The Faith of Thomas

Easter 2A
May 1, 2011
John 20:19-31
“The Faith of Thomas”

It was evening of the day of the Resurrection.
The disciples had come together in a house in Jerusalem.
All the doors were locked.
They had gone into hiding.

That morning, they had received two visits from Mary Magdalene. The first visit had come very early in the morning.
She was frantic.
The tomb that they had lain Jesus’ body in was empty except for the cloths they wrapped the body in…and the body was no where to be found. Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved went to investigate and confirmed that the body was gone…and promptly took off running. The second visit they received from Mary was to inform the disciples that she had seen the risen Jesus. Indeed he had risen from the dead, just as he said that he would. And now the disciples hid.
They hid for fear of the Jews…and a very rational fear it was. To have been associated with Jesus at that time was a very dangerous thing. To have been exposed would have meant that they risked dying at the hands of the very people who had put their beloved teacher to death. But hadn’t they, in a way, been a part of Jesus being put to death? I mean, they fled as soon as he was arrested, Peter denied him three times that evening and only the disciple whom Jesus loved was brave enough to stand with Jesus’ mother by the cross…the rest had abandoned him.
And now their beloved teacher, their dear friend, their leader was dead and his body missing. And it would only be a matter of time before the Jews would come after them, too. So the disciples hid
…well, all except for one…

His name was Thomas.

Though he was never recorded as having said anything in the other three gospels, according to John, Thomas was the most inquisitive of the twelve. He was also the most vocally supportive of Jesus’ mission. While Peter and the others were trying to dissuade Jesus from going to Judea and walking towards his death when Lazarus died, Thomas proclaimed “let us also go so that we may die with him!” And when Jesus said his farewell to the disciples, it is Thomas who inquires, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
However, it seems that somewhere between that first Easter and now, the church has handed him the nick-name “Doubting” Thomas. And in his defense, Thomas, like Mary Magdalene, had picked up quite an undeserved bad rap. Yes…he was very blunt when he told his fellow disciples that unless he saw the marks on Jesus’ hands and touched the wounds on his hands and side he would not believe. But then again, the disciples didn’t believe Mary’s word that she had seen Jesus. John tells us that they did not rejoice until Jesus showed them his hands and feet and the wounds that they carried. And it seems as if it wasn’t until they were shown his hands and side that they actually recognized Jesus. So what’s the big deal about Thomas’ exclamation of disbelief? At least he was honest about it. And…why call him “doubting” Thomas? If we were to follow the literal translation of the Greek…we might call him “unbelieving” Thomas, or “lacking faith” Thomas instead of “doubting” Thomas as the Greek word for doubt never appears in this text.
What we can say about Thomas is that he was bold in his questioning. He was realistic enough that he knew there were times when he needed to speak up. And his boldness in questioning is something that is talked about in the Hebrew Scriptures as a positive aspect of faith. Abraham questioned God…Moses, David and Job questioned God.
Thomas has definitely attained an undeserved bad rap. All he wanted a concrete witness to the resurrection of Jesus. He wanted what the other disciples got, a chance to see the nail marks in the hands and feet of Jesus. He wanted to see the gash in his side. He wanted a real and tangible encounter with the risen Lord. Wouldn’t you want to be a part of that moment? And where was Thomas when the others were hiding in that house with all the doors locked? Could he have been a believer in what Mary Magdalene had told the disciples? Is it possible that while the other ten were hiding out avoiding the Jews that Thomas was out looking for Jesus…searching him out so that he could see him alive for himself?? I have a theory that this is the case. My theory is that Thomas, the one who declared that the disciples should go with Jesus even if it meant going to their deaths with him, actually did believe Mary Magdalene and was out looking for Jesus because he was not afraid like the other ten disciples were because unlike the ten, Thomas was not afraid to die with Jesus for the sake of the Gospel.
I’ve heard some people say that it’s not okay to be like Thomas…it’s not okay to question our faith. To say that, though, seems to say that it’s not okay to be human. We are all like Thomas at one time or another. We all have our days where we question and days when we doubt. In fact many of us, I’m sure, have moments every day where we question what we believe. It all comes with being a part of a sinful world. We see violence on the news, we hear of neighborhood children dying of cancer, we see floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters tear apart lives. It’s normal to doubt and to question, for doubting and questioning is nothing more than part of a quest for certainty, not an absence of belief. There is no shame in this, for the questioning and doubting of Thomas, all stems from a yearning for a personal encounter with the risen Lord. And in that encounter there is joy. There is joy in knowing that our creator is bigger than all of our doubts and questions. There is joy in knowing that it is when we doubt, when we ask questions…when we have the boldness of Thomas, our faith grows.
Theologian Paul Tillich said once that “the older faith must die, eaten away by doubts, but only so that a new and deeper faith may be born.” When we doubt, when we question, our faith becomes newer, deeper…our relationship with God becomes stronger. We shouldn’t be afraid to doubt and question, for God holds us up even when our doubts and questions seem to pile up.
Jesus didn’t reprimand Thomas for his lack of faith, his uncertainty. He invited him to touch his wounds and simply said, do not be unbelieving, but believe. And Thomas didn’t need to touch, he just needed the invitation to be moved to the exclamation My God and My Lord!
And it is then that Jesus says - How much more blessed are those who do not see and yet believe? How much more blessed are we who have not seen the risen Jesus and yet believe? Yes, we are blessed…blessed that our faith or the faith of our parents brought us to this font so that because of God’s mercy we could be given a new life in Jesus. We are blessed because we come to this table where we can see, touch and taste the body and blood of Jesus. We are blessed because like Thomas, we do see the risen Jesus. We may not have seen the risen Jesus the way that Thomas has seen, but we do see the risen Jesus in the bodies and souls of strangers and those we love. We have placed our hands in Jesus’ pierced side when we caress the skinned knee of a child. We have touched the nail marks when we visit someone in the hospital. We have seen the wonder of the resurrection in those around us. We have seen because we love.
Let us all be as bold as Thomas…and let us be filled with joy. There is no shame in having doubts and questions. Only joy…for it is when we are bold enough to bring our doubts to God that our faith grows. And when our faith grows, we can exclaim with Thomas “My God and My Lord!”