Word of Salvation – Vol. 19 No.25 – April 1973
Christ Reveals Himself To Doubting Thomas
Easter sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk, Th.Grad. on John 20: 24-29
Scripture reading: John 20:19-31
Psalter Hymnal: 184:1,2; 272:1.2; 272:4; 394:1,2,3; 491
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Each year there are many people who miss out on Easter. They live right in the middle of a world that celebrates Easter but yet they have no part in it. It is not a matter of them not being aware of Easter On the contrary, they are aware of Easter all right. With all the holidays, the closing of shops and businesses, there is simply no one who is not aware that Easter is there? But many people miss Easter because they do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Surrounded by the many benefits which Easter has brought into the world, they nevertheless deny the reason behind Easter. Actually, these people ought to feel strangely out of place when Easter comes. For its message of joy, hope and victory through Jesus Christ has no significance for them. The whole celebration does not involve them and they miss Easter completely because they do not believe that Easter stands for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now some of these people may be your best friends. Some of these people who miss out on Easter may even be in church on Easter Sunday. You could be one of them. They hear the glad tidings of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead but they have no joy or peace from this because deep in their hearts they don’t really believe it. Now for such people the story of Thomas was put into the New Testament. Thomas also missed out on Easter but found it one week later. But the story of Thomas is not only put in the Bible by God for the sake of those who do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ but for the sake of us all. For when we take a good look at Thomas then we will discover that we all have something of Thomas in us,
We know the story of Thomas quite well of course. Our children would be quick to tell us that Thomas was the disciple of Jesus who would not believe in Jesus’ resurrection, unless he saw and felt the marks of the nails and of the spear thrust. Thomas was the man who doubted. Thomas was the believer who would not believe. Thomas was a pessimist.
Well, just realizing the different things in Thomas, we can already see that today we have an awful lot of Thomases in our midst. They are people who have their doubts, who believe but sometimes don’t, and who are sometimes pessimistic. Looking at our text then, we can say that it speaks about Christ revealing Himself to the doubting Thomas. That’s our theme and from the text we see:
1. Not seeing and not believing,
2. Seeing and believing, and
3. Not seeing and yet believing.
1. First of all then we notice that with Thomas it was a case of not seeing and not believing. On the day of His resurrection Jesus had revealed Himself to a number of people. He appeared to Mary, His mother, to Mary Magdalene and to some other women. The two men from Emmaus had also seen Him. And now on that first Sunday evening Jesus showed Himself to the Twelve. The Twelve appear to have been together in the same house. Probably they were in need of each other’s company as they would have felt lost and confused, and also sad, because their Master had been crucified. They were still called the Twelve but actually there were only ten disciples left. Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, had in sheer misery and despair killed himself. So he wasn’t there. But neither was Thomas! And so, when Jesus all of a sudden came and stood amongst them, there were only ten disciples. Possibly some other followers also, but in any case not Thomas.
Now, of course, it could just have been a coincidence that Thomas was absent at the time but in all probability it wasn’t. The fact was that Thomas could have been there. For Thomas had no other commitments. And after all, he was a disciple too, so he should have been in their midst. But he wasn’t. The reason that Thomas was missing was because he did not want to be there. You see, Thomas was not only a man who was inclined to doubt, or who showed times of unbelief, but Thomas was also a pessimist.
We usually refer to Thomas as ‘the doubting Thomas’, or as ‘the unbelieving Thomas’ because when the other disciples had told him that they had seen the Lord then Thomas would not believe that this was true unless it was proven to him. Some people are in fact nick-named ‘doubting Thomases’ because they never want to believe anything unless it is proven to them. But the Thomas of the Bible was more than just a doubter, he was also a pessimist, a type of a man who always saw the worst in anything. John tells us here in his Gospel that, Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. And the reason was that Thomas wanted to avoid their company. He wanted to be by himself. He just wanted to give himself up to all his pessimistic thoughts about Jesus, Jesus had been crucified, Jesus was dead! There was nothing left anymore. And with those thoughts running through your mind how could one possibly bear the company of others?
John, the evangelist, the writer of the fourth Gospel, doesn’t say much about Thomas really. But in the three instances that he does, he pictures Thomas to us just as we find him here, a pessimist, a person who is inclined to always think the worst of any thing. The first time that John mentions Thomas is when Jesus was about to leave for Bethany where Lazarus was dying. Now Bethany was in Judea and some time a go Jesus had withdrawn from Judea because the people there were so hostile to Him. In fact, some had wanted to kill Him. And now in returning to Judea, Jesus in some measure exposed Himself to danger. But nevertheless, He had said to His disciples, “Let us go to him, to Lazarus.” But His disciples had begun to warn Him and they had tried to persuade Jesus not to go for His life would be in danger. But Jesus was determined to go to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead. But it was then that Thomas spoke up and he addressed himself not to Jesus but to the other disciples, “Let us go also that we might die with Him.” (Jn.11:16). Well, there we have Thomas, seeing the worst, expecting the worst and quite resolved to go to his death. Yes, death. No one had even thought of death and Jesus had not hinted at it, but Thomas had already concluded that death would be the logical outcome of such a dangerous decision. Thomas didn’t expect anything else but death once they got to Judea. “Let us go also that we might die with Him.” That’s Thomas’ matter-of-fact statement.
Too bad about Jesus’ plans for a better kingdom. Too bad about all that Jesus had held before them in His teaching. Apparently everything in this world must always go wrong. Surely, Jesus will be put to death when He gets there. And Thomas realized that there was nothing that would stop Jesus from going there. All our dreams and our ideals, they were too good to be true anyway. A pity, but there it is, the powers of darkness will win once again. So let’s go with Him and get killed. Let’s get it over with.
Yes, that is Thomas, a man caught in his own sombre thoughts. He sees nothing else but disappointments, nothing else but a caving in of all things that are beautiful and good. Thomas, the pessimist!
The second time that the evangelist John mentions Thomas is when the disciples were celebrating the last Passover. Jesus spoke words of farewell to His disciples. He told them that He will go to His Father in heaven to prepare a place for them. And then when He comes again, He will take them unto Himself, so that where He is they may be also. And said Jesus, you know the way where I am going. Of course they knew the way of Jesus. At least, they could not be entirely ignorant about it. They were learning about Him all the time. They were His followers. But again, it is Thomas who makes the so very, very sober remark. “Lord, we do not know the way you are going; how can we know the way?” (Jn.14:5).
It is as though Thomas is saying, “Lord, you are overestimating us. We don’t understand all these things you are speaking about. Where are you going? Tell us straight out. We are just ordinary people, Lord. So, you will have to be plain and simple.” Thomas, the pessimist! He is so afraid that he might be fooling himself, is so afraid that they will all be so moved by Jesus’ words that they will lose touch with reality and in the end wake up, and find that everything is so very different. Thomas likes to have both his feet firmly on the ground. Nothing of this emotional stuff. He is willing to believe and accept all that Jesus is saying but then let the facts be there so that he can clearly see them. Yes, to believe, Thomas must be able to see it too. Thomas is like all those many people who demand proof, proof before they will believe in God and in His Word.
And so on the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection we find Thomas missing from the Twelve, and consequently he also misses out on seeing Jesus. We don’t know for sure but it is quite possible that Thomas was walking the streets of Jerusalem, by himself, in the dark and alone of course, and his heart full of awful, bitter thoughts. “Now Jesus has been crucified! Now it is all finished!”
