“Doubting Thomas” is a misnomer
The phrase “doubting Thomas” is attributed to this gospel story in John 20: 19–29. Many people chastise Thomas for his apparently arrogant attitude about not believing in the resurrection. I applaud Thomas for his questioning attitude and consider him am amazing apostle of Christ. In fact if I were to pick a favorite apostle, it would be Thomas.
Thomas is my favorite apostle for two reasons. First of all, I owe my Christian faith to him. If it was not for apostle Thomas, I would not have known Christ nor would I be standing here today.
According to tradition, Thomas traveled to India and landed in the south east coastal state of Kerala, which happens to be my home state. This was 2000 years ago, in AD 52. He preached the gospel to the Hindus, established seven churches and was martyred in Madras.
In 1968 Pope Paul VI officially proclaimed St. Thomas as the “Apostle of India.”
The second reason I love Thomas is that he had a questioning mind. He did not take anything at face value. He was loyal, fearless, adventurous and a free spirit. Now how do I know that? Look at the gospels. Jesus had 12 apostles. We don’t know anything about nine of them, except their names. We have some information about three apostles and Thomas is one of them.
We all know about Judas because he betrayed Jesus. We know about Peter because he denied Jesus three times. We also know that Peter was married because there is a story in the gospel about Jesus healing Peter’s mother in law.
The amazing personality of Thomas is usually brushed off with an unfitting and untrue title of “doubting Thomas,” but that is actually an unfair title. If you read the gospels closely, you will find that all the apostles doubted the resurrection. , Mt 28: 16 says, “All of them still doubted the resurrection.”
I would rather call Thomas, the “honest Thomas” a man who was honest about his feelings, and did not pretend to understand things he didn’t. He did not fake faith in something he did not experience himself. He had the courage to ask questions in front of his fellow disciples who must have criticized him for making such a demand on Jesus.
We can sketch the personality of Thomas from three incidents in the gospel of John. First is in John chapter 11: When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus decided to go to Bethany. Bethany was a dangerous place to go because his enemies were looking for Jesus. When Thomas heard this, he said to the other disciples: “Let us also go and die with him?” He was not doubtful, or fearful or worried about his life. He was willing to risk his life with his master.
The second incident happened during the last supper when Jesus told the twelve that he would be leaving them soon (John: 14: 5–6). He said: “You know the way to the place where I am going.” I am sure they had no clue where Jesus was going but everybody was afraid to speak up or ask a question. After all, it was a solemn moment; Jesus was talking about his death. But Thomas did not hold back or pretend to know where Jesus was going. He spoke up and asked: “Master we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? You have to love this guy, so outspoken, and not afraid to ask a question when he did not know.
The third story is in today’s reading, John 20. When Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not with them. Where was he that Sunday night? When the other disciples were hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, Thomas must have been walking the streets. I can visualize Thomas walking into a 7 Eleven in Galilee to pick up a six pack. He was exhausted and frustrated about the events of the week. He had put his trust in this teacher called Jesus. He was at one point ready to die with him; now, all hope is lost, Jesus died like a criminal. Thomas was devastated.
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When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, Thomas is not ready to believe them. He is not satisfied with second hand information. He wants to find out for himself, he wants to experience the risen Lord for himself and in his characteristic way, he says: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hand and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Sounds like an audacious attitude, an unflinching position, a stubborn demand, but when you study the personality of Thomas and what he did with his faith in Jesus, you will change your mind.
Look at how Jesus responds to that seemingly arrogant demand: Jesus does not get upset with Thomas, chastise him, or punish him. Jesus does not rebuke his disciple’s questioning mind. He invites him to explore and find out for himself.
Thomas is the patron saint of those of us who are trying to live a critical faith. He is not satisfied with other peoples’ accounts. He is not going to believe something just because everybody else believes it. In this way, Thomas approached religion critically. But Thomas is not an unbeliever, his religion is critical faith.
Christians are usually tempted by two false options. On the one hand, there is faith without doubt, a kind of faith so impatient with Thomas that it would cast him out for asking difficult questions. On the other hand, there is criticism without faith. Thomas shows a better way. He doesn’t deny his doubts.
This Easter story tells us that there is room for each of us with our questions and with our proclamations. A critical faith has a fundamental place in religion.
Look at that poster in our church. I came up with that poster with apostle Thomas in mind:
Questioning, doubting, ambiguity and uncertainty are all aspects of discipleship as are believing, trusting, risk-taking and surrendering.
In an article called Reasonable Religion, a pastor friend of mine wrote this: “We celebrate both the heart and the mind; we do not believe faith needs to be at odds with reason or that science and good religion are incompatible. We encourage a probing, thoughtful faith rather than mindless belief. We are convinced that faith should seek understanding, and an inquiring mind is important for spiritual growth and effective service in the world.”
Always remember that faith evolves and it is an ongoing process. A faith that is not personalized has no transforming value. I know a lot of people who can recite the entire Apostles Creed flawlessly from start to finish, but their lives are falling apart. There is nothing at the core of their being that can withstand the onslaught of challenges and struggles of daily life.
If we just repeat, what others have told us, that won’t change our behavior. Make every effort to experience for yourself what you intellectually believe.
Thomas challenges us today to question our assumptions, reflect upon them and explore the edges of our fears and our faith. And just as he did for Thomas, Jesus will meet us where we are and invite us to touch resurrection.
