Jesus Appears to Thomas
[Read John 20:24-29]
Over the years, I’ve had quite a few conversations with teenagers and adults about faith in Jesus Christ. When having these conversations, you begin to notice trends. There are certain seasons where certain objections are “trendy” and those seasons come and go.
For a while—and it’s beginning to change a bit—it was really trendy for people to say, “I don’t believe in anything that I can’t see and touch with my own hands.” People would typically say this with a little bit of an attitude and little bit of smugness. It was their way of saying that they were much more logical than Christians, who believe in things they cannot see—how foolish. This conversation would often result in someone saying something like, “If Jesus wants me to believe in him, then why doesn’t he just show himself to me right now? That’s the only way that I’m going to believe.”
Depending on the situation, and who I’m talking to and their attitude at the time, there are a variety of ways to answer this question. One of my typical responses to this question is to simply say, “No, you wouldn’t. There were thousands of people who saw Jesus and didn’t believe. The people who killed Jesus also saw him. Seeing is not always believing. If you won’t believe in him without seeing him, you won’t believe in him if you saw him.”
This is somewhat Thomas’ reaction to the witness of the disciples. We read, “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”” (John 20:24–25, ESV). When Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not with them. We’re not told why, but he wasn’t there. From the way the story is told, it seems like Thomas maybe showed up late, but it was the same night. When he gets there, the disciples witness to him saying, “We have seen the Lord,” which is exactly what Mary had told them. Most likely, based on what we’re going to read next, the disciples said more than this and mentioned Jesus’ scars, saying something like, “We’ve seen Jesus. He even showed us his scars, so we know it was him. He’s alive!”
Now, before we get to Thomas’ response, I want us to understand that Thomas has a little history in the Gospel of John. None of the other gospels really talk about Thomas. His name is mentioned in them, but that’s about it. However, John gives us some insight into things Thomas has said over the years. The first time we hear Thomas talk, is as they prepare to head to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. He doesn’t know that. Instead we read, “So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”” (John 11:16, ESV). In some ways, there’s courage here in his willingness to die with Jesus, but also much confusion.
We see confusion from Thomas the next time he speaks as well. Jesus has been telling his disciples that he’s about to go away and Thomas responds by saying, “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:5–6, ESV). Again, Thomas is confused and doesn’t understand.
After the disciples witness to Thomas about Jesus’ resurrection, he’s not just confused, but at best he’s extremely skeptical when he says, “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.” (John 20:24–25, ESV). This sounds just like what I mentioned at the beginning of my sermon, right? I only believe in what I can see and touch with my own hands. This is such strong language from Thomas. I mean, he doesn’t say that he has a hard time believing them or that this story seems far fetched. He says, “I will NEVER believe...” He not only has to see Jesus, but he has to touch Jesus before he’s going to believe. To be honest, he’s not actually laying down guidelines, he doesn’t actually believe them. He’s saying this with a tone, like this is impossible and will never happen.
Calvin connects this type of thinking with pride and I think he’s right. Think about it for a moment, if you refuse to believe in anything you can’t see or touch, who is the ultimate authority? You’ve placed yourself as the ultimate authority of what is true and what exists. When you place yourself in the position of ultimate authority, you are putting yourself in the position of God himself. You are the one who determines what is true and what is real and what exists. Talk about pride.
The reason this has been a “trendy” objection over the years is because our society has rejected God. In rejecting God, we’ve rejected the real ultimate authority, and are left looking for another ultimate authority, and eventually decide that we’re the ones who should fill that position—imagine that. This is the same temptation from the garden. It’s also the reason why unbelief can be so stubborn. In order to believe, you have to admit that you’re not the ultimate authority and have to submit to the real ultimate authority. That’s very hard for people to do.
The next part of the story, I find incredible. We’re told that a week goes by and we find the disciples in the same place. We read, “Eight 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.”” (John 20:26, ESV). They’re still behind locked doors, still hiding from the Jewish leaders, still afraid. Didn’t Jesus tell them a week ago that he was sending them out? Why are they still behind locked doors? We’re not actually told, and that’s not the point of the story.
The point of the story is that Thomas is with them this time when Jesus appears and Jesus has some words for him. He says, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27, ESV). Don’t miss something important about this statement from Jesus. He wasn’t there when Thomas said these things. How did he know what Thomas had said? Eventually Thomas will answer that question. But Jesus knows what Thomas had said earlier, and basically calls him on it saying, “Fine, if you think you need to see me and touch me to believe. Here I am. You can see me and you can touch the wounds.”
Then Jesus has strong words for Thomas. Remember Thomas had used strong words earlier saying, “I will never believe,” now Jesus says to him, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27, ESV). This is going to be translated differently depending on your translation, but I think the best way of understanding what Jesus is saying here is that he’s saying to Thomas, “Stop being a non-believer! Believe!”
I want you to notice a few things about Jesus’ interaction with Thomas in this passage, it’s something that is a pattern in Jesus’ life that we should pay attention to. Notice that Jesus does two things in this interaction: 1) he meets Thomas where he’s at and 2) he rebukes/corrects him. He doesn’t choose one or the other, but does both.
Think about it, Jesus could have easily refused to show himself to Thomas because of his lack of faith. As we’re going to find out later in the passage, Thomas should not have said what he said or thought what he thought. It was wrong and completely out of line. Jesus could have easily said, “If that’s how you’re going to respond, then I’m not going to appear to you.” Yet, he meets Thomas where he’s at. Calvin even says that Jesus pursued Thomas so that he would believe.