That, which he always thought would happen, finally did happen. In this way all that is good and beautiful in this world will be destroyed. Yes. He himself was going to be killed with Jesus but at the last moment he fled. Deserted Jesus, that’s what he did. He had turned coward. Left Jesus to Himself. Where is your loyalty Thomas? You’re as bad as the rest,” Yes, these terrible thoughts were probably going through the mind of Thomas on this lonely evening. Maybe he had heard of rumours that Jesus had come back from the dead. Maybe he had even been invited to spend that evening with the other disciples. But had that been the case then Thomas would have flatly refused. He felt that the other disciples were just fooling themselves. They were only too keen to imagine that Jesus would rise from the dead. But theirs was just a superficial optimism. Couldn’t they see that life in this dark world was just a hopeless struggle against the forces of darkness? Thomas, the man who would not permit a ray of hope to shine in his heart. On the evening of the resurrection day he aimlessly walks about Jerusalem. He is a lonely man. And how many are there like Thomas? People who are pessimistic and therefore also lonely? The next day, or soon after Jesus’ appearance, the other disciples find Thomas and excitedly they tell him that Jesus is risen from the dead, “Thomas, we have seen the Lord,” And then Thomas utters those terrible words, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hands in his side, I will not believe.” Thomas, the believer, cannot believe what he now hears from the others. He scolds his fellow disciples for being fools who will believe anything. Their imagination has got the better of them. The cross, yes, that was reality, But an empty tomb? No! Of course, such things would be nice if they did happen. But they don’t. That’s just it. No, Thomas refused to believe, He couldn’t see it, so how could he believe it?
Here in the person of Thomas we have one in whom something is broken. Maybe in his childhood Thomas had dreams of things good and beautiful. But life has brought the hard facts home to him, the facts of disappointments and disillusionment. When he met Jesus it seemed that there were some values in life that were good and perfect after all. In the company of Jesus there had been moments wherein he really felt uplifted, moments wherein he could grasp things that were pure and not spoiled and defiled. But that’s all past now. Jesus is dead. Actually, during the last months he already knew it. His beautiful dream would turn out to be an illusion. A pie in the sky. And so Golgotha came and for Thomas it was the end of all things. Golgotha had shattered everything. Thomas was convinced that this world is a senseless world. It is being ruled over by God but God’s rule seems to be one great riddle. It appears that God allows the good to be destroyed by evil.
2. But the Saviour doesn’t leave people like Thomas by themselves. He does something that will bring them ‘home’ again. And thus we see in the second place that as regards Thomas it became a case of seeing and believing. From not seeing and, therefore, not believing the Lord brings Thomas to the point of seeing and believing. But the Lord does this with great care. Christ does not reveal Himself to Thomas immediately. At the first glance it seems that Thomas was quite fortunate to receive a special visit from the risen Christ which was meant just for him. But after some consideration we can see that Jesus made Thomas wait for a whole week which, for Thomas, was a punishment upon his unbelief. Of course, Thomas had made it clear that he wouldn’t believe unless he saw. In fact, he had shouted the words, “I will not believe.” But people who so loudly insist that they cannot and will not believe are usually the ones who deep in their hearts wish that they could believe. It would not be surprising if deep in the heart of Thomas there was the suspicion that it could be true about Jesus being raised from the dead. Maybe in his utter loneliness he had even prayed, “Lord, show yourself to me too, for I need convincing.
People who openly say that they have lost faith in God and who show indifference and a couldn’t-care-less attitude, are often, when they are all by themselves, crying to God to come to their rescue. Yes, that God may help them before they sink deeper and further into the bitter waters of despair. Most likely this was the case with Thomas. To some extent it may have even surprised Thomas that Jesus showed Himself to Mary, to the other women, to the men from Emmaus, to Peter, but not to him, Thomas, the pessimist. To Thomas who seemed to have needed the appearance of Jesus most of all. But, as said before, Jesus will bring Thomas back to full faith with only the greatest of care. That Jesus did nothing for Thomas during that whole week was just what Thomas needed. Thomas had to have a change of heart. The Spirit will work in the heart of Thomas in a manner that will fulfil the wise intentions of God. Thomas’ heart had to be made ready for the entrance of the risen Christ. Thomas was not going to be brought to faith in the risen Christ against his will. Thomas’ unbelieving will had to crumple and be destroyed.
