THOMAS THE DISCIPLE – THE HIDDEN GEM OF THOUGHT
CHARACTERS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL – Message on Thomas
PART 1:
Not a great deal is known about the disciple Thomas. In Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6, and Acts 1 he is mentioned in the list of the disciples Jesus called. We do not know under what circumstances Jesus called him, and although he was not prominent among the disciples in the gospel record, during Jesus’ ministry, he is absolutely responsible for some of the most vital teaching of the New Testament as we will see shortly.
Nearly everyone knows the term “doubting Thomas”, a name applied to a person hesitant to act or who finds it hard to accept something. Thomas is known as doubting Thomas but I feel that title is unjust. I will explain later on.
Of all the disciples Thomas is the one surrounded by an interesting tradition more than any of the others. Of course when you speak of tradition, you must be careful because the truth can be blurred and distorted. Those in the bible study might recall in the Pergamon church we were studying, we looked at the tradition that the Apostle Peter was the first pope in Rome, claimed by the RC church as part of their tradition. However the Peter in Rome was a magician, part of the Babylonian wicked mysteries. I want to present what tradition tells of Thomas. These are a sample of the accounts that have been handed down but we can not prove them.
Church tradition and history tells us that Thomas was probably most active in the area east of Syria. Later he travelled outside of the Roman Empire as a missionary, possibly as far away as India to preach the gospel, which is yet another indication of Thomas’ boldness. He may have reached Muziris, India where he baptised several believers and was possibly the first to bring the gospel to the Far East. This might explain why he is considered the Patron Saint of India. His name in the Indian language, “Thoma,” remains quite popular to this day in India.
Modern historians believe that Christianity actually arrived in India several centuries after the era of the historical Thomas, with the arrival of Christians from Syria and from Persia.
Various historical records and traditions indicate that Thomas travelled by sea to India in AD 52. He was later martyred and buried there after witnessing to the Indian people. The tomb of St. Thomas is in Mylapore, India. A poet, St. Ephrem (306 – 373 AD), recorded in his hymns and poetry that Thomas worked miracles in the Indian city of Edessa. His hymns honour Thomas and praise him.
The martyrdom of Thomas, however, took place not on the western coast of India, but on the other side of the subcontinent, in the southeastern city of Mylapore, near latter-day Chennai Madrass). There, Thomas came into conflict with the Hindu priests of Kali, who killed him for insulting their deity – or simply for converting many of their followers.
A Syrian ecclesiastical calendar has an entry which reads, “3 July, St. Thomas who was pierced with a lance in ‘India.’ His body is in Urhai (Edessa) having been brought there by the merchant Khabin.” A tradition observed by the people of Edessa honours Thomas, calling him “the Apostle of India.” Many other accounts and traditions mention Thomas in connection with India. Marco Polo, in the 13th century, heard that Thomas had died, more than a millennium earlier, when an archer out hunting peacocks had accidentally shot him. His bones were then brought into the city of Mylapore and buried inside a church he had already built there, where in the 16th century, Portuguese explorers built the San Thome Basilica, which was rebuilt by the British in 1893. His death is put down as AD 72.
In those records there are conflicting accounts but we won’t know the exact truth unless we could peek into God’s records.
PART 2:
Let us leave that behind and look into the biblical record. It is the Apostle John who takes up the account of Thomas, not the other gospel writers, and that could mean he was a closer friend of John. The first mention in John is this one - John 11 v 14-16 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him.” Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go that we may die with Him.”
The name “Didymus” simply means twin because most probably, Thomas was a twin. Now then, what does Thomas’s statement mean? This is the lead up to the trip to Bethany where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This incident is late in Jesus’ ministry and the disciples knew it was dangerous to go in that direction because the Jews were out to arrest Jesus. In fact the disciples were urging Jesus not to go. John reveals that in John 11:7-8 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews just now were seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” In that context look at what Thomas said - “Let us also go that we may die with Him.”
