Thomas gets a bad rap. History has labeled him “Doubting Thomas” for one moment when he had the bad fortune of not being present when the resurrected Jesus appeared.
When he returned, Jesus was already gone, and the rest of the apostles, who had the benefit of seeing Jesus with their own eyes, tried to convince Thomas that Jesus had risen from the dead. Just days before, Thomas had watched as Jesus stopped breathing, was stabbed in the heart with a spear, and was buried and sealed in a rock-cut tomb. No. He wasn’t going to take their word for it. Unless he were to see Jesus with his own eyes and touch his wounds with his own hands, he would not believe.
From that moment on, Thomas became defined by his nickname, forevermore known as the doubter. We forget that none of the other apostles believed when the woman returned from the tomb and proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection. John 24:11 tells us that the eleven did not believe and, in fact, thought the women’s whole story was just nonsense. But history didn’t label them the doubting disciples. No, Thomas carries that burden alone.
I think it is time we change Thomas’ reputation. I think there is evidence that Thomas wasn’t characterized by doubting, but by devotion. To find that evidence, you have to go back to John 11. John and Thomas must have been close. The other three Gospels mention Thomas only once each, and just in a list of Jesus’ disciples. John, however, tells three stories about Thomas’s interactions with Jesus.
“I think there is evidence that Thomas wasn’t characterized by doubting, but by devotion.”
The first takes place right before Lazarus is raised from the dead. Jesus had been teaching in the temple courts during the winter Festival of Dedication. As Jesus moved among the throngs of worshippers, his opponents attempted to trap him with questions. Appalled at his claims to be the Son of God, they picked up stones with the intention of killing Jesus. Failing to seize him, Jesus escaped the city and crossed the Jordan to an area just outside their reach. If the disciples were panicked in Jerusalem, here they were able to relax. They received a warm welcome from many who had heard about Jesus from his cousin John the Baptist. Upon meeting Jesus, many placed their faith in him.
Before long, Jesus told his disciples it was time to return to enemy territory. They would travel to Bethany, where Lazarus, his friend, had died. Bethany was an ultra-orthodox suburb of Jerusalem, crawling with enemies of Jesus ready to take up their stones at a moment’s notice. Unsurprisingly, the disciples were not thrilled with the idea of heading back into danger and loudly objected to the plan.
However, and this is where it gets interesting, just one disciple stood with Jesus. Any guesses who? You are correct—it was Thomas. He must have sensed the resolution in Jesus’ voice and knew there was no changing his mind, so he turned to the other disciples and said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16, NIV). Thomas does not want to be separated from Jesus by death. Thomas was devoted.
“Just one disciple stood with Jesus.”
Later in the Gospel of John, Jesus starts speaking in riddles again, the way only Jesus can. He tells them that he is going to leave, but when he gets to his destination, he will make preparations for them to join him there, and they can follow because they know the way. Thomas and the others assume he is talking about physically leaving them to go somewhere. They wonder, where is he talking about? Where is he planning to go?
So, Thomas shouts out, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (John 14:5, NIV). Thomas didn’t want to be separated from Jesus by death, and he certainly doesn’t want to be separated from him by a physical distance. Thomas is devoted.
The final story John shares about Thomas is the one we started with, the one where he gets a bad rap for doubting. But knowing what we do about Thomas, maybe doubt doesn’t paint the whole picture. John McArthur says that Jesus’ death was Thomas’s worst nightmare come true. Thomas would rather have died with Jesus than live without him. And yet, here he is, living, breathing, fumbling through life without his teacher, Lord, and friend. He is living his worst nightmare.
And in the midst of this, his best friends are trying to convince him of something completely irrational, that a dead man has risen from the dead. And even if Jesus had risen from the dead, why would he have shown himself to everyone else except him? That doesn’t seem very fair. No. He would not take their word for it.
“Here he is, living, breathing, fumbling through life without his teacher, Lord, and friend. He is living his worst nightmare.”
Just as he stood apart from the eleven and said they should go with Jesus to their deaths, now he would stand apart from the eleven and wait on Jesus to prove that he was alive. His devotion was first and foremost to Jesus and Jesus alone. He would wait on him.
A strong early Christian tradition tells us that Thomas carried the gospel through Syria and as far as India. Historians have traced the roots of the believers near Madras, India, to the very beginning of the Christian age, and the believers there tell tales of a devoted apostle who gave his life in martyrdom to bring the gospel to their people.
Does this sound like a doubter? Does this sound like someone who struggled to believe Jesus was the Son of God? Not to me. To me, it sounds like someone filled with a singularly-focused devotion to the person of Jesus. Willing to give up anything, even his life, to follow his Lord. Thomas was devoted, and his witness lives on today, blessing those of us who did not see, yet still believe.
