Message
John 20:24-29
“Thomas … vilified by reputation”
We like to put people into a box don’t we? To be able to look at someone and feel that we have a measure of who they are.
We see a single mum … and all too quickly we make a presumption about the sort of person she is.
We discover someone is a politician … and we think we know exactly what that person is like.
We see a man who has an alcohol problem … and we can tell you his life story.
We discover a young person on drugs … and we feel that we know their whole history.
That’s how it often works doesn’t it. We look at people. We look at what they are involved in. We look at their jobs. We look at the state of their homes. And before we have even gotten to know them we make a value judgement about them.
It’s so wrong ... yet we do it.
To prove my point what is the first thing you think of when I mention Thomas the disciple?
How many of you thought, “He was the disciple which doubted”?
Certainly there is good reason to think that way. Because that is what the Bible tells us about him.
Scripture Reading
John 20:24-29
Doubting Thomas. His actions are so well known that you can look up the phrase “doubting Thomas” in a dictionary and find it listed there. To be a doubting Thomas is to “be one who refuses to believe without proof”.
Thomas did have a bit of a doubting problem. But we also need to remember that Thomas was not the only one. Every one of the disciples had their doubts.
Why were they gathered together in this one house on the evening of the first day? Was it because the women who had seen Jesus had come and told them that Jesus was alive … and now they were just waiting anxiously for Him to make an appearance? Not at all. The disciples were there in fear of the Jews. They had come together in numbers because there was safety in numbers.
As they gather they would not have been talking loudly and excitedly about the resurrection of Jesus – you know the sort of excitement you have as you are waiting for a bride to turn up to her wedding.
The room would have been a place of whispered voices.
When footsteps were heard in the street everyone would have instinctively gone quiet – is it the sound of soldiers being led by the temple leaders to arrest the disciples?
The room has a vibe ... of fear.
Fear protected by locked doors.
Thomas is the one who gets put in the box of doubt, but the shoe fits all the disciples. On so many occasions Jesus had told them that it was all going to happen exactly like this. Let me read just one of these occasions from Matthew 20:17-19.
Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will turn Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!’
Matthew 20:17-19
It’s as if Jesus was furnishing the disciples with a check-list.
The betrayal was predicted. Jesus was not taken by surprise when Judas led that band of men into the olive grove.
The actions of the religious leaders were spoken of because Jesus knew their hypocrisy and envy. Jesus knew the injustice which would come.
The brutal treatment at the hands of the Romans was known and Jesus allowed it to happen even though He had access to 12 legions of angels who would come to His help in an instant.
His death by crucifixion ... a most horrible way to die ... but totally expected.
Jesus made it very clear that these events would happen. Most importantly He also made it clear that the resurrection was part of the package. “On the third day He will rise of life”.
Before it all unfolded Jesus gave them a check list ... and He didn’t do it once; He did it several times. The very reason He did so is because He didn’t want the disciples to doubt.
Yes it would be difficult to see Jesus die.
Yes it would feel like it is all over.
But the resurrection was on the cards. These events should be a cause for hope not doubt.
But hope is gone. Instead of sitting in that room in excited anticipation – after all a number of women had already seen Jesus and He had sent a message via them – instead there is fear and dread. Thomas may be the one who verbalises the doubt – but the other disciples were in exactly the same frame of mind. Indeed it is doubt that doesn’t quickly disappear even when Jesus reveals Himself.
I’m going to read a passage from Luke 24:36-41. As we read through this passage keep in mind the fact that the disciples have had three messages telling them about the resurrection of Jesus. They had heard it from the women. They had heard it from the disciples who were going to Emmaus. And Jesus has already appeared to Simon Peter. Yet look what happens:-
While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, He asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’.
Luke 24:36-41
Even when they saw Him, and verified that it really was Jesus in the flesh, “They still did not believe”. When Jesus entered that locked room there would not have been a banner hung up which said “Welcome back Jesus”.
Fear.
Anxiety.
Doubts.
That is the mood, not just the mood of Thomas, but the mood of them all. And it takes some time to change that mood.
I guess we can sit back and judge and say ... they shouldn’t have been like that. But the truth of the matter is that we can relate to what is happening here. Let’s admit that the Gospel and the message of Jesus has some aspects to it that aren’t always easy to accept.
• God came as a man, condescending Himself to our level to secure my eternal destiny
• The Creator was pinned to a cross to take my punishment so that I can be released from my sin.
• God tasted death and saw the inside of a tomb so I that won’t be locked out from eternity.
• Jesus didn’t stay dead instead He burst to life from the grave conquering Satan and offering a gift of life.
They are the essential truths of the Gospel. It’s no wonder that doubt plays a significant role in our discipleship walk ... so let’s not be so hard on them.
