Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
(John 20:28-29)
Doubting Thomas is the man we encounter in this Sunday’s Gospel reading. According to tradition, he was the apostle who originally brought Christianity to India. In 52 AD, he landed on the Malabar Coast in present day Kerala. He preached the Gospel to Jews living there and also to the Brahmin, many of whom became followers of Jesus. He established 7 Churches in Kerala before moving to the east coast of India. He was martyred in 72 A.D. near Madras.
Thomas was a brave and spirit filled man who died preaching God’s word. He was changed by his encounter with the risen Jesus. Yet the world remembers him as doubting Thomas for he refused to believe the testimony of his fellow disciples, men who had been his brothers and companions for 3 years, men he should have trusted implicitly. His failure to believe shows him to be a pessimist, a skeptic, a man filled with questions.
Few of us would probably admit to it, but I think most of us identify with Thomas. We have doubts, we have questions, we have times of unbelief. Yet as we see in this account, these times of doubt and uncertainty when we wrestle with God for answers, often lead to great revelations.
And the resurrection of Jesus is perhaps the greatest revelation we have. It fills us with joy. We feel ecstatic when we recall that His resurrection is the assurance of our own, the assurance of eternal life. No matter how much the wicked may prosper in this life, no matter what they may do to us or say to us, that does not matter. We know that we serve a risen savior, a truth that we must share with others so they may know and believe the Gospel.