Thomas Doubts

Behind shut doors. “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst” (John 20:19). Those they feared were most likely the leaders who had handed Jesus over. Hands and side. “He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (20:20). That night He also gave them His charge and spoke of the Holy Spirit (20:21-22). Didymos. “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came” (20:24). The Twin is didymos (say: DID-oo-mos), the Greek word for a twin. Loyal and honest. Thomas had once said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16). At the last supper he asked, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Thomas said what he thought. We have seen. The others told him, “We have seen the Lord” (20:25). It was the same report Mary Magdalene had brought that morning (20:18). Typos. Thomas answered, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (20:25). Print is typos (say: TOO-pos), the mark left by a blow. Our word type comes from it. Firm words. “I will not believe” is strong language. Yet Thomas was not asking for more than the others had received. They too had seen His hands and His side (20:20). Grief and doubt. Thomas' Lord had been crucified, and he was most likely full of sorrow. Sorrow can make good news hard to believe. For you. Doubt does not have to be the end of the story. Thomas spoke honestly and stayed with the disciples, and a week later Jesus met him. Bring your hard questions to Jesus, and keep close to His people.

Eight days. “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them” (20:26). People then counted both the first day and the last, so this was most likely the next first day of the week. Still with them. Thomas had refused to believe their report, yet he stayed with the disciples. His doubt did not drive him away from the people who believed. Mesos. “Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’” (20:26). Midst is mesos (say: MEH-sos), the middle. Both times He stood right in the middle of them (20:19). A real body. The doors were shut, yet He came in. Still, He was no ghost. His body bore the marks of the cross (20:20, 27). The risen body of Jesus is real, and it is also new and glorious. Peace first. His greeting was the same as before. He began with peace, even for a disciple who had said, “I will not believe” (20:25). For Thomas. After the greeting, “Then He said to Thomas” (20:27). The whole room heard Jesus speak to one man who had doubted. By name. Later Jesus said, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed” (20:29). The Good Shepherd knows His sheep one by one. A week of waiting. Jesus did not hurry, and He did not forget. He came at the right time, and He spoke to the one who needed Him. For you. Jesus meets doubters in the company of His people. Stay among believers, keep listening to His Word, and expect Him to meet you there.

Reach. “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (20:27). Word for word. Jesus answered each of Thomas' conditions: the finger, the hands and the side (20:25). He knew exactly what Thomas had said. The wounds. At the cross “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear” (John 19:34). The risen body still carried the marks of the nails and the spear. Same Jesus. The One standing in the room was the One who had died. The resurrection was not a vision or a different person. It was Jesus, raised in His own body. An invitation. Jesus did not send Thomas away. He offered him what he had asked for, and then He called him to faith: “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Marks of love. The marks in His hands are the marks of the cross, where He suffered for our sins. Patience. Thomas had set the terms, and Jesus offered to meet them. Then He called Thomas beyond them. Faith does not stay with demands; it trusts the Lord who has come. For you. Jesus knows your thoughts and words before you say them to Him. He is patient with honest doubt, and He calls you to step from unbelief into trust.

Said to Him. “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (20:28). Thomas was not crying out in surprise. He was answering Jesus and speaking to Him. Lord and God. The Gospel of John begins, “and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Now a disciple says to Jesus' face that He is God. Accepted. Jesus did not correct him. He called it faith: “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed” (20:29). Not seen. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29). Jesus spoke a blessing over every believer who would come later, including you. This is our memory verse. Loving without seeing. Peter later wrote to believers about Jesus, “whom having not seen you love” (1 Peter 1:8). The purpose. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (20:31). From doubt to worship. The disciple who said, “I will not believe” (20:25), is the one who said, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus did not only answer his doubt. He gave him a deeper faith. For you. You are among those who have not seen. Your faith rests on the same risen Lord and on the witness He has given in His Word. Say to Him what Thomas said, and mean it.