You have heard of Thomas, one of the twelve apostles. He is named in all four lists of the apostles (Mtt 10:3, Mrk 3:18, Lke 6:15, Acts 1:13). It's not much use your looking up those verses however, because they tell you nothing at all about Thomas except that he was one of the twelve whom Jesus chose. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts, his name appears once and that's it. There's no other information. Thomas is an enigma.

Thomas comes to life in the gospel of John, however. John quotes Thomas four times...

So the story in John 20:24-29 is the only information of substance that we have about Thomas. I know he is supposed to have written a gospel, is supposed to have held gnostic beliefs, is supposed to be the same person as Jude, and there is much lore and legend about him and where he went to preach. However, in this lesson I hope you'll be content to stick with the Bible alone. Whilst that confines us to a vew verses in John's gospel, at least we know these are true. It is better to spend twenty minutes thinking about a true story than to spend twenty years on myth and speculation —the "profane and vain babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge" (1Tm 6:20)

This story in John is quite profound. It's a window through which we can see the true Thomas, but more importantly in which we can see a reflection of ourselves.

Thomas the Absent

Jhn 20:24

"But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymas, was not with them when Jesus came" (Jhn 20:24). It was the first day of the week, and that morning Mary Magdalene had reported to the disciples that she had seen the Lord risen. "The same day at evening... the disciples were assembled" (Jhn 20:18-19), but Thomas was missing. Thomas was "one of the twelve", yet "not with them", and that seems rather strange.

Why wasn't Thomas with the others? Well that's easy to ask and impossible to answer. You would have thought Thomas would be together with the disciples or at least able to be sent for. We know he was absent, but where he was, or why he was absent, remains an enigma.

You know what I am going to say now, don't you? Are you there when the disciples are assembled, or are you "not with them" like Thomas? If you are absent for good reason, do your fellow disciples know why? Or are you absent, reason unknown, so that you are an enigma? We are told, "Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the custom of some" (Heb 10:25). That verse also tells us to "encourage one another". It can be disheartening to those who do attend, when someone is missing, and, as they said of Clancy, “We don't know where he are.”

Thomas the Skeptic

Jhn 20:25

"But Thomas said to the other disciples, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe’" (Jhn 20:25). Thomas was one of the twelve, but he didn't trust the others. Thomas seems to have been a loner. The only truth he would accept was his own truth —a truth that he could verify himself. He wouldn't believe the evidence of others, even though they were eye witnesses. It was not proof enough for Thomas.

Why was Thomas so skeptical? Why was he, as Jesus said, "unbelieving" (Jhn 20:27)? Again, that's easy to ask and impossible to answer. Since ten men, whom he knew well, told him that Jesus was alive from the dead, you would think that he should have been glad to hear it and accept it. That's all the more reasonable when you remember that he also knew Jesus well, and had seen his glory in the miracles he did. We know Thomas refused to believe, but why he did remains an enigma.

I don't expect people to swallow everything I say without my proving it. However I come across people from time to time who won't listen to anybody but themselves. They don't trust me, or anyone but themselves, to tell them the truth and enlighten them. We don't want people to be credulous. However, people who won't believe what they are told on good authority are an enigma. What we do know, is that such people are missing out on enormous blessings. Jesus said to Thomas, "You have believed because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed" (Jhn 20:29).

Thomas the Thinker

Jhn 20:28

"Thomas answered and said to Jesus, ‘My Lord and My God!’" (Jhn 20:28). This response goes very far beyond what the evidence demanded. Thomas could have said, “Okay, I'm convinced, you have risen from the dead. It's wonderful to have you back with us.” But Thomas takes a huge leap further. He declares a conviction that Jesus is God! The other disciples said, "We have seen the Lord!" (Jhn 20:25). That wasn't enough for Thomas. He saw the implications. He took what he had seen all the way to its final logical conclusion.

How was Thomas made ready to take such a sudden and huge leap? Again, that's an easy question to ask and impossible to answer. It's an enigma. I can only make a suggestion. Perhaps he had not rejected the disciple's claim out of hand. Perhaps he had mulled over it and said to himself, “If this is true, what does it mean? If I do see the evidence, what will I have to believe?” He'd thought it through, and next time the disciples assembled "Thomas was with them" (Jhn 20:26) ready and waiting to be convinced, and if convinced, to confess his full acceptance of the ultimate truth that the resurrection leads to —Jesus is LORD, Jesus is God.

Now what about you? Do you think about Jesus on a shallow level? Are you a believer, but haven't thought through all the ramifications of your belief? Or are you a deep thinker in the things of Christ. Can you take the leap, like Thomas seems to have done, and accept all the truth about Jesus —even that "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9)? Can you, like Thomas, come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and your God?

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