BLESSED ARE THE DOUBTERS

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20: 24-28)

http://andersontgraves.blogspot.com/2014/04/blessed-are-doubters.html 

On Resurrection Sunday evening, Thomas was off doing his own thing while all the other disciples where holed up in a locked room afraid that the either the Temple guards or the Romans were going to come get them, too.

When the other disciples finally found Thomas and told him about Jesus appearing to them, Thomas said, “Yeah, right.”

And Peter was probably like, “Nah, Thomas.  For real.  I saw Him with my own eyes.  I touched His hands where the nail prints where.  Andrew put his hand in the spear wound in His side.  At first we thought it was a ghost or something. But He ate food right in front of us.

 You gotta believe us. 

It was Jesus, alive and in the flesh.”

And Thomas said, “I ain’t gotta believe YOU.  I’m not just gonna take your word for something like this. “

Thomas had questions.  Thomas had doubts.   Thomas wanted answers and assurances that didn’t depend on his grief-crazed friends who had collectively betrayed, denied, and abandoned Jesus, AND called the female disciples crazy when they came Sunday morning with the first story about a resurrection.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. (Luke 24: 10, 11)

We fault Thomas for his doubts.

I think we need to cut Thomas some slack.

Because John 20: 26 says that 8 days later Thomas was with the other apostles in Galilee when Jesus showed up again.

A week later, why was Thomas with a bunch of guys he didn’t believe.

Thomas wasn’t with the disciples despite his doubts. 

Thomas was with the other disciples BECAUSE OF his doubts.

Thomas spent the next week with the other apostles because Thomas was seeking answers to his questions about the resurrection.  

Thomas walked from Jerusalem to a rallying point in Galilee because Thomas had doubts was seeking certainty.  Thomas

Thomas was a skeptic who was willing to be convinced IF his believing friends could lead him to a place where he would encounter Jesus for himself.

I appreciate Thomas.

I like Thomas.

I was Thomas.

I didn’t come to Jesus in a church.  I wasn’t led to salvation by a preacher. 

I repented of my sins and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior because two of my peers listened to my skeptical questions and acknowledged my agnostic doubts.  They didn’t just shove clichés down my throat and order me to “have faith.”  They opened the scripture to me and led me to where I could find the answers for myself.  They walked with me and let me walk with them as they walked in the way of Christ.

And all of the spiritually empty years I’d spent in church, that was all I’d wanted----- I’d been asking but no one had answered.  I’d been seeking but no one had been willing to help me find.  I’d been knocking and every one had told me to stop making so much noise.

They said, “You don’t question God.”

I replied, “I’m not.  I’m questioning you.”

“ I need to touch Him for myself.  Until then, there’s no way I’m just going to take YOUR word for it.”

Thomas went a whole week and many miles out of his way.  He went everywhere his believing friends went---- because the skeptic in church is in church to lose his skepticism. 

But he/ she isn’t just going to take your word for it.

Take time to listen, hear, and answer the doubters who keep coming to you with questions.

Walk holy before the doubters and invite them to walk with you to church, to Bible study, and to a coffee shop where you can just talk about whatever.

Study.  Prepare.  Pray.  And LISTEN.

You might just lead a Thomas (or an Anderson) to the place where he can encounter Jesus for himself.

Truth is---- that’s what they really want.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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