In today’s Gospel reading (John 20. 19-end), we hear about the risen Christ appearing to his disciples. One of them missed it and has since become one of the most misunderstood people in the Bible. He’s so often called ‘Doubting Thomas’, with the distinct implication that this is some kind of fault. Surely, we can’t let that go unchallenged.
In the story of Thomas after the resurrection, Thomas never actually doubts the risen Lord!
What Thomas doubts is the word and witness of the other disciples. When the risen Christ turns up a week later, Thomas is filled with faith. ‘My Lord and my God’, he proclaims. In this story, it is not Christ who causes Thomas to doubt, but Christ’s disciples gathered there in the upper room. Thomas simply did not find his friends’ story credible.
John tells us much more about Thomas than the other Gospel writers. We hear in chapter 11 about how ‘loyal Thomas’ supported Jesus when he decided to go back into Judean territory to visit his friend Lazarus’ tomb, despite the fact Jewish leaders were plotting to have him killed. The other disciples were scared and thought it was too dangerous to travel, but Thomas said to the others, ‘Let us go to die with him!’
A few chapters later, John records Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper. The disciples find it hard to follow the implications of what Jesus is saying. It’s only the ‘fearless Thomas’ who speaks up and asks Jesus exactly what he means. Thomas says, ‘We don’t know where you are going. How can we possibly know the way?’
Perhaps he should be called ‘Refreshingly Direct and Realistic Thomas’?
When we remember these two stories about Thomas, they give us a context for the appearance of the risen Christ amongst his disciples. The risen Christ arrives when Thomas is out. The disciples are gathered in fear behind locked doors. Jesus appears and fills them with joy. He gives them a mission and empowers them with his Spirit to continue his saving work. At least that’s what the scriptures tell us.
But Thomas isn’t there. He’d stepped out briefly. Maybe he nipped to the local shop for a pint of milk? The disciples were terrified to step outside, but not Thomas. He ventures forth. Fearless or foolhardy, maybe both, he was just what we all should be…
Thomas returns, and the others tell him that they have seen the Lord, but for Thomas something doesn’t ring true. If they have seen the Lord, why are they still locked up in that room? If they are filled with such joy, why couldn’t he read it on their faces? If they have been empowered by the Spirit of God to complete Christ’s work on earth, what are they waiting for? For Thomas to return? Surely not. He looked for transformation in their eyes, but couldn’t see it. Thomas effectively says to them, ‘I don’t believe you.’ Thomas, simple, loyal, loving, straightforward, down to earth, direct, who didn’t understand but wanted to, who longed to follow Jesus but who needed to know the way. Thomas didn’t doubt the Lord; he doubted the word of his friends. Thomas found it highly unlikely that the Lord was risen because he was surrounded by a group of witnesses whom he simply did not find credible.
There is an ancient saying in the Eastern Church: if you want to know if Jesus is really risen, look around you at the faces at the Easter Vigil. Thomas could not read the presence of the risen Christ on the faces of his friends. What would he read on our faces? What do we read on each other’s faces? We need to look like credible witnesses, like a community that has seen the risen Lord and been transformed. If that’s not what we see in each other, how can we expect the world to be transformed?
With every blessing,
Christian