by Christine Berta

Name Syriac, meaning "Twin" (Twin/Thomas also known as Didymus in Greek and Jumeau in French); Apostle of India; Doubting Thomas
Birth Unknown
Death Stabbed with a spear c.72 in India
Feast Day – July 3rd
Patron Saint of the blind (due to occasional spiritual blindness); Craftsmen (e.g., architects, carpenters & masons); Geometricians; and Theologians

Little is recorded of St. Thomas the Apostle. Thomas was probably born in Galilee to a humble family, but there is no indication that he was a fisherman. He was a Jew, but there is no account of how he became an apostle to Christ. Nevertheless, thanks to the fourth Gospel his personality is clearer to us than some of the other Twelve. Thomas' name occurs in Matthew (10:3), Mark (3:18), Luke (6) and Acts of the Apostles (1:13), but in the Gospel of John he plays a particularly distinctive part. Thomas is often condemned for his lack of belief, but Thomas was equally courageous, willing to stand by Jesus in dangerous times. He also relentlessly sought the Truth. Like an inquisitive child, he constantly asked questions. And, his wonderful profession, "My Lord and my God," is the clearest declaration of Jesus' divinity in Holy Scripture.

Thomas, Loyal Follower

When Jesus announced His intention of visiting the recently deceased Lazarus in Judea - a few miles from Jerusalem and dangerously close for someone as unpopular as He - Thomas said to his fellow disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). When the worried disciples wanted to keep Jesus from going for fear He would be stoned, Thomas, in a moment of bravery not often expressed by the Apostles before Pentecost, rallied the others to stay by their Master come what may.

Thomas, Inquisitive Student

Later, in John 14:1-5 it was St. Thomas who raised an objection prior to the Last Supper:

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going."

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?"

With the keenness typical of the Twelve, Thomas misunderstands Jesus' reference to His death and resurrection. Thomas' question provides Jesus an opportunity to teach one of the most profound and difficult truths of His ministry. Jesus said to Thomas: (John 14:6) "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Thomas, Doubting Apostle

Lastly, and more famously, St. Thomas is remembered for being absent from the Upper Room the first time Jesus appeared to the disciples after His Resurrection. Thomas dismissed the accounts of the others by saying, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nail marks, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe"(Luke 20:25). Eight days later Thomas made his act of faith. He fell at the feet of Jesus and said, "My Lord and my God!" and Jesus replied, "Because you have seen me, Thomas, you believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believe" (John 20:25-29). This incident gave rise to the expression "doubting Thomas."

Thomas, Reluctant Missionary

Accounts of Thomas' missionary activities are unreliable, but the most widely accepted report holds that he preached in India, although he was reluctant to start the mission. According to the Acta Thomae, the apostles divided up the world for their missionary labors, and India fell to Thomas. However, Thomas claimed that he was not healthy enough and that a Hebrew could not teach Indians; even a vision of Christ could not change his mind. Christ then appeared to a merchant and sold Thomas to him as a slave for his master, a king who ruled over part of India. One story suggests that Thomas offered to build a palace for the Indian king that would last forever. The king gave him money, which Thomas gave to the poor. Asked to show his progress, St. Thomas explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth. Ultimately, after giving into God's will, Thomas was freed from slavery. He planted seeds for the new Church, forming many parishes and building many churches along the way.

To this day, Saint Thomas is venerated as the Apostle of India. In fact, there exists a population of Christians along the Malabar Coast, on the western coast of India, who lay claim to conversion by St. Thomas. Their tradition holds that he built seven churches, was martyred during prayer by a spearing on the "Big Hill" near Madras, and was buried in Mylapore, on the east coast of India. Ultimately, St. Thomas' remains were transported to Ortona, Italy, where they reside today.

Sources:

Catholic Encyclopedia, by Herbert Thurston;
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein

By Timothy Tennent

St. Thomas is commonly known in the church as "Doubting Thomas." Let me tell you the rest of the story. All of the Gospels record a final, Great Commission of Jesus to His disciples. In John's gospel he records those powerful words of Jesus to His disciples, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" (John 20:21).