But Jesus doesn’t just pretend like everything is hunky-dory. He doesn’t pretend like it was fine for Thomas to act that way. He meets him where he’s at AND corrects him at the same time by saying, “Stop being a non-believer and believe!” Based on the context of what Jesus says here, and what he’s going to say later, I think we can imagine Jesus saying this to Thomas” “Thomas, you don’t need this. You think you need this, but you don’t. I’m here standing right in front of you to show you that you don’t need this.”
To which we read, “Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”” (John 20:28, ESV). Before I dive into this further, I want to make sure that we are understanding this picture clearly because it has been distorted over the years. Especially, when it comes to famous stories like this one, we have to carefully read the story and pay attention to what is said, and what is not said, because we quickly begin to make some assumptions. In this instance, many people have been affected by the famous painting of Thomas putting his finger into Jesus’ side. Did that really happen? I don’t think so. The story never says it happened. It only says that Jesus told him to do it, but it never says Thomas did it.
The most natural way to read this story is to understand Thomas as receiving Jesus’ rebuke and believing in him without having to touch him—or even see him for that matter. When Jesus rebukes Thomas, he repents and makes a beautiful and glorious profession of faith, “My Lord and my God!”” (John 20:28, ESV). Thomas was wrong when he said he needed to see and touch Jesus before he believed. I think there’s a sense in which Thomas didn’t even need to see Jesus in order to believe. He just needed to hear him (and I’ll explain that in a little bit).
Thomas’ confession of faith, is one of the clearest confessions of faith in the entire Bible. Notice how Thomas’ confession connects with what we read earlier in the service from the Heidelberg Catechism. It asked the question, “What is true faith?” and answered by talking about how true faith is knowing that we have received forgiveness—“not only others, but to me also” (HC 21). We see that in Thomas saying “MY Lord, and MY God!” He’s not simply the Lord and God of some other people. Thomas says that he is HIS Lord and God. He’s giving his life to him.
Thomas’ confession also calls Jesus Lord and God. Jesus is Lord because Thomas is submitting himself to him as his master and sole authority. But Thomas also acknowledges that Jesus is not simply a man, but he is also God. Jesus has mentioned this before using various analogies, but now Thomas understands and believes this is true. Jesus is fully man and fully God at the same time. This brings us all the way back to the first verse of this book, where John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14; ESV). Don’t listen to anybody who wants to present Jesus in any other way, than as one who was truly God and truly man.
When Thomas makes this great confession of faith, Jesus goes on to say, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29, ESV). First, notice that Jesus doesn’t say to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have touched me?” which is another proof that Thomas didn’t touch him but responded to the rebuke. However, the point Jesus is making here is about the future of the church. He’s already informed them, through Mary, that he is not going to be staying around forever. He’s going to be ascending into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father. That means, there is going to be a lengthy period of time where people will not be able to physically be able to see him, but they are still going to have to believe in him. So, Jesus places a blessing on the rest of the church throughout the ages—a blessing on all those who will believe without seeing him. Some have called this Jesus’ final beatitude.
Eventually, Peter is going to encourage believers by saying, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8–9, ESV). This is a good and beautiful thing for them to believe in Jesus and love him, even when they do not now see him. It’s a blessed thing. It’s this reminder for us that the disciples were not better off than us, for seeing Jesus’ resurrected body. We are blessed for believing in him without having seen him.
In many ways, this is the essence of faith. One of the most famous passages on faith says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV). Faith is the conviction of things not seen. This means conviction that Jesus lived a perfect life, died for the forgiveness of our sins, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. We did not see it, but we have conviction that this is true. That’s faith.
Where does this faith come from? Earlier, the Heidelberg Catechism reminded us that it is created in us by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. It’s always important to remember that the Spirit works through the Word. They are always connected. You’ll often hear Reformed people talk about Word and Spirit, because we want people to be reminded that they are connected. The Spirit inspired the Word of God, then uses this inspired Word to create faith in us and draw us to Christ and mold and shape us throughout the rest of our lives. That’s why we read things like this in Romans, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17, ESV).
This is what I hinted at earlier in the sermon. Thomas didn’t need to touch Jesus in order to have faith. He didn’t even need to see Jesus in order to have faith. He needed to hear the Word of Christ in order to have faith because that’s where faith comes from.
The point Jesus is making at the end here is extremely relevant because Thomas is going to spend the rest of his life witnessing to people who will not see Jesus, but will need to believe. How will they believe then? Their faith will come from hearing the witness of the disciples, as the Holy Spirit works through that witness. It’s Jesus’ way of telling Thomas and the disciples that they should have believed Mary’s witness to them initially, and Thomas should have believed the disciples’ witness to him. That’s enough. They need to know that’s enough because they will spend the rest of their lives asking people to believe in Jesus based on their witness—based on what they hear.
On the one hand, this is a reminder to us as we long to see people believe today. Let’s not fall into the trap of trying to come up with all of the gimmicks and tricks to try to bring people to faith. Faith comes from hearing as the Holy Spirit works through His Word. It’s actually that simple. We continue to point people to Jesus Christ, telling them who He is and what He has done and call them to believe in Him without seeing Him, telling them that they will be blessed by believing. We can even pursue them like Jesus’ pursued Thomas, meeting them where they are, but still calling them to faith and repentance, telling them to stop being a non-believer and to believe, trusting the Holy Spirit to do the work of creating faith in their life through the gospel.
Ultimately, this story is about what it looks like to confess our faith—what it looks like to believe. And it’s not just for those outside the church. It’s for Christians as well. John is showing us what it looks like for us to believe and confess our faith for the first time and what it looks like to continue believing and confessing our faith in Jesus Christ throughout the rest of our lives. It looks like looking to Jesus and saying with all of our heart, “My Lord and my God!”—recognizing him as the one who created all things and rules and reigns over them right now, but it also looks like submitting to him as Lord and asking him to rule and reign over every aspect of your life—and doing it over and over again.