John 20:24-29
My Lord and My God: Honest Doubt Meets an Invitation – John 20:24-29
John 20:24-29 (NIVUK)
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, '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.' 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' 27 Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.' 28 Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!' 29 Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'
Commentary
Revd. Paul Cowley MBE: You know, Thomas isn’t there when this event happens. And when the others tell him about it and say, we’ve seen the Lord, he says what many of us might think but don’t really say — he wants more. He says, unless I see, unless I touch, I’m not going to believe any of this. Unless Jesus appears in my bedroom, or in the kitchen, or on the ski slope, I’m not going to believe any of it. And that’s Thomas. Again, that’s an analogy for a lot of us. Thomas gets labelled as the doubter, but I think he’s something else. I think he’s really honest. I think a lot of us are Thomases. He refuses second-hand faith, just because someone has told him what’s happened and it’s a story. No, not really — I want to see. He wants something real. So he has these discussions with these disciples, and then a week later, Jesus hears everything, and Jesus turns up again. Same room, same disciples, same meeting. And those same words — peace be with you. And then I wonder what Thomas was thinking when Jesus appeared in the room there. And then Jesus turns to look at him and catches his eye, and he says, Thomas, come over here a minute. Look at the holes. Put your finger in the hole. Put your finger in my side. Believe, Thomas. Not much of a rebuke there. No disappointment in Thomas. Just an invitation. And Thomas responds, my Lord and my God — which again tells us something. Jesus is not put off by our questions, or by our doubts, or our fears. He meets us in the middle of that struggle, when we’re hesitant and we’re not quite sure about this stuff. Not where we pretend to be strong, but where we are actually unsure, where we are fearful. He’s there right in the middle of it, walking alongside — as the scriptures say, I will never leave you nor forsake you, even until the end of time.