Sunday 28th February 2010: Doubting Thomas
John 11.1-16
There is, I think, a rather fine but gruesome painting by Caravaggio entitled; The Incredulity of Thomas. It shows a resurrected Christ guiding Thomas’ hand. Thomas is touching the spear wound in Christ’s side.
In fact we are not told Thomas actually did that even though he was invited to.
He is remembered by his nickname as The Doubter, but there was more to him than just his questions. So let’s look a little closer at Thomas Diddymous, Thomas The Twin this morning.
The first thing we might want to say of him is that he was a Courageous Disciple.
This impressive side of his character has its finest moment at the death of Lazarus. It’s there in this morning’s reading. News reaches Jesus that his great friends in Bethany, that village on the outskirts of Jerusalem, were in turmoil. John 11.3: …the sisters sent word to Jesus: Lord, the one you love is sick.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus seem almost like a family to Jesus. They were never part of the twelve, yet no one shared more intimate moments of friendship with him than them. Their home became his. So, quite naturally, as Lazarus lies desperately ill the sisters send for Jesus.
But, it seems, the metropolitan district of Jerusalem was a no go area for Jesus at this time. Spies, informers and plot makers were out to get him.
At first Jesus lingers where they were, but after two days he makes a move. It’s this decision that frustrates the disciples. They think him foolish and reckless – they protest and try to hold him back – vs. 8: Rabbi, they said, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and you are going back there? You can hear the incredulity in their voices.
Yet for all the doubting of the eleven there was one other disciple who, on this occasion at least, trusted his master implicitly – and that, of course, was Thomas. Verse 14-16; So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him. Then Thomas (called Diddymous) said to the rest of the disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Great words – aren’t they? It’s as if he says: Come on, stop doubting, if we trust Jesus, let’s obey him and follow him.
So at a number of levels Thomas shows great courage. It takes courage to take a different view to those around you. Amongst the disciples at that time he was the odd man out – he took a different view and spoke up. It would take great courage to take that first step towards Bethany – after all this could have been a fatal journey.
And because courage needs to find its inspiration in a cause or leader it’s clear that Thomas found his in Jesus Christ. These words of his: Let us also go, that we may die with him – ring out with commitment. Here we have a picture not of Thomas the Doubter but of Thomas the Believer.
Throughout the history of the Church there have been many examples of courageous Christians. Perhaps it’s appropriate in a sermon on Thomas to think of the courage of those first BMS Missionaries to India. Tradition has it that Thomas went to India in AD52, and outside Madras is the small hill where in AD78 he is said to have died, a place known as St Thomas Mount.
I just think of Carey going to India and never coming back. Preaching for 7 years without a single convert until Krishna Pal believes and is baptised. Of thousands of manuscripts, and years of hard work lost, the night the printing shed went up in flames. Of the day his young son died of fever. You surely needed courage in service like this. And just like Thomas, that courage needed to find its inspiration in Jesus Christ.
Well God still wants Thomases! People who are prepared to speak out and serve him, even at some personal cost to themselves.
Thomas The Courageous, and secondly Thomas The Confused.
He shows this side in John 14. The disciples are with Jesus, he’s just washed their feet and in true Rabbinic fashion he is teaching them and they are discussing his teaching.
In order to comfort them Jesus speaks about heaven, his father’s house having many rooms and says: I am going to prepare a place for you. He ends this encouraging episode by saying: You know the place where I am going.
Now that should have been a happy conclusion. So I rather smile at the gentle audacity of Thomas when he throws in a question to disturb the waters. John 14.5; Thomas said to him: Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way. He even sounds rather annoyed with Christ – Jesus, he seems to be saying, don’t take it for granted that we know what you’re talking about, explain it a little bit more please.
Thomas reminds me of those youngsters who won’t let you get away with glib answers. Why do you say that? What do you mean?
Jesus responds to Thomas with that wonderful phrase: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I find this part of Thomas’ nature quite attractive. It’s true that constantly asking questions can be an annoying characteristic at times, but there are occasions when everybody benefits from a good question. Thomas is bold enough to ask them. He’s the detail man.
God has made us this way. He’s given us minds that search for truth and long for reason.
