So what was the trouble with Thomas?
His doubts have echoed through history. We often assume that he was just a tough guy who had trouble trusting. But it would help you and me in our own doubts if we could understand more about this man who wouldn’t believe the resurrection.
Doubting Thomas.
First, who was he? The Aramaic name Te'oma (Thomas) meant twin, and he was also called Didymus, which meant the same thing in Greek, twin. So he probably was an actual twin.
What else?
Well, he might have been a bit glum. For instance, he gave a practical but gloomy response when Jesus’ wanted to go back to Judea after Lazarus died. None of the disciples wanted to return because they knew the Jewish leaders had tried to stone Jesus there (John 10:24-30). Jesus gave them some high-minded talk about what the disciples might learn by going, but Thomas ignored these reasons and said to the others, “Alright, let us also go die with him.” A dour and cynical statement (John 11:16).*
Here Thomas reminds me a bit of Joe Btfsplk, the famous Al Capp cartoon character who walked around with a perpetually dark rain cloud over his head!
Just before the passion Jesus had said, “Where I am going you know the way.” This was a spiritual statement about going to the Father, but Thomas took it literally. “Master, we do not [even] know where you are going; how can we know the way?” (John 14:3-6). Again, a very matter-of-fact question, but with an emotional backdrop. “You haven’t even told us anything! Are you going to leave us like this?”
Thomas loved Jesus doggedly but moped about the dangerous situations Jesus was always walking right into. Thomas' practical nature looked frankly at these and drew out the pessimistic conclusion. He had twin emotions, as his name implies. Love and loss.
Is it any wonder, then, that in this Sunday’s Gospel Thomas laid down his requirements for believing in the resurrection? His worst misgivings had come true on the cross: Jesus actually was killed. To deal with his sorrow Thomas resolved to accept the death stolidly, no matter what it felt like. He would never slip and talk about his departed friend in the present tense, as people sometimes do when a beloved friend has died. Thomas the pragmatic knew that beloved Jesus was dead and gone.
Suddenly the apostles reversed the field.
“Didymus, Jesus is alive! When the doors were
locked, suddenly he stood there among us!
He talked to us!"
NO. NO. Thomas’ heart could not accept it. Too much was at stake.
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.
This is exactly in character for Thomas/Didymus. The tough words are really a protection for a heart that would break in half if given still another false hope. “The only way I would believe such nonsense is if you give me very practical proof.”
Jesus gave it. Fingers in nail marks. Hand into side.
In spite of his cynicism, Thomas had always belonged to Jesus. When he got the practical proof he needed, he sank to the ground.
“My Lord and my God.”
What a great story for Eastertide.
