Thomas was
one of Jesus’ apostles. You likely know
him better by his nickname, “Doubting Thomas”.
What he doubted was the resurrection.
When the others told him that they had seen the risen Jesus, he said, “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” (John 20:25).
That is a
strange reaction when you consider all the things that Thomas had
witnessed. He heard Jesus’
teaching. He saw the miracles. He witnessed dead people (such as Lazarus)
being brought back to life. He was there
when Jesus walked on the water. He was
there when Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He saw the arrest, trial and crucifixion as
well as the darkened sky and the earthquake that was associated with those
events. He would have heard about how
the temple curtain had been torn in half at Jesus’ death (Mark 15:38). He spent almost three years in Jesus’
presence and saw him do many marvelous things and yet he doubted the
resurrection.
Here is the
danger when it comes to spiritual things: it is easy to believe only the things
that make sense to us. For example, churches
today focus on Jesus’ teaching because it seems logical. “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Luke
10:27) or “Turn the other cheek” (Luke 6:29) may be hard to do, but at least
you can understand why that would work. Even
the cross makes sense when you think about it.
A good man is killed by corrupt leaders who want to protect their own
positions of power. That sort of things
still happens in some parts of the world today.
Interestingly,
though, the early church did not focus on what Jesus taught. It did not even focus primarily on the
cross. The resurrection was the focus of
every sermon in the book of Acts. In fact,
in that book, the cross is never mentioned without also mentioning the empty
tomb. The resurrection was the point.
Thomas’
problem was not that he did not believe anything. His problem seemed to be that he would not believe
something that he could not see or understand.
The danger for the church is any age is that we will get caught up in
teaching only the things that make sense to us.
Therefore,
just like Thomas, we have to come to believe the unbelievable, because that is where
we will find God at work.
Comments