I love the church of Jesus for so many reasons. One of the reasons I love the church is the diversity of people you find in the church. We’re all here today, singing songs of worship and engaged in what is happening, but we come from so very many places.
What’s going on in each of our minds is also quite diverse. We all at different points in our journey, but we come together as one body, moving together closer and closer to Jesus.
Last week we talked about the struggle that the disciples of Jesus had to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. It took numerous appearances of Jesus to them and a couple of good meals with Jesus before they really were able to grasp that He was risen.
Despite the testimony of those who discovered the empty tomb, despite the eye-witness account of Mary Magdalene to whom Jesus first appeared after the resurrection, it really did take a while for the disciples to comprehend both that Jesus had risen from the dead and that BECAUSE Jesus rose from the dead, everything was now different.
It was hard for everyone to accept that Jesus had triumphed over death. It was hardest for Thomas, a man who had followed Jesus from the earliest days of Jesus’ public ministry.
Thomas had been called by Jesus and set apart as an Apostle along with Simon Peter, his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.
Honestly, Thomas doesn’t stand out much in most of the gospel records, especially compared to Simon Peter who was always putting his foot in his mouth, or others whose questions or interactions with Jesus were pretty colourful.
Thomas doesn’t stand out, but we need to realize that Thomas had been a faithful servant of Jesus for quite some time and had been commissioned by Jesus, along with the other Apostles, to preach that the kingdom is near and to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who had leprosy, and drive out demons. He was, apparently, a do-er rather than a talker.
Now I really like Peter, the apostle. But unlike Peter who, frankly, was a bit of a blowhard and sometimes big on words and small on action, Thomas, as far as the Biblical record tells us, was simply one who listened and loved and obeyed Jesus. He did what he was called to do.
The truth is, Thomas has been pretty grossly misunderstood over the years in the church. What is the adjective normally attached to his name? “Doubting-Thomas”. Truthfully, that is just grossly unfair and does an injustice to a most remarkable man.
Has there ever been a time in your life when you were labeled unfairly? Have you ever kept something you were struggling with a secret because you did not want people to characterize you based on your sins or your weaknesses?
I wonder if we all haven’t at some point in our lives experienced that.
My sister Leslie has a unique response to the art of photography. On the one hand she loves it and responds very deeply and is moved profoundly by a really good photograph.
On the other hand, she feels that a photograph is a lie because it portrays something that is moving as though it were still, something that is dynamic and progressive as though it were static.
The living object of the photograph never stays in the position photographed in, of course, but instantly moves on to another living moment.
In a sense even though a photograph stops movement in its tracks so you can examine the subject more closely, the mere frozen-ness of the subject in motion is itself a distortion of the subject which we’re trying to understand.
To call Thomas “Doubting-Thomas” is to misunderstand two things. First, it is to not understand that Thomas’ experience of doubt lasted only one week.
For the three years before that week, Thomas had been a faithful servant of Jesus.
For the rest of his life after encountering the risen Jesus, Thomas faithfully served Jesus as a planter of churches.
Secondly, to call Thomas ‘Doubting-Thomas” is to assume that he ever actually doubted that Jesus COULD have been raised from the dead. We know that because as soon as He saw Jesus, he didn’t argue the impossibility of the situation or bury his head in the sand, but insteadhe worshipped Jesus.
Rather, Thomas doubted the testimony of the disciples ABOUT Jesus. We’ll come back to that point.
Why was Thomas remarkable as opposed to being worthy of scorn for not believing?
Thomas never said a lot, as I’ve already touched on. But there are a couple of occasions when Jesus is talking to the disciples and Thomas opens his mouth.
Before Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead, there is recorded in John chapter 11 the report of Lazarus’ sickness coming to Jesus.
Jesus predicts Lazarus’ resurrection and then tells the disciples that they are going to go back to Judea.
The disciples question Jesus, wondering why he would want to go back to the place where Jesus had narrowly avoided being killed. Jesus proclaims to them his mission, that He is going there to wake Lazarus from the dead.
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
This on the surface may seem like a downer, defeatist kind of comment. I read this verse out of context recently and
It struck me that way. Always remember: A text without a context is a pretext!
In context it’s clear that Thomas has a 100% commitment to Jesus. Why 100%? He is willing to lay it all on the line for Jesus. And NOT because he’s super clear that Jesus will rise from the dead.
We know from what happens later that this is simply not the case. Quite apart from any perceivable self-interest on Thomas’ part, even what could be called the self-interest of his own personal salvation and resurrection from the dead, Thomas is just utterly committed to the mission of Jesus and the message of Jesus.
The message of the Kingdom, which is the message of reconciliation to God, the message of God’s care for the poor, His esteem for children as model Kingdom-citizens, the message that could be summed up in the Beatitudes in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. ‘Blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those persecuted for righteousness sake’.
Thomas and the other disciples followed Jesus even though they didn’t know where He was really headed. Thomas said to Jesus in John 14:5, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Thomas was willing to follow Jesus to his death. And you know what? After the resurrection, after he was commissioned along with all the other disciples to go into all the world to preach the good news of Jesus, Thomas did just that.
He was, as far as we know, the only disciple to take the gospel beyond the Roman empire.
Tradition records that Thomas was speared to death on one of his visits to India to spread the gospel and plant churches there.
So Thomas was remarkable for his commitment and his selfless devotion to Jesus.
Thomas is also noteworthy because, as I said earlier, he would not accept the testimony of the disciples that they had seen the Lord.
