If we go back in John 11 we find Jesus talking about going to Judea because his friend Lazarus was sick. The problem with going to Judea, however, was that in Judea Jesus was a wanted man. It was just few weeks before this when Jesus was in Judea and the people tried to stone him and so the disciples remind Jesus that going back there right now would be dangerous, but Jesus was determined to go., and so after the decision was made it was Thomas who finally said to the rest of the disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. Thomas was bold in his desire to follow Jesus even to the death, but later when the opportunity finally came for Thomas to stand with Jesus during a dangerous time, Thomas ran. He failed and I wonder if the reality of his failure filled him with so much shame and doubt about himself and Jesus that he just couldn’t be around his friends.
There are many times in life when we are filled with doubts not just about God but about our ourselves as well and at those times it can be hard to be around others and our first instinct might be to run, but one of the things we learn from Thomas is that when doubts come where we need to be the most is among God’s people. Think about it, if Thomas had stayed with his friends in those days after the crucifixion he would have been there when the risen Jesus appeared. If Thomas had stayed with the people of God through his doubts and fears he would have been blessed by seeing Jesus and he would have found answers to his questions, forgiveness for his failures and hope for his heart and life. If I could say one thing to those who have been confirmed today it is this – there will be times when questions, doubts, fears and failures may cause you to want to run away from God and the church, but don’t run because I can tell you confidently that you will be blessed and you will find answers if you stay connected.
At some point Thomas returns to be with his friends and when he arrives and hears from the disciples that Jesus is alive his doubts just persist, he simply can’t believe that Jesus is alive because he had seen with his own eyes Jesus crucified, dead and buried. In fact Thomas’ vision of a dead Jesus is so strong that he will not be able to believe that Jesus is alive unless he can see with his own eyes. Thomas was going to need to see the pierced hands and side of Jesus in order to believe. Now what I love about this story is that while Thomas had all these doubts and questions and while he was stubborn in his lack of belief and faith, he didn’t leave his friends during that week and the disciples didn’t ask him to leave either and what this tells us is that it’s ok to have doubts and questions and it’s good to share them with one another.
Think about what that week must have been like with Thomas and the disciples all together? Peter, Andrew, James and John had all seen Jesus so they try to convince Thomas that he is really alive and yet Thomas holds firmly to his conviction that Jesus is dead. I can only imagine the passionate debate that must have taken place that week and yet that debate didn’t drive the disciples apart – it brought them together and our questions need to bring us together. The truth is that we all have questions and doubts about our faith.
Is Jesus really God? Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Is Christianity true? Is it the only true religion?
Is everything in the Bible true and do I have to follow it all?
Does God really care about me?
Can God forgive me for all the sins I have committed?
Do any of those questions sound familiar to you? While most of these questions were raised from our confirmation class, I was struck by how they also could have been asked by Thomas. Did Jesus really rise from the dead? I think that was the very question that Thomas and the disciples argued about for the week in-between Jesus’ visits. Does God really care about me? Can’t you imagine Thomas asking that? If Jesus cares about me then why did he show up when I wasn’t around? Why didn’t he come back again on Monday or Tuesday? Since Jesus didn’t appear to Thomas did that mean that Thomas wasn’t forgiven? Will God forgive him? Will God forgive us? These are our questions and they can’t drive us away from God and the church, they need to bring us together. What this story shows us that it is ok to have doubts and to ask questions because these doubts and questions can lead us to a deeper faith – isn’t that what happened to Thomas? Doesn’t he emerge at the end with a stronger faith and trust in Jesus because he kept looking for answers?
As we have already seen, one reason Thomas’ faith got stronger through his doubts was because once he returned to be with the disciples, he didn’t run away again and because he stayed with the disciples, he got to see Jesus. So instead of running from God when we have doubts and questions we need to turn to God and ask for his assurance and answers. Instead of running from the church and God’s people we need to run here and share our questions with others and together to look to Jesus for answers.
A second truth we find here is that when we look to Jesus – he will give us answers, that what this story is all about. Thomas said he needed to be able to see Jesus in order to believe and instead of cursing Thomas for his lack of faith – Jesus appeared and showed Thomas his hands and side. What an act of love and grace by Jesus. In the midst of all Thomas’ questions and his persistent doubt - Jesus shows up and gives Thomas the proof he needs to believe. Jesus comes with patience and understanding and gives Thomas what he needs to believe and God continues to give us what we need to believe. There is no doubt God can not speak to and no question God can not answer; on the contrary if we are honest with our questions and want to find answers - God will provide them, that is what we hear from in Jeremiah 29:12-14.
Not only will God give us answer but as we see with Thomas and hear from Jeremiah, God will reveal himself to us. God shows himself to us in ways that give power to our faith and passion to our lives. Jesus appeared to Thomas and it was the ability to see Jesus that changed Thomas forever. There was power in the vision of the risen Jesus that moved Thomas away from doubt and gave fuel and fire to his life. We believe that after seeing the resurrected Jesus, Thomas travelled east to what is now India to tell people about the risen Jesus. The power of seeing Jesus alive moved Thomas so much that he went to the ends of the earth and told people about the power of life over death and he shared his own story of failure and how there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ. There was power for Thomas when he saw Jesus and I believe that power can be ours because we can still Jesus.
We won’t see Jesus standing in front of us with his nail scarred hands, but we can still see him if we won’t run away and won’t give up and will open our eyes. We can see Jesus in God’s word because Jesus is the word of God, the word of God made flesh. We can see Jesus when we look in our own hearts and lives because the Bible says, Christ is in us. When we look deep in our hearts and find hope and grace and strength and peace we are seeing Jesus. We can also see Jesus in others. We can see Jesus in the love and grace of our families, in the compassion of our friends and the support of a church and community. We can see Jesus in those in need around us because Jesus said that whenever we serve the least of those among us we are serving him, so Jesus is in the poor and the needy and if we will open our eyes and the eyes of our heart we will also see Jesus in those we may not even like or love right now. Jesus is in our enemies and if we are willing to open our eyes and look for Christ in them, we will see him and the power of that vision will change our attitudes and our actions.
The story of Thomas tells us there is power in a vision of Jesus and we can have that power today because like Thomas we can see Jesus. Through the eyes of faith and a heart of love we can see the risen Jesus and when we see him we will receive the power and the grace to live a passionate and purpose filled life. So when doubts come, and doubts and questions will come, don’t run away from God and don’t run away from the church – run to God, run right here; and as we see Jesus, may the power of that vision fill us.