What does that tell us about Thomas? It says he was a fatalist, or that he was brave. It’s easy to think of bravery as a trait that we either have or we don’t. The truth is that sometimes we’re braver than at other times. Thomas was willing to lay down his life with the Lord. Peter made the same assertion but his courage failed Him. The difference between Peter and Thomas was that Peter’s reply came as a contradiction to Jesus saying that Peter would deny Him. Thomas offered it without prompting. The sad thing is, that when it came to the crunch, even Thomas could not live up to his proposal, for Matthew records, Matthew 26 v 56 “but all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.
The desires of our loyalty often can’t match the reality of confrontation. What we promise we don’t always fulfill. It is not a matter of lying; it all has to do with reacting to the adverse circumstances. Through history so many have denied the faith and either recanted or subscribed to some anti-Christian system. The sad examples of this are recorded in the Roman persecutions in the first few centuries and later on by the Roman Catholic church that martyred hundreds of thousands of Christians who would not bow down to the authority of the Pope and pray to Mary or receive the sacrament of the mass. Recently I have been reading about the mass persecutions and massacres by the Church of Rome against the reformers in France (such as on St Barnabas’s Day) in the 1500s and in England in the same period. Some believers out of fear turned back and deserted. It is most miserable when later on, to realise you denied the Lord and sinned against Him. However even in the worst situation of denial, God with His grace restores the truly repentant denier who failed.
PART 3:
Let us move to the second reference in the gospel of John. The Lord told his disciples He was going away to prepare a place for them and that He would receive them to Himself. Naturally they would have been mystified but only Thomas spoke out what most must have been thinking. John 14 v 5-6 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” As a result of Thomas’s question, we have one of the most important and strategic verses in all the bible.
Jesus declared two things. The first is that he, AND HE ALONE, is THE way, THE truth and THE life. The second is that He confirmed that there is no other path to God except through the Son. They are two vital facts and we thank Thomas for that.
We examine that – “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”. I like it this way - “I am the WAY, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE.” Preachers tackle this verse by various methods, and none of those ways is wrong, for there is a real depth in the verse. I will deal with it in two ways. The first way, I think, is the more correct one, for it connects with what we have just been saying. Thomas wanted to know the way, and the Lord answered with “I am the way.” To know the way is to follow Him, as He first called His disciples. The Lord added as well – “the truth, and the life.” That brings us to the second way of dealing with the verse – “I am THE Way, and THE Truth, and THE Life.” This really gives us great insight, because these three “I AMs” are fundamental. We will now look at them in turn.
(1). THE WAY – THE way must exclude all others – all other ways, and because the emphasis is on the “I”, then it excludes all other men, all persons of intellect or entitlement, all heads of ALL religious callings; and it excludes all the “isms” of the world. It excludes the Pope, the Buddha, gurus, all men’s ways of belief and practice; and even your church minister or pastor. There is only ONE WAY, called THE WAY, and it is Christ's way, because He is THE WAY. (emphasise in saying it).
(2). THE TRUTH – Have you ever thought that the next two claims must follow on from the first one? Jesus Christ is The Way for that is the foundation, so then, there can be only one TRUTH built upon that one way, and only one life proceeding from it. Because He is the way to the Father, and to heaven, and the only WAY of life, then He must be THE TRUTH, the only Truth, and the only life to follow on from that.
(3). THE LIFE – Do you want to know where to go? He is the WAY. Do you want to know what is right? He is the TRUTH. Do you want eternal life and have that abundant life? He is the LIFE. I think by “life” here, it means more, eternal life, that is, salvation. Jesus is the Way to God; the Truth of God; and the Life of God. Those three aspects are eternal, and eternal life is a great theme in John’s Gospel. I counted 17 verses dealing with eternal life in the Gospel. See if you can find them.
PART 4:
The third reference is probably the best known incident and the one that gave rise, unjustly I believe, to the term “doubting Thomas”. We shall read it right through.