However, John records that Thomas was not with them that evening (20:24). When Thomas heard about the appearance, he famously declared that unless he saw the nail-scarred hands of Jesus and put his finger into them and into His sword-pierced side, he would not believe (20:25). Because of this declaration, Thomas has become known as Doubting Thomas. It seems that the church has sometimes forgotten that one week later, when Thomas himself saw the risen Lord, he made the most powerful declaration of the deity of Christ found in any of the Gospels: "My Lord and my God!" (20:28).

Although there are important traditions surrounding the ministries of all the apostles, we will focus this highlight on the St. Thomas mission to India, which is one of the oldest and strongest traditions in church history. The earliest record of the mission of Thomas to India is found in an early manuscript known as the Acts of Thomas, which dates around the turn of the third century. This manuscript records a dramatic moment where the eleven apostles all gathered in Jerusalem and divided the known world into various regions. They then cast lots to determine where each of them would go. India fell to Thomas. According to the account, Thomas objected, saying that because of his "weakness of the flesh" he could not travel. However, Christ appeared to him in a vision and promised to be with him.

Thomas eventually traveled by ship to India along one of the well-established trade routes to India, arriving in AD 52. He preached the gospel in various locations in India and finally suffered martyrdom in India and was buried near modern day Chennai. Although the Acts of Thomas has problems, many historians accept the basic historical nucleus of the account. The Western tradition has a number of corroborating references, and there is also archaeological evidence from India, as well as an independent Indian tradition that chronicles precise numbers of people healed from various diseases and maladies and detailed accounts of those who were converted, including what caste they were from. These sources also give a rich description of the circumstances around the martyrdom of Thomas.

The specific details of these traditional accounts are not nearly as important as the core historical claim that, even if we cannot speak with certainty regarding any of the details, St. Thomas brought the gospel to India in the first century.

This vignette from mission history is important for our study for three reasons.

First, the Thomas tradition highlights the multi-directional mission of the early church. This tradition represents the oldest documented account of the church in Asia beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Paul's missionary journeys, as recorded in Acts, detail the movement of the gospel further into the West. There is no parallel account to the book of Acts that tells the story of the gospel's advance into the East. Therefore, very few Christians who read the book of Acts realize that at about the same time that Acts 19 records the apostle Paul preaching in Ephesus, the apostle Thomas is preaching the gospel in India. The book of Acts is not intended to give us a comprehensive picture of the entire early Gentile mission, but rather highlights the spread of the gospel to the seat of the Roman Empire. It is important for you to realize that, from the beginning, the spread of the gospel was multi-directional.

Second, the tradition of Thomas also underscores the importance of recognizing the multiple layers of Christian tradition that are often present in Asian Christianity. The apostolic tradition of Thomas is but the first of a series of initiatives into India. The apostolic tradition of Thomas is followed by the arrival of Syriac Christians bringing an Eastern liturgy in the fourth century. This is followed years later by major Roman Catholic initiatives beginning with the arrival of Francis Xavier in 1542. Later, India receives Protestant missionaries with the arrival of the Lutheran missionaries Ziegenbalg and Plütschau in 1706. These are all examples of distinct traditions, all of which coexist in India until the present day. Diverse expressions of Christianity arrived at different times in different parts of India, and they all interacted in various ways, not only with the Hindu traditions, but also with the various Christian traditions as well.

Third, the presence of Christianity in ancient India also highlights the difficulties in speaking without qualification of Hinduism as the "indigenous" religion of India. Some accounts of Christianity in India leave the impression that Christianity in India is a movement that coincides with the British colonial presence in India. It should be remembered, however, that the early religious forms of what is today known as Hinduism came from migrating Aryans who originated outside of India. There are many people groups in India who were Christians for centuries before the British presence in India.

In conclusion, the Thomas tradition reminds us that although the apostle Thomas may have come to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ a week after the other apostles, he went on to become one of the greatest cross-cultural missionaries of the first century. We should not keep calling him Doubting Thomas. Instead, we should call him "Believing Thomas" because he not only gives us the most explicit declaration of the deity of Christ in the Gospels ("My Lord, and my God!"), but he ends up bringing the gospel farther than any of the other apostles and even gave his life as an early Christian martyr. What a great story! If you have had a difficult chapter in your life, as Thomas did, don't stop believing that God still has a wonderful plan for your life!

About The Author:

Timothy C. Tennent is the President of Asbury Theological Seminary and a Professor of Global Christianity. His works include 'Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century' and 'Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology'. He blogs at timothytennent.com.

"Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
- John 11:16

Tonight we are going to examine Thomas, possibly the most maligned of all the Apostles. When I said that we are going to look at the apostle Thomas, what word immediately came to mind? "Doubting Thomas" right? The question is "Does he really deserve that as a lingering description of his life?" `

As to the person of Thomas, the bible narrative gives us very little. We know that Thomas was a Jew and in all probability was a Galilean. It is quite probable that Thomas, like at least three other of the disciples, was a fisherman by trade.

The first mention of Thomas by name was when the Lord chose the twelve and sent them out in pairs. In the listing of the apostles the names appear in pairs, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, seem to show how each man was drawn to a kindred spirit. If we look at the list we will find that Thomas is always paired with Matthew.

His name Thomas and the other name that he was known by "Didymus" both mean twin. (John 11:6) It has been suggested by some that his real name was Judah and his nickname "Twin" was used to distinguish him from the other two disciples named Judah (Judah the brother of James and Judas Iscariot). [Lockyer p. 175]

Thomas was a twin and that is as much as we known. We do not know whether he had a twin sister or a twin brother and we do not know their name. There has been a lot of surmising as to who his twin might have been. Some suggest that Matthew was his twin because they were always named together. The more far fetched maintain that he was the twin brother of Jesus. [Lockyer. p. 175]

Although it probably is unfair to remember Thomas only as a doubter it is fair to say that scripture portrays him as a person with a melancholy temperament. Thomas finds it easy to see the dark side of things. Thomas could find the dark lining of every silver cloud. Thomas would have probably been a proponent of "Murphy's Law" which says in part, "When things are going well, something will go wrong. When things just can't get any worse, they will. Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something."

Thomas may have indeed had a personality that was geared toward melancholy but he was a believer just as the same. He was a man who we will see had to struggle against his doubts but a man who was ready to abandon his doubts at every opportunity. If we turn to the gospel of John we find three sketches that reveal what Thomas was like. The first sketch we will refer to as The Bethany Incident found in John 11:16

"Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Thomas did seem to always anticipate the worse in any given situation. In the first incident recorded here in John 11 Jesus has just notified of the illness of Lazarus and been begged by the family to come immediately to his aid. The disciples are not at all enthusiastic about going to Lazarus' home in Bethany. Bethany is just outside Jerusalem and they remind Jesus that the last time he was in Jerusalem they had tried to stone him (v. 8).

The disciples plainly did not understand the urgency until Jesus explained that Lazarus was dead. Now they understood that he had to get back. He was determined to do so and there would be no talking him out of it. It was at this point that Thomas spoke up and said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." (v. 16). Thomas in a fatalistic way views the only possible outcome that he could see, "we are all going to die." But if the Lord was determined to go, Thomas is grimly determined to go with him. You have to admire his courage.

How different he is from Peter who had bragged "Lord I am ready to go with you into prison and to death." (Luke 22:31). But these proved to be words that Peter could not back up with action. Thomas however backed his words with action, as he went with Jesus to what he expected to be certain death.

Perhaps rather than his moment of doubt we should remember Thomas' complete devotion to Jesus. It is quite possible that he is an equal to the apostle John in this regard. From our study last time we would have to say that John was always near Jesus. But Thomas literally did not want to live without him.

The second sketch that reveals the character of Thomas we can refer to as The Upper Room Incident and it is found in John 14:1-6.

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
(2) "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (4) "And where I go you know, and the way you know."
(5) Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
(6) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus is trying to prepare the hearts of his disciples for his imminent death and departure from this earth. This was a sober occasion as any time it is necessary to discuss death with the living. I told you a few weeks ago, Debbie had the occasion to discuss with Barbara Philips her approaching death and the arrangements for her funeral. I found that an very uncomfortable thing to discuss, although to be fair, Barbara herself was not a bit uncomfortable. It is that kind of an evening for the disciples. The shadow of his departure weighed heavily on the disciples. Jesus sought to alleviate this by telling them of the joys of heaven and the place he is going to prepare for them. He tells them that knew that place that he was going to and the way to reach it. It was at this point that Thomas broke into the conversation to say, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" (v. 5). It would seem Thomas did not hear what Jesus had to say about the mansions in glory did not, all his mind could comprehend was that Jesus was going to leave them. We have Thomas to thank for the revelation of verse six, Jesus said,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

As As one commentary says it was because of Thomas' question that we have in capsule form

"all that we need to know, to believe, to love, to follow. Jesus is all we need, now and for eternity. We can never have more than He is; we must never be satisfied with less."
[Herbert Lockyer. All the Apostles of the Bible. (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1972) p. 179]

The third and final sketch that reveals the character of Thomas is The Post-Resurrection Incident and it is found in - John 20:24-29.