Both his absence from the disciples when Jesus appeared to them, and his resistance to their testimony about having seen Jesus, hint for us at the degree of sadness that Thomas was dealing with. Have you ever been overwhelmed with sadness at the loss of someone you love? Has death ever touched someone near to you, leaving you speechless and in an emotional freefall?
Well Thomas, he was no where near having dealt with Jesus death. He was still in the throws of sorrow over the loss of Jesus, and now through the fog and anguish of his mourning, the disciples make an incomprehensible statement: “We have seen the Lord”.
I can hear a blend of confusion and anger and mental desperation in Thomas’ statement about needing to see proof that Jesus had risen.
Remember, the disciples had all seen Jesus, they weren’t asked by any other of them to believe something they hadn’t seen. I’m sure they wanted to pinch each other after seeing Jesus to make sure they weren’t somehow dreaming the same dream together.
But here Thomas is being asked to believe something that, were it untrue, might cause his profound mental perturbation to descend into something resembling madness.
Remember Thomas’ absolute commitment to the Way of Jesus. And, having not yet seen Jesus resurrected from the dead, He demands proof. “I…will…not….believe…until I see…and stick my fingers…into His …wounds.
So Thomas goes for a whole week before seeing Jesus. I’m sure it was the longest week in his life.
He had to get up each day, have breakfast with the disciples, listen to them talk with wonder about having seen Jesus, he had to observe their joy and fascination and excitement while he was unsettled and unconvinced.
He had to endure each day, not knowing if he should be mourning or somehow trusting that this impossible thing that all of his friends were saying might be true.
And then a week goes by and he’s with the disciples in a locked house. Jesus comes and stands among them and says: “Peace be with you”.
Then he turns to Thomas and challenges him, offering to fulfill Thomas’ conditions, allowing Thomas to touch His wounds. Jesus says to Thomas simply this: “Stop doubting and believe”.
And Thomas…Thomas does need any more proof. Thomas doesn’t need to touch Jesus’ wounds after all. Thomas here makes the boldest confession yet, in an act of worship, of all the disciples.
The others had called Him rabbi, teacher, healer or even “Messiah”. All those were true of course, but Thomas cuts to the chase and in a moment of profound relief and release and revelation, he says to Jesus: “My Lord and my God”.
In this church today we have many people who think in many different ways and who approach even just being here today from different perspectives.
I think we all can relate at some level to Thomas. We all have questions that we are seeking answers to.
There are some here today who, like the disciples, are completely convinced of Jesus’ resurrection, and they’ve experienced Jesus in their lives for some time.
These are those here whose doubts are not of God, but are rather of ourselves…we are so aware of our failings, our shortcomings and weaknesses, we sometimes wonder, or doubt, how God can use us when we feel, if we’re honest, so raw or messed up sometimes on the inside.
So our questions are about how we, broken as we are, can fit into the plans and purposes of the glorious resurrected Lord that we believe in without a doubt.
There are some here today who are by and large convinced of Jesus’ love and mercy, who have trusted that Jesus died for their sins, and who simply need more time IN Christ before their doubts will be addressed by Jesus.
I’ve told some of you that it was for a solid two years AFTER coming to faith that I waffled, I kind of hovered around a rock-solid commitment to Jesus. I did that because I wasn’t yet absolutely sure.
I did that until I had my questions answered well and my doubts put to rest. Then I knew the ground of the Christian faith was solid, then I knew it was safe to land, so to speak because I knew that I knew that I knew that had found my permanent ‘home’ in Christ.
To ones like this I would say, ‘doubt well’. Let your doubts be open-hearted questions to the Saviour, and honestly seek, honestly ask your questions of those whose faith you respect.
Doubt can be the servant of faith, in that faith is deepened by good answers to the questions posed by those who seek to know.
Just don’t be content to ask the same questions over and over again, never being satisfied by good answers.
There are those who get stuck thinking that faith, even mature faith is in the unresolved questions and doubts. The truth is, rather, that there are excellent answers to any and all questions you may have about God and the Christian life, for the person who has a heart for God.
There are some here today who do not yet believe, and if that’s you I want to say something very clearly to you…YOU ARE WELCOME HERE. You belong here. This church is for you.
To those who might fall in the first two categories I mentioned, let me say something to you. Church, they…those who do not yet believe…are watching us. They are watching you and me to discover if all that we sing about and celebrate is true.
They are looking at our lives, the testimony of our experience of Jesus, to discover if there is anything to this ‘Christian faith’. Do people who name the name of Jesus live like Him, do they love like Him, do they care like Him?
Many people. Many different mental and spiritual places, all in the same room. Cool, eh? Let’s each of us bring, right now, all that we are to the Eucharist table.
In a moment Pastor Ronda will lead us in Communion. Bread will be served, the body of Jesus. The cup will be offered, both real wine for those who wish and also grape juice for those who wish.
I would ask you to bring with you, to the table, your thoughts, your fears, your questions, your doubts, your confident faith.
Bring everything you are and everything you desire to be to this table. And remember. Remember the central message of the gospel: Jesus died to reconcile you to God.
So remember Him. Remember, and trust. Remember and offer yourself afresh to God, to love Him and serve Him forever. Remember that you are not alone.
Let’s pray. Jesus, thank you for Thomas, whose love for you was complete, whose devotion to you was absolute, whose questions, once answered, liberated him to live his whole life free in Christ, and free to live to glorify God. Teach us to ask questions with sincere and open hearts. Grow in each of us the kind of faith that will not be shaken, that we might stand firm in you, no matter what may come our way. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
