December 8, 2023

Getting All The Facts First

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” John 20:24-25 (NASB)

            I’d like to say, I can kind of relate to Thomas in this passage. I too, from early on in my life watched human behavior. When I said this in the past, often I heard, “Well it is because you were in police work.” I tell them “No, I have always watched people from childhood.” This is why I loved investigative work so much in police work. I too, am a skeptic. It is how you get all the details without emotion cluttering the process. Thomas too might have had his grief to deal with concerning Jesus’ death. Now when he heard the news Jesus was alive, he wanted all the facts, not just a bunch of stories from overexcited disciples who were jumping to conclusions.

            “Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.” For an unknown reason, Thomas was not at the gathering with the other ten. John uses “Didymus” to also refer to him. Robertson refers to him; as the “pessimist of the apostolic band” (Bernard). The term twelve is still applied to the group, though Judas, the traitor, is dead.”[1] Thomas wasn’t much more skeptical than the disciples. Let’s face it, they all had an entire ministry with Jesus, and they still hadn’t concluded that Jesus was God. But what about Thomas’s behavior? “We all deal with our emotions differently, and perhaps Thomas’s grief had driven him to go elsewhere to be by himself. He was not a coward. He was the man who had said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16), and he meant it. He had probably simply broken down under the pressure of the last few days, and his way of dealing with problems was to be alone. He also was not one to act like he believed when he really did not.”[2] Some say Thomas was the kind of guy who would say, “Give me the proof and I will believe!” “So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” When Thomas said, “I will not believe,” he was not saying he didn’t believe in Jesus. He said he would not believe Jesus was resurrected until he saw Jesus alive himself. Lange says, “He represents honest, earnest, inquiring, truth-loving skepticism, or that rationalism which anxiously craves tangible evidence, and embraces it with joy when presented. This is essentially distinct from the worldly, frivolous skepticism of indifference or hostility to truth, which ignores or opposes the truth in spite of evidence. The former wants knowledge in order to faith, the latter knowledge without or against faith.”[3]

            This is what makes the Bible so true. The world says the disciples made up stories to make Jesus come to life when He didn’t. The thing here is we need to respect questioning from men like Thomas. He wanted the truth and would not be convinced by second, or third-hand testimony as we are so apt today. Oh, if we could truly investigate the truths about Jesus as Thomas did. We would be able to say, “My Lord and my God!” (vs. 28).

[1] Robertson, A. T. (1933). (Jn 20:24). Broadman Press.

[2] Hughes, R. K. (1999). (p. 456). Crossway Books.

[3] Lange, J. P., & Schaff, P. (2008). (p. 621). Logos Bible Software.