“Thomas”

If Thomas was a super-hero, he’d be that rubber guy from the Fantastic Four (I forget his name, sorry). You know, the one who can bend and stretch his body into all kinds of different shapes? That would be Thomas. Or at least, that’s been Thomas for centuries. Everyone bends and twists Thomas to fit their own mold, their own issues with Jesus. Been doing it for so long that Thomas is practically Mr. Stretch himself. The rubber man.

For example: is your problem with Jesus skepticism? Did you read too much Descartes as a young lad? Do you have trouble believing things unless you are overwhelmed with incontrovertible sense data? Thomas can bend to fit that problem! He’s just like you! He was the “I see therefore I believe” guy long before people started putting Descartes before the horse (sorry, couldn’t resist. Old philosophy joke). Thomas fits your mold.

Or maybe your problem was reading too much Camus and Kierkegaard in high school. Maybe your problems are more existential than skeptical. Maybe it’s not so much empirical evidence that hangs you up as it is the need for a personal, authentic encounter with the Risen Lord. Maybe it is that intense experience of the Risen Lord, one on one, that is needed to jolt you out of your existential malaise. If so, Thomas again can be your man. He can bend to suit that problem. Systems and theories would not do for him, nor second hand reports. He needed to encounter the Lord in the flesh, personally, existentially. He got what he needed and hints that so can you. Again, Thomas fits your mold.

Or maybe your problem was that you read too much Derrida or Wittgenstein or some other post-modern geek in college. You are way past problems of evidence or existentialism. That’s so 20^th century! Your problem is whether there is anything like truth at all, whether anything can really be known by anyone anywhere. Whether life has any meaning at all that can be constructed out of the flotsam and jetsam of modern life? Here again, Thomas is your man. Out wandering the streets, searching hopelessly. And out of the chaos of the loss of all foundations for faith, Thomas constructs a new reality, a new meaning out of the nail holes and spear wounds in his Lord’s hands, feet, and side. He doesn’t need the old foundations of philosophical systems for his belief. He stands with the Crucified One alone. The original post-modern thinker Thomas is. Right up your alley.

Or maybe your problem is that you didn’t read anything at all as a young person. That you only watched cartoons of action heroes. That you have no idea what I’ve been talking about the last couple minutes, no clue at all who these Descartes, Camus, or Wittgenstein guys are at all. Maybe Christianity involves way too much talking for your liking and not enough action. Again, Thomas is your man. He wasn’t afraid to be killed for being a Christian. That’s why he was wandering the streets. He wasn’t hanging around talking theology with Peter and John. He was out doing stuff. And it was the stuff that Jesus did that captured Thomas’ loyalty. Especially that Rising from the Dead thing. That’s the original action hero for you. He conquers death! You can’t nail Him down! Thomas wanted some of that action. And he got it. A wonderful model for an action oriented Christianity.

Or maybe your problem is that you neither read nor act but you stew over what other people have that you don’t. You wonder why everyone else’s life seems so much easier than yours. Why God gives them all the support and help for their life and faith that seems denied you. Thomas is your guy too then. It wasn’t doubting but pouting that had Thomas down. It wasn’t that he thought the other apostles were lying to him about Jesus rising from the dead. It was just he wanted to see what everyone else saw. He wanted to be treated like the others were treated. He wanted to get the same favors as his brothers got. Well, Thomas encourages you if this is your problem too. Blessed are the pouters, for finally, a week or so late, they too shall see Jesus.

We could go on, but I think you get the point. Thomas can bend to suit any problem of faith. And the problems are many! And various! Who can catalog them all sufficiently? The world would not hold the books that would be written and all that. In the Doubting Thomas Story we find the original rubber man, the elastic story that fits all who struggle with faith (which is some of us all the time and all of us some of the time).

But which is the real Thomas? What was his actual problem? Surely the Bible says… Well, yes and no. Actually, I’ve never been able to find from John’s little account of his friend Thomas the indubitable issue that motivated his demand to see Jesus. Some years, I’ve thought one thing, and other years another, till finally I’ve come to think that this is like Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Paul doesn’t tell what his specific trouble was so that any trouble that we have could possibly link us to Paul. So also I’ve begun to suspect that John won’t say Thomas’ root problem so that that all of us can relate to him.

Maybe he had all these problems. Or none of them. But people do relate to Thomas. The Thomas Story is the one Gospel reading that has stayed put on the 2^nd Sunday of Easter literally for time out of mind, century upon century. It is the post-Easter story in which we all find a place.

Whatever your problem with faith in Christ might be, whether it’s one we mentioned or another we’ve left out, the Thomas story does indeed present a solution. He is the super-hero apostle in this way, bending to suit every situation and crisis. There is something in this 2,000 year old event that is absolutely up to date and totally relevant to your life right now.

But the key is moving past Thomas’ hypothetical personal problems to the actual promise that Christ speaks to him, for it is a promise that moves us past all troubles and into the Faith. So what exactly does Jesus give to Thomas, to you, to support our faith?

Himself. It’s that simple. That’s the solution. The support for faith is never anything more or anything less than Jesus Himself. It is not theories or stories or personal testimonies or any second hand stuff about Jesus that moves you from doubt to faith. It is only and always Jesus Himself.

But where and how do you find Jesus? Ah, this is the key. You find Him where He has promised to be, where He has promised to find you: in His Word. Thomas demanded sight as the way to faith and Jesus gave it, but also promised that there is actually a better and more blessed way to faith in Christ—believing without seeing. Believing on the Word alone. John clarifies that all Scripture is written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing, have life in His Name.

The Word of Scripture is not personal testimony. It is the means by which Christ Himself appears to you—divine, human nails holes and all. Which is enough, more than enough, for Jesus Himself to stretch you from doubt to faith. Happens all the time. What is written here may not answer all your questions. But it will bring Jesus Himself to you entirely. Which, even without seeing, is more than enough for you like Thomas, actually to be the incredible stretching super-hero who, believing in Jesus, has the Peace which surpasses understanding, that guards heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.