Angela Parchen

NT 301

Dr. Lindsay

June 9, 2002

 

Jesus Appears to Thomas, John 20:24-29

 

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (NRSV)

 

The infamous ‘Doubting Thomas’ is recognized only once in each of the Synoptic Gospels and Acts, and all of these times he is simply listed as one of the apostles.  He is also only given the extra “called Didymus” in John’s gospel, which cites him specifically three times.  For some reason John is interested in sharing this apostle’s search with his readers.[1] 

John first mentions Thomas when Jesus is preparing to go to Bethany and raise Lazarus (11:16).  Thomas makes the ambiguous statement “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  Interestingly enough, Thomas sounds both bold and grim.  His call to the others to go with Jesus, especially in light of the last part of his declaration, sounds especially courageous, but his resignation to death is lugubrious to say the least.[2]  Later in 14:5, Thomas’ brutally honest personality steps forward again when he contradicts Jesus saying, “You know the way to the place where I am going,” by replying “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  This then evokes the famous response, “I am the resurrection and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Lastly, the final detailed passage about Thomas found in 20:24-29 is vital to John’s gospel.

Earlier in chapter 20 we learn of Jesus’ resurrection and the people he appeared to: first Mary Magdalene and then his disciples without Thomas.  Verse 24 contains neither criticism nor praise concerning Thomas’ absence.[3]  We do not know why he was away when the other disciples were gathered, but for whatever reason he missed the Lord’s first appearance to his disciples, and had to settle for being told about it instead.

His fellow disciples did not see Jesus just to blow it off or keep it to themselves.  They attempted to convince Thomas that they had witnessed the resurrected Lord.  The imperfect construction of elegon may have meant that they kept saying to him that they had seen the Lord.[4]  This is not surprising, because it would be difficult to remain muted about such an incredible and joyful event.  In defense of Thomas, he did not believe them, but they did not believe without seeing either (Mark 16:11, Luke 24:11).[5]  It is possible to even give credit to Thomas for not believing in light of Jesus’ words in Mark 13:21: “At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!  Or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.”[6] 

Although Thomas’ personality was ambiguous earlier in the book of John, his unbelieving retort to his fellow disciples’ repeated declarations was not at all.  The structure of his statement does not resemble the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ attitude that we would expect with those he was so close to.  Rather, he expressed that he would remain unbelieving until he had irrevocable proof.  The specifics of his demands resemble Jesus’ evidence in verse 20 of his own identity.  It is possible that Thomas’ stipulations were shaped by what they had told him.[7]  Perhaps his insistence on touching the wounds over and above seeing them was a kind of critique of the other disciples’ belief.  Though his unbelief is usually criticized, Thomas certainly did not take this issue lightly.  “Thomas is insisting that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith must be one and the same.”[8]  Thomas’ words in verse 25 show that he demands nothing less than absolute proof that Jesus had risen.

One reason John may have had for including this passage was to defend the resurrection: 

As Thomas makes abundantly clear, the appearances were not at first welcomed.  They were resisted as idle talk, and those who had not actually seen Christ for themselves refused point blank to accept the stories.  Only the plainest of evidence could have convinced a skeptic like Thomas.[9]

The disciples were not planning schemes of stealing Jesus’ body; according to John, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead” (20:9).  The distress and pain of Jesus’ crucifixion continued to cling to them.  Thomas’ anguish was so fresh that he could not consider such happiness without asking for irrefutable proof.

We see in verse 26 that although Thomas absolutely refused to believe the other disciples, they welcomed him to stay and he willingly remained with them.[10]  This demonstrates their faith in him to believe, and his readiness to hope that their reports were true.  Thomas and the rest of the disciples were fortunate enough to witness Jesus again, in a similar fashion to when he appeared to the disciples without Thomas (20:19).  He greets them with the same words after having passed through locked doors.  Unlike the first time, however, the aside “for fear of the Jews” is not mentioned.  This is perhaps for a reason: “The power of the new life had freed them from this, though their doors were closed.”[11]  Perhaps fear was gone, and the doors were shut only for precautionary reasons.  Whatever the reason was, Jesus miraculously emerged in spite of locked doors and greeted his followers.

Then Jesus spoke directly to Thomas.  His offer of touch mirrors Thomas’ challenge in such a way that it is clear that “this was he who could read men’s hearts.”[12]  According to Luke 24:39, Jesus invited the Ten to touch his wounds, but they are only recorded being shown his wounds, not touching them.  In verse 27, Jesus again offers to have his wounds felt to ensure his validity that “he was no spirit, but the Crucified Himself, having flesh and bones.”[13]  Notably, John does not record Thomas taking advantage of Jesus’ proposal!  Apparently Thomas did not need as many signs as he thought he did.[14]

