would like. After all, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have proof, if we could touch the hands and feet of our Lord, if we could see Him face to face.
Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas for doubting. If Jesus were disgusted with Thomas, would He have bothered to show up again and offer Thomas what he’d said he needed in order to believe? “The disciples were still behind locked doors when Jesus appeared among them as He had before and gave the same greeting, “Peace be with you!” But this time He spoke directly to Thomas, supernaturally knowing of Thomas’s doubt and what he needed in order to be convinced. Jesus told him to touch and see His hands and side.”[1] If Jesus had been angry, if Jesus had rebuked Thomas in that moment, then maybe we would be able to rationalize our tendency to look down on Thomas for his doubts. But Jesus wasn’t angry, wasn’t harsh. Jesus didn’t immediately rebuke Thomas about doubting, but instead answered the doubt with the proof he needed. Proof that Thomas had talked about at a time when Jesus was not even with the disciples, at least not in physical form. Yet Jesus knew what Thomas had said and He offered exactly that, freely and in love. We should be grateful for the story of Thomas. It should give us hope of Jesus’ compassion when we doubt.
And it should give us encouragement for the times our faith is renewed – encouragement that we can be strong Christians leaders. When Jesus did appear to him, Thomas, rather than continuing to insist on the very specific proof of putting his hands in His master’s wounds immediately proclaimed Jesus as his Lord and God. This was no simple shocked utterance, no comment of disbelief. It was a genuine confession of faith and even serves to offer us proof that Jesus was and is exactly what Thomas proclaimed. Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament gives several points to show that this proclamation is, in fact, proof of the divinity of Jesus. One of the more simple points is that there is no evidence that this “was a mere expression, as some have supposed, of surprise.” A devout Jew would not have said such a thing as a surprised utterance. A devout Jew would have had greater respect for the name of the Lord than to use it as an expression, a lesson that we could learn today. Another point Barnes makes is that “The language was addressed TO Jesus Himself.” (Emphasis mine) If Thomas were just surprised, he’d not have addressed these words to anyone in particular, but Scripture clearly says in verse 28 that Thomas said to Him. Thus, it is not an accidental exclamation, but a profession of faith.
The third point is a little more complicated. Here is how Barnes says it, “The Saviour did not reprove him or check him as using any improper language. If He had not been divine, it is impossible to reconcile it with His honesty that He did not rebuke the disciple. No pious man would have allowed such language to be addressed to him.” Barnes then points us to a couple of passages that highlight the importance of not bowing down to or calling God anything which is not God, one of those passages being Revelation 22:8-9, which says, “8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”” If the worship of even an angel in heaven is unacceptable, then certainly calling a mere human Lord and God would be blasphemous and earn a sharp rebuke from Jesus. But it doesn’t receive any rebuke when Thomas says it. Instead, as Barnes points out, Jesus commended Thomas for believing. This commendation affirms the truth of what Thomas said. So all this is evidence that Thomas’s exclamation is not blasphemy or taking the Lord’s name in vain goes a long way toward proving that Thomas had gone very swiftly from doubt to having no question at all in his mind of the veracity of Christ’s resurrection.
Now after giving Thomas the proof he needed and after commending Thomas for now believing, Jesus does gently rebuke Thomas by comparison. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." He does not say Thomas is not blessed, but He does point out that those who have not seen and yet still believe are blessed. There is a contrast there, a gentle rebuke for his previous doubt. It is a far more gentle rebuke than the one given to the disciples when they asked about the withered fig tree. Jesus doesn’t tell Thomas his faith is small, but He does gently remind him that believing without seeing is really what faith is about.
We need to remember that. We need to remember , as Hebrews says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We need to be able to believe without seeing. We need to understand that while we will one day see Jesus face to face in heaven, for now we have to rely on faith – ours and the faith of those who went before us and left so very much evidence. J. Vernon McGee points out, “The problem is not with the lack of available evidence of the death and Resurrection. The problem is in the human heart.” When our faith wavers, it is not God who has changed, but us. It is we who have little faith in these times, but even that will not keep us from salvation. Thomas may be remembered for doubting, but more important than his doubt was his unequivocal proclamation that Jesus is Lord and God. Jesus commended him for that and will be pleased with us as well when we work through our times of doubt and move into times of proclamation. It’s put beautifully in McGee’s Thru the Bible, “God will meet the honest doubt of a man, but I do not think He deals with dishonest doubts.” God accepts honest doubters, but it is also true that He blesses those who accept on faith, who believe without seeing any proof, and who rely on His word. Wherever we are in our faith journey, God is there with us and the faith we have is enough. As He said in the story of the mulberry tree, faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient. It’s okay that Thomas doubted, and it’s okay when we doubt as long as we come out on the other side like Thomas did. It’s okay that we are often of little faith. A little faith is enough to work miracles for the Kingdom of God.
- Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary