Thomas the Believer!

THOMAS The BELIEVER

Each year we hear the story of Thomas during Easter, and each year I think I must be missing the point somewhere along the line. Last year, I preached about Thomas and how he doubted.

I can remember saying that his disbelief wasn’t entirely fault, and how he, just like Judas were players in the unfolding story of our salvation. Their roles were foretold by the prophets and in a sense, and even though they demonstrated very human failings, there was nothing wrong with that. At one stage even Jesus asked that the task be taken from him.

In that action and statement, Jesus once and for all demonstrated that he understood how difficult life is and how we all, each and every one of us, have imperfections and flaws.

The story of Thomas is not about failure, it’s about potential, the potential we all have when we finally rely on God and come to terms with our humanity.

I was speaking to someone in Holy Week who pointed out that Thomas and even Judas couldn’t have been that bad, they have the unfortunate accolade of (to a lesser or greater extent) letting Jesus down with a series of schoolboy errors, but I was reminded that generations of smug Christians who were quite quick to point the finger completely missed the point that both Judas and Thomas had in fact left everything they had, families, friends, businesses and security to follow Christ. Very few have the privilege to say they have done the same – doubting or not.

So, the Sunday after the glorious resurrection, once again we are thinking about the first tentative steps of the church, gathering around the risen Lord. Not sure where to go, what to do, or how the future might unfold. We are witnessing something big, very big. From eleven to maybe two billion people.

If you manage to have a look at TV this week, the ‘History of Christianity’ with Diarmaid MacCulloch is being shown, it gives a really good overview of the main happenings in the church through history.

St. Thomas the Apostle has to be one of the most colourful of the 12 apostles of Jesus. Thomas, also known as Judas Thomas Didymus or Jude Thomas Didymus seems to be a larger than life character. Thomas means “twin” in Aramaic, and Didymus means “twin” in Greek.

He was there when Jesus decides to return to Judea, the place where the people had tried to stone him, and courageous Thomas has the last word, “Let us also go, that we might die with him”. We were reminded of this in a Sunday reading in Lent.

He speaks up at the last supper, telling Jesus that he hasn’t a clue what is happening. However the most famous appearance of Thomas in the New Testament is when he doubts the resurrection – and demands to see and feel the wounds of Jesus to be convinced.

The painting by Caravaggio “The incredulity of St. Thomas” depicts the scene. This is the origin of the term “Doubting Thomas”. However, some say that because, when Thomas saw the wounds he professed his faith, he should be called Thomas the believer. All the more positive I think!

Thomas the Apostle then becomes a strange figure in church history, it is suggested that he wrote a Gospel. The opening lines of this gospel say that it contains "secret sayings" of Jesus, and that anyone who discovers their true meaning "will not taste death". The gospel then gives 114 of these sayings, most of them introduced by the words "Jesus said".

Because some of these sayings, or variations of them, also appear in the New Testament, the modern reader might conclude that they weren't really secret. But the Gospel of Thomas was written before the New Testament gospels, so its claims about secret information could have originally been valid. It may be an example of a gospel that started out as a secret book but later became well known.

Although Jesus spoke Aramaic, this gospel was first written in Greek, with his sayings translated into that language. But the only surviving complete copy is a Coptic translation. So, the English versions of most of the sayings are the result of three translations. Partly for this reason, the sayings are hard to understand.

The Gospel of Thomas is one of the earliest known Christian writings, some of the sayings of Jesus are almost certainly authentic. For this reason, many theologians consider it to be the most important surviving non-biblical gospel.

The Gospel of Thomas has the parable of the lost sheep and the story about the great catch of fish. John the Baptist is mentioned and there is a central theme of ‘love’ for your friends.

Quite why the Gospel of Thomas didn’t make it to the canon of scripture that formed the Bible, no one really knows. It could have been because the writer saw it as ‘secret’ knowledge, only to be used for believers and those leading the early Christian church. It could have been that the text wasn’t widely used amongst the early church, or it could have been seen as too dense or heretical at the time.

This is the bit I like…from a rather doubtful start, he becomes like Father Christmas, larger than life. Then, of course there are the travels of Thomas.

Thomas appears in legends in Syria. He is named as the missionary to India, landing at Kerala to start the Indian Church. From there, Thomas goes to Northern India. Then I’m not sure…he reportedly travelled to Latin America, visiting Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador and Chille. If only half of this is true, he certainly was a busy man.

Thomas was transformed by spending some of his life with Christ, and he went on to do great things. He could see the life-changing importance of the Gospel message, and he needed to share that with the world.

We doubt too!

As we witness the enormous poverty afflicting most of humankind, the growing gap between nations, we can see that some nations use most of the world’s resources, as the others are excluded from the basic goods of the world – and ask ourselves, “Where is God in this?”

We doubt too!

Thomas (even Thomas) and the other apostles have done a good job of ensuring the survival of the faith and the belief that we all have the ability to change the world, if they follow their lead in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN