John 20- Doubting Thomas
Thomas has gotten a bad reputation. A “doubting Thomas” has become a phrase used to mean that someone is overly skeptical. “Oh, don’t be such a doubting Thomas”, we might say. People will know what a “doubting Thomas” is without ever having picked up a bible or stepping into a church. I think that’s unfortunate because Thomas really wasn’t that much more of a doubter than any of the other disciples.
When Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds the body of Jesus missing, she doesn’t think ‘resurrection’. She thinks ‘grave robber’. It’s not until he’s standing right in front of her and speaking her name that she recognizes him.
Mary goes and tells the other disciples that she has seen Jesus, but they were still full of fear and hiding behind locked doors. They saw the empty tomb, but maybe it was a trap. Maybe Mary had been seeing things in her grief. I’m not sure they really believed until Jesus came to them.
But Thomas wasn’t at that gathering. I’m sure he heard Mary’s story. Then I’m sure he heard the disciples’ story. But, grief can do strange things to people. Believing everyone has gone crazy is easier than believing Jesus is back from the dead. Thomas says what will make him believe,
“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
It is just too much. It is too big a thing to believe without seeing it himself. This is how Thomas gets his nickname- “Doubting Thomas”.
But, he’s not asking for anything that hasn’t been given to the other disciples. Mary didn’t believe until Jesus was standing right in front of her saying her name. The Disciples didn’t really believe until Jesus stood among them saying “Peace be with you” and showing them his scars. Thomas is merely asking for what has been granted to the other disciples.
We aren’t really that different from those disciples in the first century. Thomas is easy for most of us to relate to. We want to see it to believe it. We are able to doubt anything. Maybe you are dreaming. Maybe your whole life is a dream. Maybe, you’re in the Matrix right now.
We can’t really live in that kind of extreme doubt in our everyday lives. It becomes very hard to drive on a bridge because it could collapse. Are you sure that engineer knew what he was doing? Are you sure the builders didn’t cut corners and use inferior materials and pocket the money they saved?
How do you trust your doctor? They could be lying about their credentials, are they really a doctor? Maybe they are in league with a pharmaceutical company and They are illegally doing drug experiments on me? Haven’t you ever heard of MK Ultra?
How can you have any kind of significant relationship? Maybe they are cheating on me. I don’t know where they are 100% of the time. Maybe they don’t really care about me. They are just afraid of being alone.
We have incredible powers of doubt, but it isn’t very livable. At some point we have to decide what and who we will trust.
Dallas Willard once said, “We believe the skeptical person to be more intelligent in our culture. You can be as stupid as a cabbage as long as you doubt”.[1] A cheap and easy way of appearing intelligent in our culture is just to be skeptical and doubting of everything. Doubt can be useful when it helps us restrain belief until we have more information, but it can be a hindrance as a general attitude.
This might be changing, but for a long time people spoke as if they would only believe something if it can be repeatedly tested, videotaped, and dissected. They want to be able to put it in a test tube. They want to dissect it. They want some kind of personal experience with it. Then they might believe it. … Not every truth can be examined with these kinds of tools though.
Thomas is asked to trust the word of his close friends- even that is hard to do when it comes to a miracle. But what about trusting the words of those we never knew? Are we to believe the witness of the disciples? … We live in a world where we don’t really even trust each other. People hallucinate. People lie. People make mistakes.
This is a question for history in general. How can we trust what someone has said or wrote about past events and people? How do we know about Napoleon, or Nero, or Henry the 8th? … Really, we only know because someone told us about them. I once visited a castle of Henry the 8th. But how did I know that? There were paintings of him around, and there were signs that said so, but why should I believe those signs. … It can be tricky to think our way through all this.
As Christians we don’t want to be naïve. God has told us to love him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. 1st John 4 says,
But, he’s not asking for anything that hasn’t been given to the other disciples. Mary didn’t believe until Jesus was standing right in front of her saying her name. The Disciples didn’t really believe until Jesus stood among them saying “Peace be with you” and showing them his scars. Thomas is merely asking for what has been granted to the other disciples.
We aren’t really that different from those disciples in the first century. Thomas is easy for most of us to relate to. We want to see it to believe it. We are able to doubt anything. Maybe you are dreaming. Maybe your whole life is a dream. Maybe, you’re in the Matrix right now.
We can’t really live in that kind of extreme doubt in our everyday lives. It becomes very hard to drive on a bridge because it could collapse. Are you sure that engineer knew what he was doing? Are you sure the builders didn’t cut corners and use inferior materials and pocket the money they saved?
How do you trust your doctor? They could be lying about their credentials, are they really a doctor? Maybe they are in league with a pharmaceutical company and They are illegally doing drug experiments on me? Haven’t you ever heard of MK Ultra?
How can you have any kind of significant relationship? Maybe they are cheating on me. I don’t know where they are 100% of the time. Maybe they don’t really care about me. They are just afraid of being alone.
We have incredible powers of doubt, but it isn’t very livable. At some point we have to decide what and who we will trust.
Dallas Willard once said, “We believe the skeptical person to be more intelligent in our culture. You can be as stupid as a cabbage as long as you doubt”.[1] A cheap and easy way of appearing intelligent in our culture is just to be skeptical and doubting of everything. Doubt can be useful when it helps us restrain belief until we have more information, but it can be a hindrance as a general attitude.
