John 20:24-31
Thomas Sunday marks the special appearance of the risen Jesus to Thomas the Doubter. It is a good occasion to reflect on our own doubts and to strengthen our faith in Christ. If we are honest, we will admit that, like Thomas, we too wrestle with all kinds of doubts. We ask questions such as:
- Why do good people suffer?
- Is the Bible trustworthy?
- What happens to us after we die?
- Is there an eternity and a life beyond the grave?
- Is Christian teaching really the only true revelation of God?
- Is it possible that so many people who do not meet the New Testament requirements of faith in Christ and repentance for their sins are going to hell?
What is reassuring is that many of God’s great men also experienced doubts at certain moments — Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, Peter, Thomas. This shows us that doubts are normal and natural in a life of faith. We should regard them not so much as sins to renounce, or transgressions we must be careful not to fall into, but rather as obstacles we must fight and deal with. Met in the right way, doubts can turn from stumbling stones into steps by which we climb higher in the growth of our faith.
So the question is not, “Will we doubt?” or “Will we have doubts?” The answer to that question is clear and affirmative. Yes, we will doubt. But the truly relevant question is not whether we will have doubts, but: “What do we do with our doubts?”
It is important that we answer this question, because even though doubt is something normal, it is certainly not something safe. Although, if it is met in the right way, it can lift us to a deeper faith in God, if we do not handle it as we should, it can turn us away from the faith. And in turning us away from the faith, it turns us away from the source of life — from the freedom, peace, hope, assurance, and joy that belong to us as followers of Jesus.
We must fight against our doubts. We must answer them, and answer them in the right way. If, on the basis of the biblical text, we had to describe our responses to doubt in a single word each, they would be: confession, seeking, and worship.
Honesty — The Foundation of Confession
This is how the evangelist John begins to describe Thomas’s encounter with Jesus (John 20:24-25):
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. (John 20:24)
One wonders where he was. From his absence, however, we can learn that when we miss our gatherings, we also miss the special personal presence of Christ! For in Matthew 18:20 He Himself said:
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:20)
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.” (John 20:25)
In other words, Thomas told them: “Don’t try to sell me that! I don’t believe you! The only thing that can convince me is a personal encounter with the risen Christ.”
Whatever we may think of Thomas, we cannot deny his honesty. In this respect he is a good example for us. We must be honest with our doubts — acknowledging and confessing them. Honest unbelief is better than an unbelief that pretends to be faith. To play the believer when we do not believe is a hypocrisy our Lord would hardly approve of!
The first step toward dealing with a given doubt is to acknowledge it. God would not help with needs that we do not admit we have.
To admit that we doubt, however, is not so easy. The reasons behind our refusal to be honest with our doubts can vary. Some Christians hide their doubts because they have the mistaken notion that to be a true Christian means to be absolutely certain about everything concerning your faith. Others refuse to admit their doubts so as not to lose their standing. They are afraid that other Christians, or even their unbelieving friends, may become disappointed in them and start to look at them differently. Still others feel guilty about their doubts and are afraid that God will reject them and strike them down on the spot if they only dare to voice the questions they are asking.
Our text, however, gives us a very different perspective on what God will do if we are honest with our doubts. Notice that Jesus did not reject, ignore, or condemn Thomas’s desire. On the contrary, He honored it! And instead of crushing him for voicing the doubt that was in his heart, Jesus honored him by appearing to him specially and inviting him to see for himself by placing his hands in the wounds of the crucifixion (John 20:26-27):
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.” (John 20:26-27)
Thomas’s doubts were not met with condemnation, but with understanding and love. The Lord did not reject him, but extended to him a personal invitation to see for himself the evidence of His resurrection and, on that basis, to reach his own conclusion. What mercy! This is so freeing! It is a joy to me to know that I can be honest with God about my doubts. I am glad that Jesus understands them, and I believe that, just as He accepted Thomas’s, so He accepts mine, without a trace of anger or condemnation.
Let us not ignore our doubts! Let us not let them fester in our hearts! Instead, we must bring them before God in prayer and feel free to share them with spiritual friends from the church family. That way, together we can think through the questions that stand in the way of our faith and fight through them.
Notice what the other disciples did not do when they heard Thomas’s doubt. They did not get angry with him. They did not reject him. They did not make him “believe harder.” They simply accepted him as he was, together with all his doubts. They gave him time to become convinced of God’s truth himself, trusting God to give Thomas the proof he needed. In our church we should have this same freedom in our relationships with one another. Not to compete with each other and watch for each other’s mistakes, but to be patient with one another, knowing that in the end it is God Himself who is the author of our salvation.
Doubt — An Invitation to Spiritual Seeking
Lee Strobel worked for the Chicago Tribune. As a legal reporter, he carried out his own journalistic investigations. For most of his life he was an atheist. His wife came to faith, and he began to see positive changes in her life. This stirred in him a desire to go with her to church — partly out of curiosity, but mainly because he wanted to find the weak points in her faith. Coming to a service, he encountered for the first time what Jesus claimed about Himself. After the service, he made a decision, which he later wrote about in one of his books:
“Even though I did not believe the gospel was true, I was convinced that if it were true, it would be of enormous significance for my life. So I promised myself to investigate the Christian faith the way a journalist would — to separate the myths from reality and see what remained, to examine the facts and the evidence for myself and reach my own personal conclusion.”
