For many years, I have railed that the apostle Thomas gets a raw deal. In John 20:24-29, we get the story where Thomas expresses doubt in the resurrection of Jesus, claiming “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.” For this story he has earned the moniker "Doubting Thomas."
I don't know about you, but watching people rise from the dead doesn't happen to me very frequently. I would doubt anybody claiming a resurrection, and I would say the laws of nature would make me reasonable to do so. The other disciples had the luxury of having already seen the resurrected Jesus, and yet...
From Luke 24:
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
From Matthew 28:
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
It sounds an awful lot to me like we had many apostles who had their doubts well after seeing Jesus in the flesh. Thomas believed as soon as Jesus appeared to him and showed him his wounds. Other disciples seemed to doubt well past that. But poor Thomas got an entry explicitly describing his doubt, so he gets to be remembered more for doubting than for his bringing the gospel to India.
Modern Christian culture (especially in the more conservative traditions) seems to recoil from doubt and claim lack of faith as a character flaw. However, if even the people who witnessed the events firsthand couldn't believe it, why shouldn't we have issues? Doubt is reasonable and it is certainly not disqualifying for belonging to Christ.
I know that every rational thought in my head scoffs at the idea of the resurrection. The brilliant Rachel Held Evans wrote a poem on her blog called Holy Week for Doubters which expresses the idea “What if we made this up because we’re afraid of death?” She also frequently said that the story of Jesus is one she was willing to risk being wrong about. It's a pretty unbelievable story.
How does Jesus respond to Thomas? He appears and shows him the holes in his hands and sides. How does he respond to the doubting disciples in Luke 24? He asks for some food. How does he respond to the doubting disciples in Matthew 28?
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Yes, he wants us to believe, but Jesus doesn't appear to be particularly bothered by doubt. His response to doubt is to tell the world about him. That sounds like a vote of confidence to me.
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