“There is more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.”
So wrote Alfred Lord Tennison. And I suspect that the Thomas of the Gospels would offer a hearty “Amen!” to that. For he has gone down in history with the less than complimentary label of “Doubting Thomas.”
Certainly from his three appearances in the Gospels, all of them in John’s Gospel, Thomas comes over as a man with a half empty glass rather than a half full one. His faith was not an easy faith but a faith which was hard won.
Let’s just for a moment touch the other episodes in the life of Thomas that are recorded for us.
The first is in the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel. Here we find Thomas prepared to be faithful even at great cost. Jesus has gone into Jordan to escape the hostility of the Temple leaders. Now came bad news. His friend Lazarus was sick. Soon the news got worse. Lazarus was dead. Jesus decided to go to Lazarus’ home in Bethany near Jerusalem. Not surprisingly the disciples were hesitant. That is all except for Thomas who seeing the danger of such a visit, turns to the other disciples and says. “ Let us also go so that we can die with him.” Words of a man, devoted to Jesus to such an extent that he was prepared to sacrifice his life for Jesus.
The second occasion in which we meet Thomas is at the Passover meal. Jesus is talking of going to the Father to prepare a place for all of his followers. I cannot believe that the disciples were not perplexed at what they were hearing yet none of them said a word. Perhaps they didn’t want to seem foolish. All silent except for one who is not prepared to listen without comprehending. Thomas blurts out his question;
“Lord we do not know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”
Out of this comes Jesus’ powerful answer;
“I am the way and the truth and the life.”
Thomas, the man who is not prepared to settle for an unquestioning approach, draws a valuable nugget out of Jesus. And today, we need to appreciate the value of questioning. For God does not call us to be gullible but to be a people who are prepared to explore our faith. The places where people are not encouraged to question, are the places in which people are often controlled in a malign manner, the places where the faith espoused is one in which we are denied the possibility to grow up. And if we are denied the opportunity to grow up in our faith, then we are a people who can easily be blown in all manner of directions by deceptive teaching, a people denied a faith that can withstand the times of challenge.
The third appearance of Thomas is in today’s Gospel reading. The other disciples had met the Risen Christ on Easter Day. They had heard from the women of the Risen Christ but they had hardly been easy believers themselves. Their fear was such that the doors were locked but now Jesus was amongst them. Through their experience, they believed. And they talked about it to Thomas who has been missing from their number that day. Thomas found it hard to believe. He had been devastated by what had happened. His world had been destroyed on Good Friday and he felt that it could never be good again. He wanted to believe the good news but just couldn’t . He was like many who having been propelled into the valley of despair find it hard to hear the words that offer hope. And so Thomas spoke of needing to see and feel the marks of the cross.
Well, we don’t know whether he touched the body of Christ. Certainly Jesus offered him the possibility to do so. All we know is that Thomas is response to the invitation of Christ brings the Gospel of John to what surely is its climactic moment when he utters the ultimate profession of faith;
“My Lord and my God!”
The difficult, questioning Thomas had been the first to see the significance of Christ. Oh Yes, Peter at Caesarea Philippi had recognised that Jesus was the Messaiah, the Annointed One but Thomas lifts that understanding to a whole new plain. For Thomas sees the wonder of Divinity in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the pointer to the Council of Nicaea some three centuries later when the Church will conclude that Jesus is truly Man and truly God!
And what of Thomas thereafter? Tradition tells us that about the year 50 he arrived in India where he founded at least seven ancient churches in the Malabar region before his martyrdom. Certainly, when missionaries from Europe made their way to India in 1289, to their amazement in Madras they found a church already existing which called itself the “Thomas Christians.”
Thomas and the other followers of Christ each experienced a transformation in their vision from a Good Friday world at an Easter Day world. From the pits of raw despair, they now experienced an unspeakable joy. But Easter is not just about our feelings. As Thomas went to India, we are each called to be on a journey of service to the Risen Christ. We are called into a world where the only thing we have to offer is the abundant grace of God as made known in Christ Jesus. Whilst we so easily harbour grudges and struggle with our emotions, Christ’s forgiveness and acceptance is for all.
But on our journey of discipleship, we have markers. The example of Thomas is such a marker pointing the value of devotion, commitment and honest questioning. For surely;
“There is more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.!”
Believe me, than in half the creeds.”
