Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to 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 into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?” Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have belief in his name.” (John 20. 24-31)
On this Second Sunday of Easter, we are always given this story of “Doubting Thomas” that ends the Gospel of John, at least in its original form. The Epilogue, found in Chapter 21 with the appearance at the Sea of Tiberius, seems to have been an afterthought, attached to the original because of some concerns within the Johannine community, whatever they may have been. As a result, there are, in effect, two conclusions to the gospel.
Seen in this way, with Chapter 20 as the conclusion to the gospel, we can understand better the placement of the Thomas story because of Jesus’ last words to Thomas when he says, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Written at the end of the first century, the words are clearly intended to comfort Christian believers who had not personally seen Jesus, seemingly putting them at a disadvantage, but actually elevating them because they have believed without seeing firsthand the Risen Lord.
In fairness to Thomas, the last chapter of John’s original text, Chapter 20, is very much focused on this same call to believe without seeing, presenting us with a cast of characters who step onto the page to argue for the same point. Thomas is but one of them, little different in fact from the others, with one exception, as we will see soon enough. History has unfairly painted him as the fall guy when, truth be told, he is little different than the other key players in the resurrection story.
Looking at what precedes the Thomas story, we will see that the chapter begins with the empty tomb, discovered by Mary of Magdala who went there early in the morning while it was still dark. The evangelist, keen on symbolism throughout his gospel, is using darkness here in much the same way as he did at the beginning when he began his gospel with the words, “This life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Mary of Magdala is about to find out the truth of those earlier words.
We’re told that she runs to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple about the empty tomb, both of whom go to see for themselves. It is important that we see two different reactions from them. Peter, entering the tomb first, although he was slower to get there than the Beloved Disciple, saw the burial cloths laying inside the tomb, the body of the Crucified Lord nowhere in sight.
Then the Beloved Disciple enters the tomb. Here, John sets apart the Beloved Disciple from Peter, as he regularly has, stating, “He saw and believed.” Those words were spoken only in regard to the Beloved Disciple. This is the last time we will see the Beloved Disciple so far as the original gospel goes. The evangelist wants to leave the readers with this singular image of the one who saw and who believed.
Mary of Magdala comes on the scene a second time, apparently having returned to the tomb where she weeps. When she spies two angels inside the tomb who ask her why she is weeping, she answers them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” So, she obviously thinks that the dead body has been stolen, not resurrected.
When she turns around, she comes face to face with the Risen Lord, but does not recognize him. In fact, she assumes he is the gardener, saying to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Whereupon the Risen Jesus calls her by name, “Mary.” Apparently, she recognizes his voice and answers, “Teacher,” clinging to his body.
The Risen Lord tells her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” It is important to see that Mary, much like Thomas, requires touching the body in order to believe it is the one and same Lord. Letting go of the Risen Jesus, she then goes to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” For her, then, belief follows seeing with her own eyes and touching with her own hands.
Next, the Risen Jesus appears to the disciples who have barricaded themselves behind locked doors because they fear for their own lives. In other words, the empty tomb has not assuaged their fears and has not moved them to belief as it had the Beloved Disciple. So, the first thing the Risen Jesus does is to show them his hands and his side, giving them physical proof that it is he, the same one who was crucified and who had died.
It is only after seeing with their own eyes that they say to the absent Thomas upon his return, “We have seen the Lord.” He then responds little differently than they had before seeing Jesus for themselves, saying, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week passes and the Risen Jesus appears a second time, this time with Thomas present and he says to him, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Essentially, he provides Thomas with the same proof that he had given to the disciples the week before. Put simply, there is not a dime’s difference between Thomas and the other disciples–save the Beloved Disciple–each of whom came to believe because they had seen with their own eyes.
So, as I said, we have a cast of characters who all share the same journey from unbelief to belief, moved from one stage to the other by seeing the Risen Lord and his wounds for themselves. This includes Mary of Magdala, the disciples behind the locked doors, and Thomas. Each of them begins the journey in the darkness of unbelieving. Upon seeing the Risen Jesus for themselves, their response also is similar, Mary calling Jesus by his title “Teacher,” the disciples “rejoicing when they saw the Lord,” and Thomas answering him, “My Lord and my God!” Now all of them believe that the empty tomb means the Crucified Lord had been raised from the dead. They believe their own eyes.
Hence, the Risen Jesus’ words that he addressed to Thomas but which were really intended for everyone who would later be put in the same situation of unbelief. “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” On that note, the evangelist ends his gospel, having given us two responses to the empty tomb.
On one hand, there is the Beloved Disciple who sees the empty tomb and returns home, requiring no further physical proof that the Crucified Jesus has been raised from the dead. On the other hand, there is Mary and the other disciples, including Thomas, who come to believe only after they have seen the physical proof standing in front of them. The Beloved Disciple, unlike the others, made his journey out of the darkness (he and Peter also had raced to the tomb in the darkness) and had come to faith without seeing Jesus for himself.
So, here at the end, the evangelist is holding up as the prime example of faith the Beloved Disciple who “saw and believed” on the basis of the empty tomb, requiring no other physical proof of the resurrection. It is his faith that is put before later generations, asking those who follow much later in time to come to believe without seeing, as he did, having faith even in the absence of the physical Jesus.
As I said, the emphasis on “Doubting Thomas” is misplaced. He is only one of many who had to make the journey from no faith to full faith, that journey only completed by seeing with their own eyes. But the more important message is found in the Beloved Disciple, the only one who didn’t need to see with his own eyes in order to have faith. He is the first one to receive the Risen Lord’s blessing when he says to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
As I have said, that seems to be the real intention of this last chapter and it is the lesson that the evangelist wants to leave with us. He wants everyone who comes to know the story of Jesus of Nazareth as told in this gospel to become beloved disciples the like of the “Beloved Disciple” in these pages, the one who “saw and believed” on the basis of nothing more than the empty tomb, making him the greatest of the disciples so far as this evangelist is concerned.
As I see it, the message that is put before us with this passage, then, is a simple one. The evangelist is asking his readers to be people “who have not seen and have believed.” It is, of course, a big task, at least for most of us. Truth be told, very few people can have that almost instant faith that the Beloved Disciple had. We simply aren’t made that way. We’re much more like the other figures in this resurrection story, people like Mary of Magdala and the other disciples who require many more steps to reach faith.
For most of us, that kind of faith may be our hoped for destination, but, like any destination, it is going to take a journey to get us there. At best, we can hope we will move more or less forward from darkness to light, from no faith to full faith. But, even for the best of us, it is a winding road with curves and dead-ends. Anyone who says otherwise hasn’t been put to the test where the real measure of our faith is determined.
That’s why I find Mary of Magdala and the other disciples to be better models for us, people with imperfect faith who have to work to find perfect faith. In their journey of faith, they are at various times disbelieving, dismissive, and demanding. They find roadblocks, impasses, and long loops around that seem stubbornly resistant to fast travel. But, in the end, they arrive, and that is the most important thing. It’s less important how they get there than that they get to their destination.
For us, then, rather than berate Thomas and his companions on the way, we may want to join them, finding in them people very much like ourselves, people who struggle with believing, however much we may want to believe. Like them, the road ahead for us is a rough one, the way often hidden in fog if not in darkness. Yet, we continue, hopeful that our faith will be there when we most need it.
So, if I might amend the words that the evangelist puts in the mouth of the Resurrected Jesus, I would have to say, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but have kept on looking.” Those folks deserve a special blessing as well, people on the way who keep in sight their destination, every step hard won on a path that had twists and turns, booby traps and trip wires, but every step bringing them closer to saying with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”
–Jeremy Myers
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