Thomas Sees and Believes

“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ “—John 20:29 (Read John 20:24-31).

Thomas, also called Didymus (meaning ‘a twin’), one of the twelve disciples, had not been with the other disciples the first time Jesus appeared to the group following His resurrection. Thomas made the bold statement that he could not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw his hands and side and saw the imprint of the terrible nails.

With these words, Thomas earned himself the title, forever after, of “Doubting Thomas.” Eight days after the resurrection, Thomas was present with the other eleven disciples (by this time Judas Iscariot was no longer among them, having hanged himself in bitterness and shame for the betrayal of the Lord). Suddenly Jesus was with them. In His post-resurrection appearances, He was recognized, for He was still in his identifiable physical body, with the scars visible. Yet, miraculously, He was able to defy the bonds of time and space and enter a room without walking through a door as we bound by the flesh must do.

When Thomas actually saw Jesus, he did not have to put his fingers in the Lord’s scars. Just seeing Jesus was the proof for Thomas’s doubts. “My Lord and my God!” he cried out. Seeing was indeed believing for Thomas. But John, in including this story we’ve come to call the appearance to “Doubting Thomas” served a great purpose. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

And John, wishing to bear true witness of the Lord’s life and His resurrection tells us that “Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: 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” (John 20:31).

Because Thomas doubted, we have the key to true belief. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” That includes each of us. How grateful we should be that Thomas’s doubt served a worthy purpose in God’s great plan for getting the Word of resurrection and salvation out to all people.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, April 6, 2010