THE UNBELIEF OF THOMAS
Now Thomas, one
of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25So the other
disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to
them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger
into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never
believe.”
26Eight days
later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.
Although the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you.”
27Then he said
to Thomas,
“Put your
finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
28Thomas
answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to
him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed.”
JOHN
20:24-29
COMMENTARY
This was the
second occasion when our Lord appeared to all his disciples in the what was
most probably the upper room, the same place they observed the Paschal meal and
received the Holy Spirit in Pentecost (Acts 1:13-14).
That day, from
all the disciples present, which included men, women and children apart from
the Apostles, Thomas ‘The Twin’ was not present there.
He did not see
Lord Jesus resurrected, neither ate fish with Him when Jesus appeared the first
time to his followers (John 20:19), but when Thomas was told about it, he openly
and redundantly declared his lack of faith in the resurrection of our Lord
(John 20:25).
This was clearly
the reaction of a man disappointed in the ministry of Jesus. Deep in his heart
Thomas may have hoped that Jesus would come up victorious from the
confrontation with the Jews and the Romans, and would have started to claim
power and the throne of David for Himself, exactly what most Jews expected from
the Earthly Messiah. But when He say Jesus crucified, he lost faith, and when finally,
Jesus died and was buried, Thomas abandoned his faith, but without forsaking
his personal friendship with the other 11 Apostles, that took him back to that
room that day.
In his infinite mercy,
and not wanting to lose any of the Eleven Apostles to Satan as He said before
(John 18:9), Jesus appeared again to all of them, and in this occasion Thomas
was there.
Lord Jesus
immediately directed Himself to Thomas and asked him to touch his wounds of
crucifixion and believe.
Thomas had sinned
greatly when he declared his unbelief; because that is what his declaration
meant. In other words, Thomas said:
“Unless I see Him,
and touch Him, and make sure He is really Him and not a hallucination, I won’t
believe He is alive”
And that is
exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ did with Thomas. Jesus confirmed Thomas’s calling
and faith, and encouraged him to persevere, not before blessing those who have
enough faith to believe in Him, without seeing.
But Thomas had
seen the miracles of Jesus. He was there when He healed the lame, made the mute
speak, the deaf listen, and the blind see.
Thomas had cast
out demons and healed the sick in the Name of JESUS when the Apostles got sent
in twos; and had also seen Jesus resurrect the death, especially Lazarus; and
even then, he doubted the capacity of coming back to life, from the one who brought
others from death into life again
(John 11:43).
Thomas had no
excuse to do not believe. But he did.
Only Lord JESUS
in his infinite mercy, decided to confirm his faith by appearing to him. This
act of mercy and love, must have touched Thomas so deeply, that in awe for what
he saw and heard, and realizing his sin, he proclaimed “MY LORD AND MY GOD”.
In this
emotional surprise, he was driven by the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the deity of
his Master, and acknowledge Him, as his Lord and God, on a personal level.
Thomas taught us
a lesson, all of us who were born afterwards without having seen Jesus in the
flesh, but trust in the testimony of the Apostles and on those privileged people
in history, to whom our Lord Jesus has appeared. And makes us feel well,
considering the blessing that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to those who ‘believe
without seeing’
(John 20:29).
Omar Flores.
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