There are some people in the Bible who I wish I could just go back in time, and talk to. They’re the ones whose stories have captivated me, and I want to know more. I want to ask them some questions. I want more information. The Bible doesn’t tell me enough. I want to know what was going through their head, what they were feeling, and why they said or did what they said or did.
Thomas is one of those people.
He’s been given a nickname: “Doubting Thomas.” He doubted that one time… and the name stuck.
It’s like in the movie Big Hero 6, when Tadashi is introducing his brother Hiro to all his friends… and when Tadashi introduces his friend Wasabi, Hiro makes a funny face and says, “Wasabi?”
And Wasabi says, “I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time, people! One time!!!”
Well, Thomas doubted one time, people! Yet he is known, now and forever, as Doubting Thomas.
I want to know why Thomas doubted, and what he thinks about us calling him “Doubting Thomas,” and whether he thinks that’s fair, and why he wasn’t with the disciples the first time Jesus appeared.
So: I used my imagination to go back in time, and ask him.
My first question to Thomas was why he wasn't with the other disciples the first time the risen Jesus appeared to them…had the other disciples sent him out to get pizza for everyone, or Chinese food?
When I asked him, Thomas said, “Well, not exactly. See, we were all still terrified that the Romans were going to hunt us all down. Turns out that, since Jesus had taught us to be nonviolent, Rome was content to just get Jesus. If we had armed ourselves, Rome would have gone after us all. I guess that’s one way Jesus protected us: by teaching us to be nonviolent.
But we weren’t sure. We were still afraid. And things were so confusing. And I knew the disciples were gathering, but I got mixed up on the time and the place—I think I was told the wrong time and place, although the others think I just heard it wrong—and, anyway, I wasn’t there.”
“OK,” I said. “It happens.
“So, when the disciples told you that Jesus had appeared to them, what did you think? Why didn’t you believe them?”
Thomas looked at me a moment, and I could tell this answer was going to take a few minutes… Thomas said: “You know, several of the other disciples are fishermen, and one of them—Peter—told me once about a guy who went around selling this most amazing musical instrument, a horn of some sort, that was very rare, and if you sounded that horn from your boat, it would draw all the fish, and the fish would just leap out of the water and into the boat, and you’d have the biggest catch of your life…
“So Peter paid a lot of money—I think he said it was about what he’d earn in a week of fishing—for that instrument. But when he went out on the water and blew it, no fish came. In fact, he said it was the worst day of fishing he’d ever had. Turns out, the sound of that horn sent all the fish away!
“Peter said he learned an expensive lesson that day.
“So you can imagine how Peter reacted, when Jesus appeared, and started giving him fishing advice… ‘Go out into the deep water… cast your nets on the other side of the boat…’ and so on and so forth.
“Well, Peter had never forgotten his earlier experience with the horn, so when Jesus appeared and started giving fishing advice, Peter rolled his eyes. Besides, what does a carpenter know about fishing? Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, we’ve been fishing all night long, and haven’t caught a thing; now it’s the middle of the day, and fish don’t bite in the middle of the day’…In that moment, he doubted Jesus, he was skeptical that he’d catch any fish that day… and yet, no one calls him ‘Doubting Peter,” or, ‘Skeptical Peter.”
I told Thomas he had a good point.
Thomas said: “Thank you!”
Then Thomas went on. He said: “One time, we were with Jesus, and this woman came up to Jesus who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.
“See, that person who sold Peter the horn wasn’t the only scammer around. There were many physicians and doctors around who would take your money, promise a cure, but do nothing. Their potions, their remedies, were all fake. Yet they kept convincing people to hand over their hard-earned money.”
Thomas looked more intently at me, as if he was trying to figure me out, and then he said: “I don’t know what it’s like in your time, but back in my time, you just can’t trust everyone. It’s good to be a little skeptical. It’s good to have a little doubt. There are people out to take advantage of you, all kinds of scammers and frauds, and you gotta be careful.
“But, I guess you don’t have that in the 21st century.”
As soon as Thomas said that, I thought of the many times I’ve seen friends post something on facebook, something about how, tomorrow, a new Facebook rule starts that allows Facebook to use your photos, or start charging you, or something, but that if you post this message on Facebook, saying that you do not authorize Facebook to use your photos, your data, whatever, then you’ll be protected.
And, it’s all bogus. I don’t know who made that up, but it does nothing.
