Bad impressions can be difficult to shake. They sometimes follow you around like a stray dog you’d like to be rid of.
Sometimes they are even unfair, but that does not matter. They still persist. Remember Dan Quayle misspelling potato (or was it tomato?). Or, former president Gerald Ford hitting someone in the head with a golf ball, making Ford the butt of cartoonists who pictured him as wild and dangerous? Then there was Dick Cheney, who accidentally shot a hunting partner. And on and on.
Enter the apostle Thomas, aka Didymus, the twin. If I were to ask you to fill in the blank, what would you say: “Why worry, when you can pray; trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay. Don’t be a doubting ________, rest fully on His promise.” For more than two millennia, the apostle Thomas has been stuck with the moniker “Doubting Thomas.” He is often portrayed as melancholic, pessimistic, gloomy and skeptical.
But consider with me another view of Thomas—not the doubter but instead the leader, the learner, the leary, and the loved:
- Thomas, the Leader. When Jesus heard of the death of His friend, Lazarus, in Bethany, and waited four days before going to visit his sisters Mary and Martha, some of His disciples favored “letting well enough alone” in response to Jesus’s statement that Lazarus was sleeping (“howbeit Jesus spake of his death”) (John 11:12,13); others questioned the wisdom of Jesus going back into Judea, where He had not been welcomed (John 11:8). But it was Thomas who sided with Jesus, and with loyalty and courage said, “Let us also go that we may die with Him.” Some think these were the words of a despondent, despairing person; might they rather be the words of a totally, courageously committed follower of his Lord who was willing to face the possibility of being stoned to death with Jesus (John 11:8) if He were going to go to visit the grieving sisters of His friends. Jesus was developing committed, consistent, creative, courageous disciples. Maybe, just maybe, Thomas was displaying his courage—to go with Jesus in spite of personal danger—rather than to play it safe by staying where they were, even though Lazarus’s sisters had urged Jesus to come quickly when he had fallen gravely sick.
- Thomas, the Learner. In John 14, when Jesus told the apostles that He was going to prepare a place for them, then return at some future time to receive them to Himself, it was Thomas who said (in reply to Jesus’ statement that “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know,”): “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:4,5) But do not mistake an honest inquiry for doubt or disbelief. Thomas believed that Jesus was going to prepare a place; he desired to go with Jesus, and he was simply seeking more information. He had learned not to assume anything, nor to take anything for granted. If Jesus were going to prepare a place, Thomas wanted to be sure he was going to see Him again at that very place, and he wanted to get the directions down pat! No problem there! I often, even with GPS, need to ask someone to repeat the directions so as to be sure I can arrive at the desired destination!
- Thomas, the Leary. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room on the first day of the week. Thomas was not at that time present; but, having heard that he had missed seeing the resurrected Jesus, Thomas declared, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) Eight days later, when Jesus appeared to His followers again, He bid Thomas to put his fingers into the nail prints and to thrust his hand into His side—and “be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas, like a disciple was supposed to be doing, was ever growing in his faith; the patient Teacher so often comes to us and proves beyond any doubt that He is sovereignly at work in our lives. Upon birth (as in the new birth) we are not suddenly full-grown in our faith, and we often find ourselves echoing the apostles’ plea, “Lord, increase our faith.” By the way, when Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus, and at His bidding went and told His disciples that He was alive and that she had seen Him, “they believed not.” And when the two men who had walked and talked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus told the disciples that they had seen Jesus risen and alive, “neither believed they them.” (Mark 16:11-13)
- Thomas, the Loved. Thomas was one of the seven disciples of whom we read in John 21 that Jesus prepared an early morning breakfast for, following His resurrection. Read the whole of this unique chapter and you will surely conclude that, like the other six seasoned fishermen-followers of the Lord Jesus, Thomas was included in a morning meeting with the risen Lord around a prepared fire, where fish had been fried and lovingly served by the Savior. This indicates that Thomas, too, had witnessed a miracle, enjoyed a meal, and heard a memorable message from the Lord as He patiently taught Peter about love and life, service and separation (death).
So, who’s going to condemn Thomas for being a doubter? He never denied Jesus. He followed Him when others were hesitant. He was bold enough to ask a question so as not to miss heaven. And he—like his compatriots, hearing that the crucified Savior had risen and had been seen—could not at first believe what seemed too good to be true. But seeing, he believed. And kneeling, he confessed: “My Lord, and my God!” Thomas had an evangelistic ministry in India and died a martyr’s death, tradition records, by being thrust through with a spear in 72 A.D.
So, be cautious about those first impressions. Thomas the Doubter? Or, Thomas the Leader, Thomas the Learner, Thomas the Leary, Thomas the Loved?
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
YOU and GOD 