The Story of Thomas

John 11:16

16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

In the Bible, Thomas is known as twin. Thomas was also one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Thomas’ nickname was “doubtful disciple” or “the man of doubt.” However, Pastor Daniel doesn’t think this is a fair judgment and he wants to make an argument for Thomas’ nickname by looking at the whole story of Thomas. 

There are 3 stories in the Bible about Thomas:

• 1st story:

  • John 14:1-7. After spending 3 years with his disciples, Jesus is confident his disciples would know where they are going with Jesus. But Thomas clearly questioned Jesus and did not know where Jesus was going.  

  • One thing we are sure of is that Thomas did not know did not understand Jesus and His mission. He didn’t pretend that he knew but he verbally confirmed his question. He was honest about his ignorance about Jesus Christ. 

  • It is better for us to be honest that we don’t know than pretending. 

• 2nd story:

  • John 20:24-25: Thomas lost his opportunity to meet the resurrected Christ and couldn’t believe that Jesus was resurrected. 

  • He is very honest about his doubts. He didn’t pretend to believe the truth that Jesus resurrected even though Thomas spent 3 years with Jesus, he still doubted.

  •  To have faith in Jesus doesn’t mean that we don’t have any single doubt. It is okay for us to have some doubt rather than pretending that we have faith.

• 3rd story:

  • John 11:1-16: the Jews tried to kill Jesus. Jesus decided to go back to Judea knowing that He may die. His disciples tried to stop Jesus because it was not a logical and not reasonable decision. They tried to rebuke Jesus because they didn’t want to risk or sacrifice their life for this reason. Thomas said “let us also go, that we may die with him.” 

  • Sometimes, there are many illogical and unreasonable decisions but they are right decisions (for example: Jesus died on the cross for our sins). Some people think Thomas is being sarcastic and tried to mock Jesus, but as we see in the first 2 stories, Thomas was very honest about his doubt. Therefore, this is not a mockery but a beautiful confession to accept and be with Jesus no matter what may happen. 

There are two things to learn from Thomas:

•  His honesty

•  His love for Jesus Christ

When can you make this confession? When you truly love someone, then you will be able to make this confession. If you only love yourself, you will never make this confession. If everything we do right now is because we love Jesus then this is the right way.

Reflection Questions:

• How could you relate the story of Thomas to you?

• What do you think God is telling you through the message?