So wrote Alfred Lord Tennison. And I suspect that the Thomas of the Gospels would offer a hearty “Amen!” to that. For he has gone down in history with the less than complimentary label of “Doubting Thomas.”
Certainly from his three appearances in the Gospels, all of them in John’s Gospel, Thomas comes over as a man with a half empty glass rather than a half full one. His faith was not an easy faith but a faith which was hard won.
Let’s just for a moment touch the other episodes in the life of Thomas that are recorded for us.
The first is in the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel. Here we find Thomas prepared to be faithful even at great cost. Jesus has gone into Jordan to escape the hostility of the Temple leaders. Now came bad news. His friend Lazarus was sick. Soon the news got worse. Lazarus was dead. Jesus decided to go to Lazarus’ home in Bethany near Jerusalem. Not surprisingly the disciples were hesitant. That is all except for Thomas who seeing the danger of such a visit, turns to the other disciples and says. “ Let us also go so that we can die with him.” Words of a man, devoted to Jesus to such an extent that he was prepared to sacrifice his life for Jesus.
The second occasion in which we meet Thomas is at the Passover meal. Jesus is talking of going to the Father to prepare a place for all of his followers. I cannot believe that the disciples were not perplexed at what they were hearing yet none of them said a word. Perhaps they didn’t want to seem foolish. All silent except for one who is not prepared to listen without comprehending. Thomas blurts out his question;
“Lord we do not know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”
Out of this comes Jesus’ powerful answer;
“I am the way and the truth and the life.”
Thomas, the man who is not prepared to settle for an unquestioning approach, draws a valuable nugget out of Jesus. And today, we need to appreciate the value of questioning. For God does not call us to be gullible but to be a people who are prepared to explore our faith. The places where people are not encouraged to question, are the places in which people are often controlled in a malign manner, the places where the faith espoused is one in which we are denied the possibility to grow up. And if we are denied the opportunity to grow up in our faith, then we are a people who can easily be blown in all manner of directions by deceptive teaching, a people denied a faith that can withstand the times of challenge.
The third appearance of Thomas is in today’s Gospel reading. The other disciples had met the Risen Christ on Easter Day. They had heard from the women of the Risen Christ but they had hardly been easy believers themselves. Their fear was such that the doors were locked but now Jesus was amongst them. Through their experience, they believed. And they talked about it to Thomas who has been missing from their number that day. Thomas found it hard to believe. He had been devastated by what had happened. His world had been destroyed on Good Friday and he felt that it could never be good again. He wanted to believe the good news but just couldn’t . He was like many who having been propelled into the valley of despair find it hard to hear the words that offer hope. And so Thomas spoke of needing to see and feel the marks of the cross.
Well, we don’t know whether he touched the body of Christ. Certainly Jesus offered him the possibility to do so. All we know is that Thomas is response to the invitation of Christ brings the Gospel of John to what surely is its climactic moment when he utters the ultimate profession of faith;
“My Lord and my God!”
The difficult, questioning Thomas had been the first to see the significance of Christ. Oh Yes, Peter at Caesarea Philippi had recognised that Jesus was the Messaiah, the Annointed One but Thomas lifts that understanding to a whole new plain. For Thomas sees the wonder of Divinity in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the pointer to the Council of Nicaea some three centuries later when the Church will conclude that Jesus is truly Man and truly God!
And what of Thomas thereafter? Tradition tells us that about the year 50 he arrived in India where he founded at least seven ancient churches in the Malabar region before his martyrdom. Certainly, when missionaries from Europe made their way to India in 1289, to their amazement in Madras they found a church already existing which called itself the “Thomas Christians.”
Thomas and the other followers of Christ each experienced a transformation in their vision from a Good Friday world at an Easter Day world. From the pits of raw despair, they now experienced an unspeakable joy. But Easter is not just about our feelings. As Thomas went to India, we are each called to be on a journey of service to the Risen Christ. We are called into a world where the only thing we have to offer is the abundant grace of God as made known in Christ Jesus. Whilst we so easily harbour grudges and struggle with our emotions, Christ’s forgiveness and acceptance is for all.
But on our journey of discipleship, we have markers. The example of Thomas is such a marker pointing the value of devotion, commitment and honest questioning. For surely;
“There is more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.!”
posted by Rev Paul Martin at 8:51 AM
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