"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. (25) The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord."
So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

On the very day of the resurrection, the risen Lord made his way to the house where his distressed disciples had gathered and provided them with evidence of and assurance that he had indeed arisen.

Unfortunately for Thomas he was not present for this visit. Thomas missed the entire thing. Why wasn't he there? Well we don't really know, but we can surmise from what we know of his personality that perhaps he wanted to get away to be alone with his grief. Not every one deals with grief in the same way.

When he showed up where the disciples were gathered they said to him,
"We have seen the Lord." (v.25)

His response to this was to say,
"Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

It was for this statement he would forever be known as "doubting Thomas." But in all fairness he is only asking for what the other disciples had received. In John 20:20 we are told that when Jesus had shown up in the room where the disciples are gathered, "He showed them his hands and his side." It was then that they had believed.

What we need to understand about Doubt!

First, Doubt is not the opposite of faith.

The opposite of faith is unbelief and that is an extremely important distinction to make. In fact you can have an extremely strong faith and still have some doubts. Flannery O'Conner once said, "Doubt always co-exists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all."

In Mark chapter nine a man whose son was demon possessed came to Jesus to have him healed. He asked the Lord, "Lord if you can do anything, have mercy on us and help us." (v 22) Jesus responded by saying, "If you can believe all things are possible to him who believes" (v23). The fathers response to Jesus was a classic, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (v.24). He had faith and doubt at the same time. So doubt is not the opposite of faith.

Secondly Doubt is not Unforgiveable.

God does not condemn us when we have honest questions. Do you remember that when John the Baptist was in prison, the man who exclaimed that Jesus was the Lamb of God, began to have doubts about who Jesus was. (Matt 11:1-6). Jesus did not criticize John or berate him for his lack of faith, he simply reminded John of scripture, and how he (Jesus) fulfilled those scriptures.

This demonstrates that when we have doubts and take them to God we can be assured that he will not condemn us. He will lovingly help us to find the answer to our questions so that we can leave our doubts behind.

While not altogether convinced of the truth of the resurrection by the testimony of the other disciples he was present eight days later when Jesus reappeared (John 20:26).

"And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"
(27) Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

In verse twenty-seven Jesus said to Thomas, "Be not unbelieving but believing" which carries the idea of "become not unbelieving but believing." The implication is that we can cultivate the habit of either belief or unbelief in our lives.

The rebound of Thomas' faith was both dramatic and magnificent; Thomas makes probably the grandest statement concerning Jesus to come from the lips of an apostle. In verse twenty-eight Thomas says, "My Lord and my God!" He is the only person in the New Testament to address our Lord as God! Perhaps it is this he should be remembered for and not his temporary doubt.

In response to Thomas' confession of faith Jesus said in verse twenty-nine, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

There is a considerable amount of ancient (though non-biblical) testimony that suggests that Thomas carried the gospel as far as in India. The strongest traditions say that he was martyred fro his faith by being run through with a spear and that he is buried on a hill near Madras, India.

Application

I want to conclude by considering two things about How we can win over doubt in our lives.

First, see if you can find the root of your doubt.

Sometimes it is false understanding of who God is and what God does that is the cause of the problem. If we believe that being a Christian is a guarantee of health and prosperity we are going to question our faith when sickness comes or our finances are lacking. If we think that being a Christian is a blanket protection from the troubles in life, we are going to begin to doubt when difficulties come into our lives. The problem with these kind of doubting is not God. It is our false understanding of what God's word says.

Some people have doubt because their faith is based on feeling not fact. But when the feelings fade they begin to doubt if their faith was real. The problem then is the misconception that faith is fundamentally a feeling and it is not, it is an act of our will.

Secondly when we are struggling with doubt, don't isolate yourself as Thomas did but ask others and God for Help.