Which brings us back to Thomas. He didn’t see Jesus on that first post-resurrection night. Even when the other 10 disciples – the men with whom Thomas has been working with day-in day-out for the last three years – even when they came and testified to the resurrected Lord, he still remained in obstinate disbelief.
“I want to see the marks of the nails. Not just see, but touch the place where they went through. I know what I saw on the crucifixion Friday. I heard the nails go in. I saw the blood pour out. He was dead. Unless I touch Him I will believe this is nothing more than a hoax”.
When we see his unbelief in that light – we can see why he has become known as doubting Thomas. But let’s make it clear what is happening here. At this moment, in the middle of some very unique circumstances, Thomas doubted. But that was not how he acted the whole time.
To show you what I mean let’s turn to
Scripture Reading
John 11:1-16
This is an event which takes place in the last few months of Jesus’ ministry on earth. In many ways it is a confusing event. Jesus hears the news of Lazarus’s sickness … but delays. After two days Jesus announces that Lazarus has died … now they will go. Their destination is Judea … the area of Jerusalem. Not long before-hand the Jews in that area had tried to stone Jesus to death. Judea was not safe travelling destination and the disciples remind Jesus of this in John 11:8 “‘But Rabbi’, they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?’”
It is an intriguing discussion however, by the end of the discussion, it is clear that Jesus is determined to go to Lazarus. This determination is there even though Lazarus is dead and going to Judea could mean arrest … or worse. Now, with all that in mind, notice Thomas’s response in John 11:16
Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with Him’.
John 11:16
I don’t know about you, but to my ears that sounds like the very opposite of doubt. In fact that sounds like a full on commitment. Thomas realised that life is not worth living apart from Christ, and that death with Christ is better than life without Him!
And notice that Thomas was the only disciple that said this! The others tried to dissuade Christ from going to Judea, but when they saw that He could not be dissuaded, they said nothing. Thomas was the one that said, "Well, let’s just go die with Him!"
Thomas was devoted enough to be willing to give his life for Christ!
It was a devotion which characterised his life.
Yes, he failed Christ in Gethsemane … once.
But it was a failure that led to greater growth.
After the ascension of Jesus Thomas was still in action … his name is in the list of disciples in Acts 1. Indeed church history confirms that Thomas did die as a martyr for Christ. He may have had a doubt at one time … but that doesn’t characterise his whole life.
Which brings me back to what I said at the beginning. We might fall into the temptation of measuring a person on the basis of what they have or have not done … but Jesus never did.
To show Thomas how badly he acted Jesus could have reminded Thomas of all the testimonies. There is the testimony of the women, and the testimony of the two people from Emmaus. There was also the unanimous testimony from the other 10 disciples. Jesus could have taken this approach and then strongly chastised Thomas for his lack of faith. But Jesus didn’t
Rather than doing this Jesus takes Thomas and gives him another chance. “Put your finger here. Reach out your hand. Put it into My side”. Jesus just gives more evidence of Himself … it’s an incredible act of grace … then He commands Thomas to stop doubting. Which is exactly what Thomas did.
He is not doubting Thomas.
He is Thomas who believes in the deity of Christ, the Lordship of Christ, and the saving work of Christ.
Jesus changed Him back to the committed disciple that Thomas had proven himself to be.
If we were to summarise this sermon in three words it would be these ... Jesus changes people.
Since that is the case the first thing we need to realise is that we cannot keep on defining ourselves on the basis of our mistakes and short-comings.
• We see ourselves as hopeless sinners … maybe for good reason.
• We are people who are full of guilt and shame … perhaps rightly so.
• We consider ourselves failures … and sometimes others do as well.
We characterise ourselves in all sorts of ways … and then Jesus comes and deals with us. He changes us into faithful disciples.
Because that is the case we can’t allow an action we did once to characterise us for the rest of our lives.
Indeed we can’t even allow actions we do regularly to characterise us for the rest of our lives.
To do so would be to deny the ongoing power of the resurrection.
Jesus changes people. Since that is the case the second thing we need to realise is that we have to stop characterising other people on the basis of our mistakes and short-comings.
• You say “single mum” and she is immediately characterised … but when she is in Christ she is a committed disciple for whom Christ went the extra distance to save.
• You say “politician” and immediately he is characterised … but when she is in Christ she is a committed disciple for whom Christ went the extra distance to save.
• You say “drug user” or “alcoholic” and immediately they are characterised. But we as fellow disciples … have to fight against such characterisations.
In Christ all are changed ... including each one of us. Why? Because Jesus went the extra distance to save us and make us into committed disciples.
Once we were not disciples , once we were full of doubts, but that has all changed. It’s changed because that is how Jesus now sees us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”.
That is the grace Jesus extends to us.
That is the grace we should see in ourselves.
That is the grace we should always extend to others.
Prayer