And so Thomas wanders about. One day, two days, a whole week. He is discontented, dissatisfied, and displeased. He is displeased with the women, with Peter, with Jesus, with God. But most of all Thomas is dissatisfied with himself. He finds himself too much to handle. He just wanders about in a small circle of angry, stubborn thoughts. He wants to be helped and yet he doesn’t. He wants to be comforted, and yet he doesn’t. He wants to be understood, and yet he doesn’t. Thomas is a problem to himself. In a certain sense it may have even satisfied him that he was the odd one out, that it was him who had a problem. Thomas plays the game wherein he makes himself the martyr and it pleases him to receive satisfaction from it.
But it is just as well that the other disciples do not leave Thomas to himself. Maybe they understood Thomas and realized that he had to be visited, even if he scolded them for it. “We have seen the Lord, Thomas.” Yes, come on, get out of your stubbornness. It took Thomas a whole week to overcome himself. Slowly he forced himself away from his pessimistic thoughts. Finally, he breaks with the stubbornness in him and he joins the other disciples. It is a different Thomas now. Much quieter but a changed Thomas. The Spirit of God had been at work in him and had drawn him to full salvation.
“Eight days later,” says the text, “the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.’ Yes, Thomas was with them! And that step that Thomas finally took was the step that the Holy Spirit had been preparing him for. Jesus would not appear to Thomas when Thomas was lost in his loneliness because the loneliness of Thomas was a sinful one. There was pride and bitterness in Thomas. Jesus will only reveal Himself when we are on the road of repentance and humility. It took a while but finally Thomas humbled himself.
And so Jesus came and said to Thomas, “…put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless but believing.” Don’t you think that within Thomas there was some feeling of shame now that Jesus stood in front of him? Thomas probably didn’t even touch Jesus, for he had seen enough. In fact, he was looking at something that should not have been necessary. But there it is, Jesus is kind and merciful. The love of God is endless. The Lord doesn’t leave His children in circumstances like those of Thomas. He brings them back to Himself.
And standing there, looking at Jesus, the cry forced itself up from Thomas’ heart, “My Lord, and my God!” Here is Thomas on the great heights of faith. A confession deep from within him, “My Lord, and my God!” A full recognition of Jesus’ person. Both Lord and God. Yes, Jesus, the risen Jesus, our Lord and our God. Not the cross but the empty tomb has the last word, not death but life in the risen Christ, not darkness but light, not the devil but God.
3. Finally, Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” We today, we do not need to see Jesus’ hands, or His feet, or His side in order to believe that He has risen. We have seen them through the eyes of Thomas. For us today God’s written Word is sufficient.
Not seeing and yet believing, that’s where we stand today. The risen Jesus! “Lord, you do not have to open up the heavens for me to see before I believe. My Lord and my God, I believe now! That you showed yourself to Thomas was enough.” And so, lives that are defeated can be changed to lives that are victorious. From despair and pessimism we can come to trust in Christ the Saviour. We must learn to turn our eyes away from hopelessness, away from defeat and dying where faith has been left out. We must discover that in this world there is also a rising from the dead. Not only in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. But also a rising to hope and assurance in those who are His children and for whom He has risen from the dead. Yes, a rising from bitterness to hope, a rising from guilt and sin and shame to faith in Jesus Christ. With Jesus there is life, for Jesus is the resurrection, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God.
There are many Thomases still about today. Maybe some are sitting in the church right now. They are people with bitter thoughts, stubborn, proud, pessimistic, sarcastic, sceptic and lonely. And they are also miserable and pitiable because with all their hardness they cannot get rid of that bit of smouldering hope that lies there deep down in their hearts. They are defeated, they are doubting, they are searching and they are despairing. They are our modern ‘Thomases’. But let it ring out loud and clear: there is hope for Jesus has said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (Jn.14:6), and “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn.11:25,26).
Amen.