Thomas Sermon #2: Doubting Thomas

Read the TEXT, and the previous posts.

So spare a thought for Thomas.

V24 tells you that he wasn’t there the day Jesus showed up. Maybe he was running an errand. I would feel ripped off if that was the case. We don’t know where he was, but I’m kind of glad he wasn’t there. As a friend of mine says: "The Gospel’s need at least one Thomas."

But the other 10 disciples say (V25)

"We have seen the Lord."

Now – no doubt he has many thoughts running through his head: He has 10 friends he knows and loves, and every one saying that they’ve seen him. Does he believe them or not?

He thinking: maybe they ALL have post-Messianic stress disorder, or maybe they are pulling his leg, not unlike a cruel high school group who tell some gullible girl "Oh yes, the party IS fancy dress". Maybe he’s got his head saying: Dead men don’t come back to life again.

So he thinks – I’m not buying this – joke or not. V25:

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.

And as he says it, the risen Jesus hears it! Somewhere and somehow, he hears it! It’s like Thomas is daring Jesus.

What a intimate and gruesome request, by the way?

More comin'...