Thomas Sees and Believes

A locked room. Ten excited voices all talking at once. “We have seen the Lord!” And one man, arms folded, shaking his head. “Unless I see it for myself, I will not believe.”

It is the evening of the first Easter Sunday. The disciples have locked the doors of the room where they are staying, because they are afraid of the authorities who arrested Jesus. Suddenly Jesus is there, standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he says. He shows them his hands and his side, and they are overjoyed. But one of the twelve is missing. Thomas, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

When Thomas comes back, his friends can hardly wait to tell him. “We have seen the Lord!” You can imagine them interrupting each other. He was right here. He spoke to us. He showed us his hands. But Thomas has watched his teacher die. He has felt that grief all weekend. And now they are asking him to believe the impossible, on their word alone. So he says something very honest. “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.”

Then comes a long week. Seven days of the others saying, he’s alive, and Thomas saying, I need to see. Imagine being the only one in the room who isn’t sure. But notice something. Thomas doesn’t walk away. A week later, he is still there with them. The doors are shut again. And again, Jesus comes and stands among them. “Peace be with you.”

Then Jesus turns, not to the group, but to Thomas. He knows exactly what Thomas said. And he does not scold him. He offers him exactly what he asked for. “Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.” John doesn’t tell us whether Thomas actually reached out and touched him. Maybe he didn’t need to. What John does tell us is what Thomas said. Five words. “My Lord and my God!”

And Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” Think about who he means. Everyone who would come after that room. People who would hear about Jesus from someone else, years later, in other cities, in other languages. Which includes you, listening to this right now. Thomas needed to see. Jesus says there is a special blessing for those who trust without seeing.

John tells us that Thomas was called Didymus, which is Greek for twin. The name Thomas itself comes from the Aramaic word for twin. We never learn who his twin was. And Thomas has a bolder side too. Earlier in John’s Gospel, when Jesus decided to go back to Judea, where people had tried to stone him, it was Thomas who said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” The man the world calls a doubter was also brave and fiercely loyal.

Thomas Sees and Believes. You’ll find it in John chapter 20, verses 24 to 29. Thomas brought his doubts out into the open, and Jesus came back for him. His honest questions ended in the boldest words in the whole Gospel: my Lord and my God. So here’s the question to carry with you. What questions could you bring honestly to Jesus, instead of hiding them?