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

The Disciple Named Thomas (or Didymus)

“But Thomas, called Didymus, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘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. And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘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.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 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 20:24-29 (NKJV)

Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, followed Jesus from early in the Lord’s ministry. He tramped the roads, the hills, valleys and mountains of Palestine with the Lord and the other eleven disciples. He observed many of the Lord’s miracles and heard the parables Jesus told to make memorable points of His teachings. When Jesus neared the end of His earthly ministry and the Jewish leaders were seeking how they might trap Jesus and seek His death, it was Thomas who bravely stated: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” (John 11:16)

Thomas as a name means “twin.” In apocryphal literature, a writing called The Acts of Thomas actually claims this disciple as a twin of Jesus Himself. This supposition, of course, did not take hold, and that apocryphal book was not included in the canon of Scripture. There is no evidence that Thomas was even a half-brother of Jesus, and certainly he was not the Lord’s twin.

Centuries later, in 1945, a discovery of a papyrus in a jar was made in the Upper Nile Valley of Egypt. Eventually, scholars interpreted the ancient writings and among them were what has been called “The Gospel of Thomas.” It supposedly contains some of the lost sayings of Jesus. These Nag Hammadi codices have been published in recent years and widely circulated. A comparison of “The Gospel of Thomas,” one of these, with the gospels contained in the New Testament show a distinct variance from the words of Christ in canonized Scripture.

Thomas is called the “doubting disciple” because he was not present when Christ first made appearances to the other disciples. He made the noted statement that if he could not see the wounds inflicted on Jesus by his death, he would not believe that Jesus was alive again. Eight days later, Thomas was present when Jesus made another post-resurrection appearance. But when Thomas saw Jesus, he did not have to touch His wounds. He immediately made his historic declaration of faith: “My Lord and my God!”

What Thomas had to say then led Jesus to declare: “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed!” And that includes each one of us who confesses Jesus as Lord.

From Thomas we can learn that “seeing is believing,” but more important, we can know assuredly that the Sprit of God works upon each sincere seeker to lead to the belief that “Jesus is Lord!”

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, March 15, 2010