“My Lord and my God.”  The consequence of Jesus’ combination of phenomenal appearance and enlightened words is a short statement that sums up the entire gospel in a dramatic climax gospel.[15]  Thomas’ overwhelmed response can be compared to the declaration of who Jesus is claimed to be in John 1:1 “the Word was God.”[16]  John tells the reader in the prologue the answer to who Jesus really is, and where he is really from.  The disciples were not given the luxury of being told the answers, so John wrote his gospel in part to illustrate how they pursued the answers to these questions.  In the end, he portrays Thomas’ accurate answer, which Jesus never claimed for himself explicitly.[17] 

It is difficult to be so hard on Thomas after his immediate rejection of his unbelief; “we cannot resist a kindly feeling for a man who abandoned his misgivings as soon as light was given.”[18]  His instant affirmation shows that his challenge was not defiant, but a sincere assessment of what he needed to believe.  If he was trying to be difficult or argumentative when he disputed the other disciples’ claims, he could have found a reason to deny Jesus when he appeared.  It is possible to deny truth if one truly wants.  Instead of denial, however, he gives the greatest title of Jesus in John’s gospel. 

Jesus’ reaction to Thomas’ sincere and worshipful expression is sometimes understood as a rebuke.  Perhaps one reason for this is that the first half of Jesus’ dialogue is occasionally translated as declarative instead of interrogative.  When it is translated in the former way, it contrasts with the blessing he gives in the last half.  However, when it is translated as a question, it does not necessarily ridicule Thomas’ need of physical proof, but applauds those who are unable to have it and yet believe.[19]  Even if Jesus were rebuking Thomas, his criticism would also be directed to the other disciples, who also required tangible proof.[20] 

The verb ‘to see’ in verse 29 is translated from the Greek word ‘oraw.’  In the New Testament, “since there is no distinction between the sensory and the spiritual, it readily accepts seeing as a function in revelation.”[21]  This does not mean that without seeing revelation is impossible.  In 20:29, oraw is used in the more general sense of sight.  Sight is replaced by hearing for the believers who will follow the eyewitnesses.[22]  1 Peter 1:8-9 sums it up well: “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

The passage of Jesus appearing to Thomas is key in John’s gospel because of what it meant for his audience and all readers following his time.  Unlike the Synoptic gospels, John wrote to an audience who for the most part had not witnessed Jesus’ life.[23]  This account spoke to them especially because Jesus’ thoughts were not only on those living at the time, but also on those who would follow.  He recognized the need of appearing to Thomas and the other disciples, but clearly he would not be able to go on doing this; he was returning to the Father.  Even though Jesus had departed, the necessity of salvation did not weaken.  In the times beyond when this gospel was written, Christians would have to believe whether they were seeing or not, but in their belief, they were and continue to be blessed.

John encouraged his fellow believers in other ways when he wrote of Thomas’ conversation about Jesus.  At the time when he was writing, Domitian was the Roman emperor (A.D. 81-96).  The same phrase that Thomas used to address Jesus was spoken in Latin concerning this emperor: ‘Dominus et deus’.[24]  When this phrase was used in the context of Jesus, it emphatically showed to whom Christians truly gave their allegiance.  Also, his initial doubt of Jesus’ resurrection was surprisingly not a hindrance to the faith of the early church, but a source of evidence.  Because Thomas clearly needed proof that the resurrected Jesus was not just spirit, let alone a lie, the early Christians were reassured that Jesus’ resurrection was not simply some disciples’ wishful thinking, but indeed reality.[25]  This shows that although doubting is not to be encouraged in itself, honesty is.  A candid, but disbelieving heart can sometimes be a stepping-stone to firmer faith than that which is wavering in feigned unity.[26]

The encouragement of this passage is not limited to the early church; it lifts us up still.  Even with translations that paraphrase and Westernize the Bible as much as possible, we are usually left feeling detached from Bible stories, as is expected after 2,000 years.  This account, however, is one that speaks to the modern church in plain language.  Jesus knows that we struggle in our inability to physically verify his identity, and he calls us blessed.  “While seeing forms the basis of the apostolic witness it cannot belong to all,”[27] so instead of witnessing the body of Christ himself, we are blessed to witness him in the body of Christ known as the Church and to be a part of it as well.

 

 

Sources

 

Barrett, C.K.  The Gospel According to St. John.  London: S.P.C.K., 1958.

 

“Bible: John.”  Bible.Com.  <http://www.devotions.net/bible/43john.htm>

Bernard, J. H.  A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929.

Boice, James Montgomery.  The Gospel of John.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.

Dodd, C. H.  The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel.  London: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

Elwell, Walter A.  Baker Commentary on the Bible.  Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1989.

Harrison, Everett F.  The Son of God Among the Sons of Men.  Boston: W. A. Wilde Company, 1949.

Kittel, Gerhard, et al.  Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged).  Eerdmans.

Koestenberger, Andreas J.  Encountering John.  Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1999.

Kohlenberger III, John R.  NIV Compact Concordance.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Publishing House, 1993.

Morris, Leon.  The Gospel According to John.  Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1971.

Palmer, Earl F.  The Intimate Gospel.  Waco: Word Books, 1978.

The Greek New Testament.  Fourth Edition.  United Bible Societies, 2000.

Westcott, B. F.  The Gospel According to St. John.  London: John Murray, 1887.