And I thought of friends of mine who have received frantic phone calls from someone who they thought was their grandchild; the voice says, “Grandma, I’m in jail,” and it sounds just like their grandchild, and they say, “How come you’re in jail?”
And they say, “I was drunk and they picked me up and I need $3,000 right away.” And they give instructions for sending them $3,000.
And a lot of people who receive such phone calls do send the money, because, after all, their grandchild needs help… except it’s not really their grandchild. It’s a scammer, someone who is very good at making people believe that they are who they pretend to be.
Churches are not immune to scams. I had only been here a few weeks when one of you told me you had received a fake email from someone claiming to be me, your pastor, asking you to help me out (or to help the church out) by buying and sending gift cards… It wasn’t me. It was a scammer, pretending to be me.
I didn’t feel the need to tell Thomas all this… Instead, I just said, “I do think I’m starting to understand why you might have been a little skeptical to believe, at first, the news that Jesus was alive.”
In fact, I’m pretty sure I would have been just as skeptical as Thomas. And the more I got to know Thomas (through this imaginary conversation), the more I began to sympathize with him.
After all, Thomas was not some sort of weak-faith, second-class disciple. Oh, no! Back when Jesus announced his intention to go to Jerusalem, and all the other disciples complained that Jerusalem was too dangerous, that there were people there who had it in for Jesus, who wanted to stone him to death…and they all tried to discourage Jesus from going to Jerusalem…
…it was Thomas who said, “If Jesus is going to Jerusalem, then let us go with him. If Jesus is going to die, then let us die with him.” These words of Thomas demonstrate his incredible faith and loyalty and courage; Thomas’ statement gave courage to the other disciples, and they stopped their whining and recommitted to following Jesus, no matter where Jesus led them.
In that story, Thomas’ faith outshined the faith of all the other disciples! Because of Thomas’ strong faith, all the other disciples had their own faith renewed.
So we can’t just label Thomas as a doubter of weak faith, and leave it at that!
And, given the prevalence of scams and fake news and conspiracy theories, I think it’s a good thing to come with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Furthermore, I find it easier to believe in the resurrection because of Thomas’ initial reluctance to believe. Thomas’ doubt and skepticism are a sign to me that it’s OK to have doubts, that doubt is not incompatible with faith, that the two can and often do go together.
It makes me think of Rachel Held Evans, a great, great theologian and writer who tragically died at a way-too-young age a few years ago; she had this phrase that she would use when she would share some of her thoughts on faith… She liked to say, “On the days when I believe, this is what I believe.”
“On the days when I believe…” That prefatory phrase implies that faith isn’t always easy, that faith is sometimes a struggle, that there will be days when it is hard to believe… and that that’s OK…
It lets me know that it’s OK to doubt, to wonder, to ask questions…
And I also recognize how, when the disciples told Thomas about Jesus, they were trying to encourage Thomas; but earlier, when Jesus said he was going to Jerusalem, it was Thomas who encouraged the other disciples…
And faith is like that, too; isn’t it? Some days, we’re strong in faith, and we can be a person someone else can lean on when their faith is weak; and other days, it is our own faith that is weak, and then we lean on the faith of others.
That’s one of the reasons we gather together as a church: sometimes we come, and we’re a little lost, or a little discouraged, in faith; but we come, and the faith of those around us lifts us up and helps us carry on.
It’s like when that group of friends brought a paralyzed man to Jesus, but couldn’t get in through the front door because there were so many people there; so they carried their paralyzed friend up to the roof, and dug through the roof and lowered him into the house…
And Jesus looked at them through the hole in the roof, and saw their faith, the faith of the friends… and Jesus said that it was because of their faith, the faith of the friends, that the paralyzed man was healed.
There may come a time when my faith is weak, and yours is strong, and you can help carry me through that difficult time; and there may come a time when you’re struggling in faith, and you need my faith or the faith of your church community, to help carry you through.
That’s why it is so good that we come together for worship, why worship in the community of faith is an essential part of one’s spiritual journey.
So I’m not afraid of a little doubt. Sometimes, a little doubt can be a good thing. It helps keep us humble, and gives us the opportunity to rely on the faith of others, to lean on each other, to be a true community of faith.
And I also know that a little doubt isn’t what defines my faith. A little doubt isn’t what should define Thomas’ faith, either. Because all the disciples doubted at one time or another. And all of them were strong in faith at other times; they all became models of faith for generations of Christians to come.
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