John 20 v 24-25 Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” but he said to them, “Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
John 20 v 26-29 After eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands, and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
It is necessary to consider the background to this event. You remember that early on the Resurrection morning women went to the tomb with spices. After that, Jesus appeared to a few including Peter. We will look at Peter in a separate message (4 in fact). Then this happened - John 20 v 19 When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” How many disciples were there? That is easy; there were 10. It was a supernatural appearance of the Lord, doors and walls being no problem for the omnipresent God. It had to be the Lord, and not one of them could question that. As it were, He burst on their sight and into their presence.
Just in case there was any lingering doubt in any one of them, and if there was, it remained unexpressed, the next verse records this - John 20 v 20 When He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Without being asked, the Lord showed them his hands and His side. This was the first time the disciples saw the Lord after His resurrection, except for Peter. The Lord had had a private meeting with Peter earlier in the day. There was a personal matter that needed attending to. What a transformation that made to the 10. The Lord is risen indeed as He promised, though they had forgotten His promise given to them.
Now at this stage Thomas was the only disciple not to have seen the Lord, but he needed to see for himself. His eyes needed to focus on the actual body of the Lord for him to be convinced. Was this a lack of faith? Was it assurance he was wanting? Surely you would think the testimony of 10 of the disciples was enough. It seemed not enough for Thomas.
The one fleece God performed a miracle on for Gideon, was not enough. It was a mighty miracle and Gideon would have acknowledged that, but he wanted even more assurance so the fleece miracle was repeated in the opposite order. The Lord seems to understand the wavering faith of His servants. Faith is a gift of God. When Paul was elaborating the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Corinthians, one verse says this, 1Cor 12 v 9 “to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.” It just took a little extra for Thomas.
After eight days when the Lord appeared again, this time to the whole band of 11 disciples, He immediately addressed Thomas and asked that he do the very things Thomas had said he wanted as proof, eight days earlier, to the disciples. I think the appearance of the risen Lord was more than enough for Thomas and he did not inspect the wounds, but his faith at seeing the Lord was enough. No doubt, only faith. Poem/hymn from Thomas Troeger -
His brittle certainties denied
That one could live when one had died,
Until his fingers read like Braille
The markings of the spear and nail.
May we, O God, by grace believe
And, in believing, still receive
The Christ who held His raw palms out
And beckoned Thomas, gone his doubt.
We saw the great teaching that came from Thomas’s question in John 14, absolutely vital to all the Church. Now comes another statement, this time from Thomas and this is it, “My Lord and my God!” The deity of the Lord is under attack from many of the cults and some strange charismatic groups. Others acknowledge it, but don’t live by it, with the ramifications of “God’s presence in Jesus”. Thomas knew that Jesus, their Master and Teacher, was also their Lord and God Himself. What a terrific revelation from the Holy Spirit that would resonate right through history. Jesus Christ is Lord! Jesus Christ is God manifest in flesh. Today in heaven we have the God-Man. Thomas was blessed by God to know that fact.
Because of this great confession from Thomas the Lord spoke a verse of the greatest comfort. Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” We are included in that statement. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I wonder if Peter had this incident in mind when he wrote the following - 1Peter 1 v 7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Peter 1 v 8 “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
PART 5:
Here is the last reference to Thomas in this gospel - John 21 v 1 After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. John 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples.
It is an incident where 7 of the disciples were together and Jesus appeared to them at the Sea of Tiberius. These now were men of strong, unshakable faith who would take the gospel to much of the known world. Peter’s loyalty had been tested; Thomas’s faith needed confirmation; Nathaniel was sceptical about Nazareth but when the Lord told him of an event he thought Jesus could not possibly know, then his strong faith answered John 1:49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.”; James the sword wielder and John the beloved disciple. Plus two others. This passage speaks to me of faith and fellowship.
We live in hope of the resurrection. That hope is a settled and strong, consistent belief. Our faith and walk have been wonderfully assisted by Thomas and by the questions he asked. We live in the hope of the Lord’s coming for His Church. He made a place for us through the cross and will come to take home His Bride. We will be caught up and changed, or resurrected and changed. It is a reality made possible through His sacrifice. Christ so loved the Church that He gave Himself for her, redeeming her and sanctifying her. Thank you, Thomas. We owe you much.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