Remember that when John the Baptist realized that doubt was creeping into his life, instead of denying it, or ignoring it, he faced it. He did a very simple thing; he went to Jesus and asked for help.

by Rev. Alex Stevenson, Aldersgate United Methodist Church

Gospel: John 20:19-29

Sometimes I think Thomas gets a bum rap. Everyone calls him "Doubting Thomas." But he only doubted for a week. I mean the man had a full life and yet he gets pegged for his behavior during one week. Sure, he started off doubting, but in the end he believed. When he saw Jesus he said, "My Lord and My God!" and he believed. So why don't we call him "Believing Thomas" He certainly seems to have done more believing than he ever did doubting.

And why is he the only disciple that is chosen as the poster child for doubting? After all they all doubted. Do you remember last Sunday's Sermon? All the men disciples doubted the story of the women. They called it the idol talk of women. Apparently it took seeing Jesus, wounds and all, for them to be convinced! The women were a little better. But even so they had to either see Jesus or an angel to be convinced to believe.

So why does Thomas get the moniker "Doubting" and not the others. Because he was not in the right place at the right time. Because he missed the first appearance. He might have missed the train the first time, but when Jesus came around again he was there. He saw Jesus for himself. He touched the wounds, and he believed.

And what is wrong with doubt anyway. Doubt is useful. If we didn't doubt we would believe everything we see. I don't know about you but as I have grown older I have learned to doubt everything I hear. Especially all the junk on the internet. If I get an email saying that such and such happened I check it out for myself because so often they are just hoaxes.

So doubt is useful. In fact it is necessary for survival. It helps protect us from believing things that are not true. It help keep us from trusting people we don't know who could be dangerous.

But doubt has a dark side. While it can keep us from believing things that are false, it can also keep us from believing that which is true. Doubt can keep people from believing in the power and grace of God. Doubt can keep them from trusting in God's saving grace. Doubt kept Thomas from believing in the resurrection. And it still keeps people today from believing.

Sometimes I think the disciples had an unfair advantage. I mean after all they had the physical bodily presence of the Lord to prove to them that the resurrection was true. Thomas said he would not believe until he had seen it for himself. A rather good idea when confronted with a story as amazing as a man rising from the dead. But he did see Jesus. He had the opportunity to see the living breathing body of the Lord. He had the opportunity to examine the physical evidence and to verify that indeed Jesus did have a pulse!

All the other disciples had that opportunity too. The Bible tells us that for 40 days Jesus appeared to them. Again and again they saw him. And it wasn't his ghost! He was living and breathing and could be touched and even ate and fixed them breakfast on at least one occasion.

But we don't have that advantage. All we have is the word of the church and the Bible and other believers. That was all Thomas had to begin with and he doubted. It is no wonder that so many people doubt the living presence of Jesus today. There are so many incredible stories floating around out there. There are alien abductions and UFO's and big foot and the Lock Ness monster and …. Why believe this amazing story over the others; most of them at least have some blurry video footage to go on.

And how do we, who do believe, convince others to believe? It was easy for the disciples to convince Thomas. They just waited around until Jesus showed up again. I can just imagine Peter pointing to Jesus and saying, "See Thomas, I told ya so." But what physical evidence do we have to point toward, to prove that Jesus is alive.

I think Jesus was aware of our dilemma. He said "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." (John 20:29) First of all, we may not have the living breathing body of Jesus to point to, but there is still evidence. One evidence of the truth of the resurrection is the living presence of Christ in us. Like the old hymn says, "You ask me how I know he lives; He lives with in my heart." We can't see, hear or touch the risen Christ but we can experience his life in our lives. We can feel his living presence. Wherever two or more are gathered in his name he is there. Just as Jesus was with the disciples in the upper room on that Sunday so long ago so he is with us here in this room by the presence of His Holy Spirit!

We also have the evidence of what he has done in the world. The changed lives of people show the presence of the risen Christ. If it were not true could the early church have had the power to withstand and even flourish in the midst of Roman oppression? Without the living presence of Jesus could St. Frances of Assisi have given all his wealth to the poor and devoted his life to Christ. Without the living presence of Christ could Mother Theresa have taken on the burden of ministering to the least of the least in India and leading a movement to do the same worldwide? Without the living presence of Christ could Martin Luther King, Jr. Bishop Desmond Tutu and countless others have stood up to oppression without violence?

We have not seen with our eyes, but we have seen with our hearts. We have seen the risen Christ in the changes in our lives and the lives of others. We have seen the Lord! We are blessed!

Volume 7 No 412 Apr 21, 2017

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