John 20:24-31
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 11:1-16
Thomas Said -Let Us Go and Die with Jesus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Faith and doubt can co-exist...Thomas was committed to Jesus and had great faith...Look how he spoke to the other disciples on their way to Lazarus...Yet, there is his nickname that seems to stick in our minds...Thomas was probably nicknamed the "Doubting Thomas", because Jesus told him to stop doubting and believe...Thomas probably would have known that the women were first to see Jesus, so that was one event of people seeing Jesus...And then Jesus appeared to the Disciples, when Thomas was absent...So Thomas had two different groups to doubt and could have believed that Jesus was alive again...Thomas doubted because he wasn't there with the women or the Disciples to see Jesus...
In Thomas' case doubting seems to hold and have a negative connotation -both to doubting and to him...But there were other disciples and believers that doubted...Doubt seems to come to our minds when we cannot find God or feel that is is missing or left our lives...Peter and John ran to Jesus' grave after Mary Magdalene told him that His tomb was empty (John 20:1-9)...Job doubted God and said even if I summon God and He responded, I do not believe He would give me a hearing (Job 20:7)...Then later Job says if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him (Job 23:8)...How about Gideon, who twice doubts God and His angel and wants proof from a damp or dry wool fleece that he puts out to believe and not doubt God (Judges 6:36-40)...I think in Solomon's Book of Ecclesiastes -the book has as much doubt in it, than the perplexing lamentations of life itself...Solomon seems to doubt God and starts out his book, that everything is meaningless, meaningless...To me that is doubt...But most of us, when we think about the Bible and doubt, we think of Thomas...But he is called the Doubting Thomas...Maybe it is a little unfair to label Thomas as the Greatest Doubter, because there are other doubters in the Bible...And these are people of faith...Faith and doubt do coexist among the best of believers...We can doubt, but still grow our faith...
Some doubt maybe good for us...The true believer works through his or her doubt and seeks God to find more answers for and in his faith...He tries to be closer to Him...All doubt is not negative...And if we believe everything we see, hear and read -that seems to me not to be good, but to believe nothing we see, hear, and read would also not be good...Faith is somewhere in the midst of our own personal seeing, hearing, reading, and believing...
While many of us think of doubt -we think of that label of "The Doubting Thomas", but I can think of another label for him...I also think of him as "Lucky Thomas"...Thomas was allowed by Jesus to touch His glorious wounds...His blind faith was not enough -and not being able to see the resurrected Jesus, while the other disciples had seen Him, weighed on his mind...Until Thomas could actually see the nail marks and wound in Jesus' side, he would not believe...Jesus allowed him to, and Thomas would become one of tremendous faith, because He got to see and feel His Master...Thomas' doubt was a gift for him...Because of his doubt, he got to be an eyewitness to the doubts he had about Jesus and His resurrection...He touched Jesus and His wounds, and his doubts left him...To Thomas' credit, he did want to believe...Thomas after the resurrection was not faithless...Never did he want to lose his faith in Jesus...It was his doubt getting in the way of his faith...As said earlier, Thomas had great faith and commitment on his way to Lazarus, it was Thomas who said "Let us go that we may die with Him." (John 11:16)...
Jesus immediately says after Thomas touched Him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”...Jesus wants to make a point to Thomas and to us...Jesus wants us to know He was going back to the Father, and would be sending us a Holy Spirit to us for our connection with Him...Physically Jesus would be ascending into heaven and leaving earth...
It seems man will always have his doubts, and doubts will increase in number as one's knowledge grows...When doubt leads us to things like questioning, a proper curiosity, to investigate things, to seek God and read our Bibles -then doubt can be a good thing...When you find that your doubt gives you a zeal, curiosity, or desire to seek God and care more about Him then doubt, is a very good thing...Faith is believing in Someone or in things that have a little doubt in them...God allows us to have doubt and have faith...God also has a reason for everything...No man will ever have a reason for everything, so expect some doubt...