He began his journalistic investigation with the prayer: “God, I don’t even believe You exist. But if You do, I want to find You. I really want to know the truth. So if You exist, please, reveal Yourself to me!” At that moment Lee Strobel moved forward in his understanding and turned from an atheist into a spiritual seeker who honestly wants to find the truth. After two years of intense investigation he became a Christian and began to serve in the leadership of the very church where he first heard the words of Christ.
You see, when we come to doubt — and this will certainly happen — our doubts should not paralyze or depress us. Instead we should simply accept them as a new invitation to spiritual seeking. Do not worry! There is more than enough historically reliable and logically sound evidence in support of our faith. Many people think that the moment a person becomes a Christian, he must switch off his mind entirely and start accepting things blindly. But this is not so! When doubts or questions arise in us, we must not stop reasoning and thinking about them. On the contrary, we should let those very doubts spur us on to an even deeper spiritual search for the truth.
Where should we look for the answers to the questions that stand in the way of our trust in Jesus? First of all, in the Bible. In the words of Abraham from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:31):
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31)
But also in prayer. The classic verse says that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17):
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (Romans 10:17)
But when a person enters into ministry and settles into a routine, then it seems that the faith within us begins to come not so much from the Word as from prayer and our relationship with God. You cannot doubt the existence of someone with whom you are in constant communion. Our problems begin with the weakening of our prayer life. As long as a person prays and receives answers to his prayers, as long as he is filled with the Holy Spirit, he does not think about doubts. But when he stops praying regularly and begins to explain things to himself in human terms — then the doubts come. That is why the way to have fewer doubts is to pray more, to stay alone with the Lord, and to commune with Him through our spirit, heart, and mind.
When we doubt, we are invited to seek answers. But in the end, every honest inquiry will lead us to the same place — not to the answers to all our questions (1 Corinthians 13:9-12), but to the One who possesses the answers — to Jesus Himself. He always reveals Himself to those who honestly seek Him.
Doubt is often a catalyst that helps us to know God better. So let us allow our doubts to prompt us to seek the truth. In this search for the truth, we will surely meet Jesus, and He will change us, just as happened with Thomas.
Do We Act on the Truth We Have Discovered in the Course of Our Spiritual Seeking?
When Jesus invited Thomas to place his fingers in His wounds, He was in effect telling him: “Here is the proof you so badly want, the answer you are seeking. Now it is time to decide what you will do from here on — now that you have seen Me, will you place your trust in Me?”
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!” (John 20:26-28)
We will have doubts, but that is not really the true problem. We cannot complain that we are unable to find answers to our questions, because Jesus always reveals Himself to those who honestly desire to seek Him. The real problem is our stubborn refusal to respond to Jesus when He comes through the locked doors of our hearts and minds and reveals Himself to us. It is precisely this stubborn refusal to begin acting on the truth once we have discovered it that is the form of doubt Jesus condemns.
If you have found Jesus, if He has revealed Himself to you, what will you do with Him? Will you receive Him as your Lord, or will you reject Him? Will you worship Him or despise Him? Will you move from doubt to faith, or will you keep sinking into the swamp of your own selfishness? Perhaps today you are at a crossroads. But you cannot stand there forever. Make a decision! Acknowledge your doubts! Seek their answer! But if you have understood that Jesus is God’s Anointed One, that He has risen from the dead and continues to be alive today, then dedicate your life to Him right now! Do not delay! Act on the truth you have discovered in your spiritual seeking. He is here for you. He has spread His arms wide to receive you. So run to Him! Taste the blessedness that God has reserved for those who believe in Jesus without having seen Him:
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
Faith is, in fact, an extraordinary blessedness. A person who has found Jesus and placed his faith in Him has peace in his heart. Peace, joy, and contentment that cannot be described in words.
By nature Thomas was a pessimist (John 11:16; 14:5). But in His great mercy, love, and humility, the risen heavenly King was willing to submit to the test that Thomas demanded — “the eye to see, the hand to touch.” Yet when Jesus appeared to him and invited him to carry out his test, Thomas was ashamed of his unbelief and confessed his faith in Christ with all his heart: “My Lord and my God!” These words were not merely a greeting or an exclamation of praise. For a Jew, they could only be words of worship. It is precisely in worship that unbelief and every doubt evaporate. Worshiping Jesus brings assurance. It can turn a mourning man into a missionary, a wretched sinner into a preacher, a pessimist into an optimist.
Our faith brings us life. John closes his Gospel with these words:
30 Jesus performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)
These two sentences are the key to the whole Gospel. They reveal John’s purpose in writing his book. Three words stand out here — signs, faith, and life. The signs that John selects to include in his account are not ordinary miracles; they carry a message. Each one of them reveals a different aspect of the deity of Jesus. When they are all put together, Jesus is clearly outlined before us as the Son of God, as God. John’s ultimate goal is that we too, like Thomas, may cry out to the risen Savior, “My Lord and my God!” — that we too may confess our faith in Him, that we too, like Thomas, may stop being unbelieving and become believing. For only if we believe will we be able to taste the blessedness of eternal life. Only if we believe can we have life; only if we believe can we be blessed. Therefore, let us not lock our hearts, but let us too, like Thomas, plunge into worship before the risen Christ.