The Thomas Among Us
The Thomas Among Us by Rev. L. John Gable
May 1, 2022
Talk about cognitive dissonance. The events surrounding the death and resurrection of our Lord must have had the disciples reeling, wondering “What had just happened?” John tells us, “On the evening of that day”, meaning the first Easter day, so this news is not yet 24 hours old, all of the disciples, save Thomas, met together behind closed doors to discuss the events that had taken place in the previous days. It kind of makes you wonder what Thomas was doing that could possibly have been more important than this gathering, doesn’t it? Talk about needing to debrief.
In the previous week they had watched as the Lord they loved entered the city of Jerusalem and hailed as a King; been arrested, tried, charged, crucified and buried; and then three days later miraculously raised again from the dead; and that very day had even appeared alive to some of the women in their company. The disciples were no doubt experiencing an odd mixture of ecstasy, fear and confusion as they met together to discuss what all of these things meant, and what, if anything, they should do next.
That’s where we pick up the story in our Gospel lesson this morning. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the risen Christ appeared among them! We can only imagine their shock and elation at being reunited with their now risen Lord and Master. His greeting gave them what they needed most, “Peace/Shalom” and then in the joy-filled intimacy of that sequestered setting He breathed on them the Holy Spirit and empowered them to go out and share the Good News of the resurrection.
But then, as is too often the case in our own spiritual lives, the ecstasy of Sunday night quickly gave way to the agony of Monday morning, when the very first person they told this Good News to, Thomas, one of their own, flat out refused to believe them. What a let-down that must have been when the glory of faith crashed head on with the reality of doubt. Having just been commissioned to tell the Good News to the whole world they couldn’t even get out of their own back yard. When they told Thomas, “We’ve seen the Lord”, he slammed the door in the face of their enthusiasm, saying, “I don’t believe you and I won’t believe you ‘til I see Him myself!”
It is unfortunate, but from that brief exchange he has for centuries now been labeled “Doubting Thomas”. This really is an unfair characterization of this disciple because, if we are honest with ourselves, which of us wouldn’t have reacted to this news in much the same way? Surely he wanted to believe in the resurrection just as much as the others, but Thomas was no fool. He had seen Jesus beaten and flogged and hung on the cross. He had watched as they laid His lifeless body in the tomb and sealed the grave door. Which of us can blame him for questioning this unbelievably “too good to be true” story of His being alive again? Who can blame him for wanting more proof?
You and I live in an age of reason. We are children of the Enlightenment. From childhood we have been encouraged to question and doubt in order to gain greater understanding and deeper meaning. We have been taught that the best student is not always the one who has the right answer, but the best question. And that is exactly what Thomas was doing. If this same encounter had taken place today we may well have given him the moniker “Honest Thomas” or “Inquisitive Thomas.” And I would be willing to bet there is more than one Thomas among us here this morning, and more to the point, I believe there is a Thomas within each of us.
So the question of us this morning is this: Can we, like Thomas, be honest with ourselves, and one another, about the kinds of questions and doubts which each of us invariably experience? I hope you were with us last Sunday as each of our witnesses, in their own way and in their own words, spoke so openly and honestly not only about their experiences of faith but also of doubt.
Doubts, questions, and uncertainties are not the antithesis of faith but a natural part of it. Browning wrote, “You must mix some uncertainty with faith, if you would have faith be.” Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “Sometimes I believe and sometimes I doubt”, and John Calvin wrote “I could not imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt.” More recently Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict the XVI, wrote this in his book, An Introduction to Christianity, “Anyone who makes up his mind to evade the uncertainty of belief will have to experience the uncertainty of unbelief…believers wrestle with doubt and doubters wrestle with belief…In other words, both the believer and the unbeliever share, each in their own way, doubt and belief, if they do not hide away from themselves and from the truth of their being. Each has to consider, ‘Perhaps it is true!’”
So the real question for us is not whether we will have doubts and questions, but rather will be honest enough with ourselves and one another to deal with them in a manner that encourages rather than discourages our experience of faith?
It is unfortunate, but many of us were raised with a double standard when it comes to asking questions. We were taught that it is alright to question the sciences, but then were told it is not alright to question our faith. We were taught simply to accept and believe, hence “blind faith”, which regrettably has caused many to feel conflicted when they think what they learn in science class is being pitted against what they learn at church or experience feelings of guilt when they later try to reconcile questions of their faith as adults. This is not as it should be. As Helmut Thielicke rightly says, “Our faith should not simply be the product of our repressed doubts.”
If there are going to be changes in the way we deal with faith questions we must first encourage a change in our attitudes about the appropriateness of even asking those questions in the first place. Honest questioning should never be discouraged if its intention is to discover a deeper, more meaningful faith or desire to experience a closer relationship with Christ. Such honest questioning encourages us to seek and ask and knock in the hope that “perhaps it is true!”
