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Thomas: Doubter or Master of Faith?
He is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
This Sunday, the tone we experience from John 20:19-31 is vastly different from what we experienced on Easter. We, after 46 days of Lent, were able to say “Alleluia,” which means praise the Lord! We either shouted or sang “Alleluia” 71 times as we praised God for the resurrection of Jesus.
This coming Sunday, fear abounds as the disciples are locked away in the upper room, afraid of the Roman authority, but a skeptical Thomas comes along to say, “I won’t believe until I see the marks in his hands.”
Thomas has been given the name he never asked for: “Doubting Thomas.” It’s a label that has stuck for centuries, but it may be one of the most unfair reputations in all of Scripture. Thomas is not simply a doubter, but he may be one of the most honest, most faithful disciples we meet.
When the risen Jesus first appears to the disciples, Thomas isn’t there. When the other disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord,” Thomas cannot take their word for it. He doesn’t dismiss them, but he doesn’t pretend to believe something he has not experienced for himself.
We remember Thomas’ famous words, “Unless I see… unless I touch…” and from that, we gave him the name “Doubting Thomas.” When Jesus returns a week later, Thomas’ doubt is present.
What is striking is not Thomas’ doubt but Jesus’ response. There is no scolding. No rejection. No disappointment. Instead, Jesus meets Thomas exactly where he is. “Put your finger here… reach out your hand…”
Jesus does not shame Thomas’ questions. He honors them. And then Thomas responds with one of the clearest and most powerful confessions of faith in the entire Gospel: “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas names Jesus as Lord and God. Thomas’s is not the voice of a skeptic, but the voice of someone whose faith has moved through struggle into clarity. Thomas doesn’t offer a shallow belief. He offers a deep, hard-won confession. Maybe you have a similar experience?
Thomas should not be maligned for his doubt, but is the disciple who refused to settle for secondhand faith, and this matters for us today. We all have questions about God and suffering in our own lives.
Real faith doesn’t mean we don’t have any doubts. Faith and doubt are the sides of the same coin. Thomas reminds us that faith is not the absence of questions. Faith is what happens when we bring those questions honestly before God. The Psalms are full of faithful doubters who still cry out, Alleluia, praise the Lord. Our faith, like Thomas’, can come from encounters with God.
It’s time to let Thomas be known for more than his doubt, but his faith. It’s normal and healthy to have questions about faith, and they often are the doorway into it. The one who reminds us that Jesus meets us not when we have everything figured out, but right in the middle of our searching.
Jesus is the one who invites us, and when we are ready, we can make the same confession: “My Lord and my God.”
Join us for worship on Sunday at 10:30AM or on Facebook at Hopeclinton. We will continue to shout or sing “Alleluia!”
All are welcome!
Pastor Eric
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