Honest to Thomas: John 20:19-31 - Second Sunday of Easter

Is it a sin to doubt? Is despair evil? Does unbelief lead to hell?

Your answer to these questions will influence how you think of Thomas and others, who do not believe.

We have labeled him “Doubting Thomas,” as if to say he was a bad disciple.

Touch by Albert on flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

If we go by the original Greek text, we should really be calling him “Faithless Thomas,” because he rejected the testimony of those who encountered the risen Christ.

One could also call him “Conditional Thomas,” because he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

What bothers me about all these labels we’ve given to Thomas is that we are implying that Thomas SHOULD HAVE believed. That’s a moral judgment we can apply to anyone who doesn’t share our faith. We can even apply it to ourselves in those times when faith is difficult, if not impossible. 

The problem with treating faith as an obligation is that you make it into a WORK. Something that we should create in ourselves because God says so. By that definition, if you don’t have faith, if you don’t believe, then you’re a sinner. But that understanding mischaracterizes what faith actually is. 

If we go back to the wee hours of the morning on Easter Sunday, everyone that knew and loved Jesus was broken. They had left everything behind to follow the One they believed to be God’s Son and the long-awaited Messiah, but he’s been dead and buried for three days. And there was the danger that if any of them was to be identified as one of his disciples, they might end up crucified, just like him. 

Simply put, they were alive in their bodies, but their spirits were dead. Then, Jesus appeared to them. First, to Mary Magdalene, then to the ten the disciples. (Judas was dead, and Thomas was absent, for reasons we’ll never know.) 

Thomas reconnects with the disciples, and they tell him the news that Jesus has been raised from the dead. But he refuses to believe. Not unless he can see him with his own eyes and touch with his own hands. 

Perhaps we could call him “Unreasonable Thomas,” because demands something we cannot have. 

Still, I don’t think it’s fair to sit in judgment of Thomas. Faith is not a work. It is not an achievement. It’s not the fulfillment of a moral obligation. Righteousness is a moral obligation. The Ten Commandments are a moral obligation. But faith cannot exist solely because God demands it. Faith is God’s work in us, incarnating the very life of Jesus in our own flesh. It is God, acting through the Church, who proclaims the Gospel that creates, nourishes, and sustains faith. 

Faith is a miracle. And not everyone has faith. Some, because they’ve never heard the Gospel. Some have heard the Gospel, but the pains they’ve suffered and the evils they’ve witnessed have made believing impossible. Some believe in God and love Jesus but reject the Church. And there are those who did believe at one time, but the worries of life and the cares of this world got in the way, and slowly they drifted away. And then there are those who are faithful and obedient, but their faith is crucified by heartbreak and trauma and evil. This was the case for Job, Naomi, and Thomas. And it wasn’t their fault.

Faith cannot exist without doubt, just like resurrection cannot exist without death. Therefore, we mustn’t condemn Thomas, because Thomas is you, Thomas is me, Thomas is everyone who struggles to believe or who cannot believe or who will not believe. Such persons do not need our judgment. They need our prayers. They need our service. They need our witness.

Faith is a struggle. We are the Church so we can struggle together. We need the freedom to speak openly about the things that cause doubt. Life can be traumatic, and spirits can be broken. When it’s your spirit that’s broken, the Church exists to be your spiritual life support, and not by speaking slogans and one-liners like “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” or “God only helps those who help themselves.” That spiritual life support comes in the form of prayers and intercessions. It comes as people who walk alongside you through your trials and supply for your needs. If you cannot believe, we’ll believe for you, and we’ll keep carrying the weight of your doubt until the risen Christ becomes as real to you as he was to Thomas. 

And what happens when the risen Christ shows up? Peace.

Peace is the most beautiful sign of the nearness of Christ. Peace is the miracle of faith, and I thank God for every occasion I’ve witnessed the peace God gives of those facing death or enduring pain. 

That’s why we share the peace during worship: we know Christ is near when we are at peace with one another; we know Christ is near when his forgiveness breaks the power of sin that alienates us from God and each other. Where there is peace, there is healing. Where there is healing, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is belonging. Where there is belonging, there is faith. Where there is faith, there is Christ. And together, the Church cries out in faith, “My Lord, and my God!” 

John 20:19-31 (NRSVue)

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.