This might be changing, but for a long time people spoke as if they would only believe something if it can be repeatedly tested, videotaped, and dissected. They want to be able to put it in a test tube. They want to dissect it. They want some kind of personal experience with it. Then they might believe it. … Not every truth can be examined with these kinds of tools though.
Thomas is asked to trust the word of his close friends- even that is hard to do when it comes to a miracle. But what about trusting the words of those we never knew? Are we to believe the witness of the disciples? … We live in a world where we don’t really even trust each other. People hallucinate. People lie. People make mistakes.
This is a question for history in general. How can we trust what someone has said or wrote about past events and people? How do we know about Napoleon, or Nero, or Henry the 8th? … Really, we only know because someone told us about them. I once visited a castle of Henry the 8th. But how did I know that? There were paintings of him around, and there were signs that said so, but why should I believe those signs. … It can be tricky to think our way through all this.
As Christians we don’t want to be naïve. God has told us to love him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. 1st John 4 says,
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
So, we are not to be naïve. We are not to believe everything that comes our way. However, we are not to outright reject everything either- that is just cynicism. We are to be discerning. We are to be like sharp swords carefully and skillfully separating truth from falsehood.
Thomas is not naïve and has stated the conditions under which he will believe. Thomas has to “see the nail marks in his hands and put [his] finger where the nails were, and put [his] hand into his side”. If Jesus allows Thomas to do these experiments, then he will believe. Until he is permitted to do this experiment, he will not believe. … Jesus is under no obligation to give him what he is asking for.
Jesus does offer himself up to Thomas’ experiment one week later on the first day of the week- Sunday. We don’t know if Thomas actually did the experiment (contrary to Caravaggio’s shocking painting), but when Jesus appears Thomas believes, and utters the profound statement,
Thomas is not naïve and has stated the conditions under which he will believe. Thomas has to “see the nail marks in his hands and put [his] finger where the nails were, and put [his] hand into his side”. If Jesus allows Thomas to do these experiments, then he will believe. Until he is permitted to do this experiment, he will not believe. … Jesus is under no obligation to give him what he is asking for.
Jesus does offer himself up to Thomas’ experiment one week later on the first day of the week- Sunday. We don’t know if Thomas actually did the experiment (contrary to Caravaggio’s shocking painting), but when Jesus appears Thomas believes, and utters the profound statement,
“My Lord and my God!”
which is the climax of the Gospel of John. Jesus is Lord and God!
Thomas believes because he sees. In the Gospel of John there are at least two ways of believing. The first is by direct experience. Seeing the resurrected Jesus- Touching Jesus- Hearing Jesus- this leads to believing that he has been resurrected. This is sometimes called scientific or empirical evidence. We want to touch his scars. But of course this kind of evidence is not always available to us. We can’t usually do history this way. We can’t talk to Napoleon or the Roman Emperor Nero. We have to trust what others have said about them.
We have to match the kind of truth to the proper method of understanding. If we want to know the boiling point of water, then we get a thermometer and a Bunsen burner and we perform an experiment. … That’s not helpful if you want to know if a painting is beautiful. Or, if you are in love with someone. Or, if you want to know if something is right or wrong. Or, if something happened in the distant past.
The second way of believing at the end of the Gospel of John is by believing what others have said. At the end of our Gospel reading John says,
Thomas believes because he sees. In the Gospel of John there are at least two ways of believing. The first is by direct experience. Seeing the resurrected Jesus- Touching Jesus- Hearing Jesus- this leads to believing that he has been resurrected. This is sometimes called scientific or empirical evidence. We want to touch his scars. But of course this kind of evidence is not always available to us. We can’t usually do history this way. We can’t talk to Napoleon or the Roman Emperor Nero. We have to trust what others have said about them.
We have to match the kind of truth to the proper method of understanding. If we want to know the boiling point of water, then we get a thermometer and a Bunsen burner and we perform an experiment. … That’s not helpful if you want to know if a painting is beautiful. Or, if you are in love with someone. Or, if you want to know if something is right or wrong. Or, if something happened in the distant past.
The second way of believing at the end of the Gospel of John is by believing what others have said. At the end of our Gospel reading John says,
“These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
We can know London is a city in England by actually going there, but we can also choose to believe those who have gone to London and have come back to tell us about it. ... The disciples could have believed Mary. Thomas could have believed the disciples. He knew his friends were trustworthy, but he wanted a different kind of proof. And Jesus came to him. We are asked to trust the words of those who experienced the risen Jesus Christ. Do we trust their story?
Jesus said to Thomas,
Jesus said to Thomas,
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Jesus is talking about you. Blessed are you because you have trusted this amazing story, even though you have not touched his scars.
We don’t always have all the proof we want. We can’t reach out and touch God with our microscopes and telescopes. We can't measure God with a thermometer. ... This does not leave us hopeless. We are invited to trust the stories of those who did encounter him. Through their stories we mysteriously encounter him too. And though we may not be able to touch his scars, Jesus mysteriously appears in the locked room of our heart, and touches our scars, saying, “Peace be with you.” Amen.
We don’t always have all the proof we want. We can’t reach out and touch God with our microscopes and telescopes. We can't measure God with a thermometer. ... This does not leave us hopeless. We are invited to trust the stories of those who did encounter him. Through their stories we mysteriously encounter him too. And though we may not be able to touch his scars, Jesus mysteriously appears in the locked room of our heart, and touches our scars, saying, “Peace be with you.” Amen.
[1]
Hearing God by Dallas Willard, Epilogue
Comments
Post a Comment