This is the kind of honest doubting Thomas had. He didn’t say, “I refuse to believe, no matter what!” like the old man who puts his fingers in his ears and says, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!” Thomas was not a skeptic looking for loopholes in the logic of faith; rather he was a realist, like you and me, seeking a firm foundation for his faith. “I can’t believe, unless I see Him myself”, he said, and I hope you believe me when I say, we need not accept any lesser proof ourselves. Granted, we may not be able to see Jesus with our own eyes, or be able to touch His wounds as Thomas was invited to do, but that does not mean our faith is based on any lesser proofs; they are just different kinds of proofs than those offered by our senses or the sciences. Thomas, in his honest confession of doubt, wasn’t closing the door to faith at all; rather he was opening himself up for a renewed personal encounter with the Risen Christ, and we can do the same, for God is still in the business of revealing Himself to those who genuinely seek Him. And He gives us this promise, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet come to believe”, putting on equal footing those of us who believe though we have not seen with those who believe because they have. It is this promise that allows Peter to write: “Although you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Thomas’ doubt was not the kind produced in the library or the laboratory. It was not a matter of intellectual gymnastics or skeptical gamesmanship that seeks to debate inconsistencies in ancient texts. That kind of questioning is insatiable. Rather his was born of sorrow, of disappointment and confusion. His were questions uttered from the dark night of the soul, such as the ones we ask. Those of a parent who have lost a child and wonders if God is and if their child still lives. The questions of those who see the world torn by poverty and war, famine and disease, and wonder if there really is a God and if there is why He doesn’t do something about it. The questions any of us might ask when we look at the violence and hatred, the prejudice and injustice around us and within us and wonder “Where is God in all of this?” or rather, “Is God in this at all?” Thomas was not an intellectual quibbler, he was a disciple who had lost his Master and Lord. His doubts, like ours, were grounded in confusion and disappointment and sorrow, so he sought proof for the Good News he longed to be true.
Do you remember when Mother Theresa’s journals were found after her death? In them she confessed that she had lived with doubt, questioning her experience of faith and her calling by God, for over 50 years! Some critiqued her for being a poser, a fake; but not I. I commend her for her honesty and then her resolve to live out of the conviction of the truth of her faith and calling even as she endured her “dark night of the soul.”
We can take comfort in her honesty and would do well to learn from her. What are we to do when these inevitable questions and doubts invade our lives and seek to undermine our faith? Thomas Carlyle advises, “Doubt of any kind cannot be removed except by action.” This is what she did: when in doubt, she did something, something beautiful for God, and Thomas did the same. Rather than avoiding the others he continued to stay in their company. How easy it would have been for him to simply slip out the back door when his experience didn’t match theirs; but he didn’t. He stayed and honestly owned his questions and doubts to his closest friends. He surrounded himself with those who did believe and we must do the same when doubts confront us. In small groups, with trusted friends, we need to address these types of questions together, not so that rebuttal can be made, but that the burden can be shared.
This is what Thomas did, seemingly without guilt or shame, and look at how he was received. The other disciples understood his confusion and stuck with him. How easy it would have been for them to ostracize him, to “kick him out of the club” until he got his theological act together or to corner him and try to argue him into a right way of thinking; but they did neither. Rather they loved him and encouraged him, and no doubt prayed for him. But most of all they trusted God to reveal Himself to him just as He had revealed Himself to each of them. What a lesson we as a church can learn about how to deal with those of us who are going through our own seasons of doubt and confusion. We would all do well to remember that faith is ultimately a gift from God, beyond our ability to control or manipulate, so we must learn to support and encourage and pray for one another, trusting God to open doors of faith in His good timing.
For Thomas, it was seven days later; no doubt seven very long days later. Once again the disciples were meeting together behind closed doors when Jesus appeared to them again, just as He had before, and this time Thomas was with them. (This might be time for a good reminder: don’t miss church. God does mighty things when His people gather together and you don’t want to be the one who misses out on it!) What a powerful encounter that must have been as Jesus came to Thomas, not to chastise him for his lack of faith but to meet him right where he was, and friends, I believe our Lord will do the same for you and for me. It is at the point of our deepest need that God comes to us and ministers to our questions and doubts and confusion, just as He did to Thomas’. It is there that the seeking are found, the asking are answered, and the door is opened to those who knock, such that we can confess with that doubting one, “My Lord and my God!”
I am so grateful John included the Thomas story in his Gospel. It would have been very easy for him to leave it out, but he didn’t because I believe he knew, as we know, that Thomas’ story is our story. There is a Thomas among us; perhaps there is a Thomas within each of us. So any who in this season of Easter are struggling to believe or bombarded by feelings of doubt or grief or guilt, take heart; you do not stand alone. The One you seek is seeking you as well.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN