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Thomas gets a bad rap. History has labeled him “Doubting Thomas” for one moment when he had the bad fortune of not being present when the resurrected Jesus appeared.
When he returned, Jesus was already gone, and the rest of the apostles, who had the benefit of seeing Jesus with their own eyes, tried to convince Thomas that Jesus had risen from the dead. Just days before, Thomas had watched as Jesus stopped breathing, was stabbed in the heart with a spear, and was buried and sealed in a rock-cut tomb. No. He wasn’t going to take their word for it. Unless he were to see Jesus with his own eyes and touch his wounds with his own hands, he would not believe.
From that moment on, Thomas became defined by his nickname, forevermore known as the doubter. We forget that none of the other apostles believed when the woman returned from the tomb and proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection. John 24:11 tells us that the eleven did not believe and, in fact, thought the women’s whole story was just nonsense. But history didn’t label them the doubting disciples. No, Thomas carries that burden alone.
I think it is time we change Thomas’ reputation. I think there is evidence that Thomas wasn’t characterized by doubting, but by devotion. To find that evidence, you have to go back to John 11. John and Thomas must have been close. The other three Gospels mention Thomas only once each, and just in a list of Jesus’ disciples. John, however, tells three stories about Thomas’s interactions with Jesus.
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