Thomas The Disciple – The Hidden Gem Of Thought Series

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.”