As I wrote that I just thought of some of the names our Victorian forbears gave to rooms in the new chapels they were building in the 19th century. Often there would be a Lecture Hall, Class Rooms and a Sunday School building. It was simply the idea that learning was part of faith. Sometimes that actually meant the three R’s, more often it meant leaning about the bible and church history.
A member of the congregation, gave me a printed sermon on the theme of Christian Ecology the other day. I was grateful for it – it arose out of some questions I had raised in a sermon – (quite reassuring when you get comeback from sermons – well sometimes its reassuring). In this sermon, given by the Dean of Bristol Cathedral, as he looked at the enormous subject of how we should care for the planet, he quoted Kant’s dictum – What can I know? What can I do? What can I hope for? Just the thought really that our dreams and our actions need to be first of all fuelled by answers to the questions we ask. What can I know first of all. Then what can I do secondly. And finally to keep me inspired – what can I hope for.
Never give up asking the questions. That, I think, is a lesson we could draw from Thomas’ life. Ask them as you read the bible, say your prayers, take your place in a housegroup, attend that conference, read that book or listen to the sermon.
Thomas said: Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way.
When George Carey, as Archbishop, preached in Winchester Cathedral to mark its 900th anniversary he reflected on the way we’re always asking questions in the church – how should we reorganise our building, how can we relate better to our community, what’s the best way of introducing faith to the young – and he said; I believe the untidiness is essential, and sometimes gloriously creative.
So rather than retreat into our certainties – sometimes its good to take a fresh look at our theology and practice – to live with the untidiness of yet more questions.
Now finally – and maybe this follows on from our last point – we meet the Cautious Thomas. The one who doubts.
We are not told where he was when Jesus appeared to the other disciples – seems he was absent without leave! So they have the advantage. For them the resurrection is a matter of fact, for him it remains an issue of faith. John 20.25: He said to them: Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side (hence the Caravaggio painting) I will not believe.
Well he only had to wait a week – who knows perhaps they had already started to gather on a Sundays for worship – and even though the doors were locked Jesus came among them greeting them with the words: Peace be with you.
I’d have loved to see Thomas’ face. A look of amazement, tinged maybe with an ounce of shame.
Jesus invites him to stop doubting and believe. And I guess Jesus has been saying that for a long time to many of us. And Thomas replies: My Lord and my God.
There’s no doubt that this response takes centre stage in today’s story. That moment when Thomas becomes a believer in the resurrection – a belief that transcends into worship. This is a journey of faith – we have walked with him – his courageous beginning, his questioning past, and his cautious present. Unlike Judas, Thomas comes through. He ends up on his knees before Christ.
But I’m struck by something else in these verses, which I believe is so important. It’s this – Thomas faces up to his doubts and questions in company with the disciples. There’s that verse in chapter 20 that says; A week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them.
Thomas was to find faith in company with others. He was to meet with Jesus in a fresh and living way, in company with others.
So I think we could make the point, and it would be a very valid New Testament concept, that we often sense the presence of God strongest when we are in company with other believers. That’s one reason for church – we gather as fellow pilgrims for worship, we hear God speaking to us as a body of pilgrims.
In an age of individualism where people believe in and do their own thing, we have to underline that Christianity has never been a private religion. No one has ever been called to be a Christian with the option of joining or not joining a church.
I sometimes come across folk who are going though a faith crisis – and perhaps one natural reaction is to stay away from church. Well one response to that is to look once more at Thomas’ story – for him faith came alive again, Jesus meet him again, as he gathered with others.
Now, of course, God comes to us in all sorts of ways. This story just seems to underline that truth that when two or three gather in Jesus name he promises to be here with us in a special way. So when faith seems fragile – being with our brothers and sisters in Christ can be a good place to be.
So we leave it there – this morning we’ve been journeying with Thomas – the doubter who became a believer.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ – we rejoice once more in your resurrection – we thank you for your living presence with us today and your promise to walk beside us as we go into a new week – help us to ask questions so that we may grow in our understanding – help us to be courageous in our discipleship – and most of all, may we, like Thomas come before you sincerely and reverently in worship with the words: My Lord and My God.
Amen.