The Doubt of Thomas

John 20:24-25

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

John 11:16 ESV

So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

John 14:5 ESV

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

1 Thessalonians 5:21 ESV

but test everything; hold fast what is good.

Intro video- “It’s Not Over”

Hagars' search for God-One of the world's most loved comic strips is Hagar the Horrible. In one strip we find Hagar kneeling in prayer. "It's not easy to believe in you God. We never see you. How come you never show yourself? How do we know you even exist? Next, we see a flower springing into life beside Hagar, a volcano erupting in the distance, an eclipse of the sun turning the sky black, a Star shooting across the stratosphere; a tidal wave rushing over Hagar, lightning flashing, a bush beginning to burn, a stone rolling away from the entrance to a tomb. Hagar pulls himself from the mud, dripping wet, surrounded by darkness. "OK, OK. give up! Every time I bring up this subject, all we get is interruptions.”

Over the years, Thomas has been equated with doubt. I'm sure he did, indeed, have his doubts. I mean, who wouldn't- His world had just collapsed in on him. He watched as the one he placed all his faith in died a horrible and agonizing death at the hands of the Romans, He watched as the men he had been closest to for three years disappeared. But, like much of the Bible, there is more; much more, to the story.

So, let me set the stage as we begin to unpack this. On Resurrection Day, the disciples were gathered in a room with the door locked. All but Thomas. Jesus suddenly appeared and said, "Peace be with you,".

I'm sure this room was anything but peaceful at this moment. As He speaks, He shows them the place of the nails in His hands and where the spear entered His side, Then He tells them "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." Later, they see Thomas and tell him what happened. His reply, "yeah, right". Thomas basically said that unless he were able to stick his own finger in the nail hole, he wouldn't believe,

This is where he got the nickname "doubting Thomas" but I'm not sure that it fits. We need to understand the character of the man in order to see what kind of man he was. The Bible tells us very little about Thomas, being mentioned in only eight passages. Four of those are lists of the disciples. There are very few words given to this man in scripture and if not for John's gospel record, we would know nothing about him. John captures some interesting facts about this man. If we go to John 11:16 , we see Thomas the Encourager. He was the one who encouraged the others to follow Christ in returning to Judea upon hearing about Lazarus. He went so far as to say, "Let us also go, that we may die with him,".

In John 14:5 we see: Thomas the Seeker. Jesus had just told the disciples that He had to go away, and Thomas replies, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way? From these two passages we can ascertain that Thomas was loyal to Christ, he encouraged those around him, and he was inquisitive. Although he didn't understand, he wasn't afraid to ask questions. This brings us to the portion of scripture we are studying this morning. Thomas said what he said; but, I would argue that it was not doubt. He simply wanted proof. I mean these are the same guys who thought Jesus was a ghost when he walked on the water and approached the boat they were in. 1st Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to "test everything, hold fast to that which is good?”He wanted proof and proof is what he got.

Eight days after making that infamous statement, the scene is the same. The disciples are locked away in a room; but Thomas is present this time, Jesus appeared again with the same greeting "Peace be with you”, that's when things got personal for Thomas. Jesus addressed him directly and said "Put your finger here and see my hands; and place it in my side, do not disbelieve, but believe. Here we see Thomas the believer. Thomas makes the proclamation, "My Lord and my God". This is the first time Jesus is referred to as God without any other clarification. Thomas states it as if he is telling the time. Now, it is a fact. No one can tell him any different. No one can convince him otherwise. He not only saw Him; but, he touched Jesus. Thomas was the only one of the disciples asked to believe without seeing Jesus. Jesus went on to say "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.”

Conclusion: If we are honest this morning as we think about the man that Thomas was, we can relate to him at some point along his faith journey. Maybe you relate to the intensely loyal disciple, or perhaps to the one who always encourages or the one that wants to know the why's and how's. Maybe you relate more to the man whose world was crushed and his faith shaken. Here is the takeaway. I want to encourage you with this, when he questioned or needed some sort of proof; Christ did not condemn nor criticize him. He didn't reprimand or rebuke him. He loved Thomas and asked only one thing. Believe.