Believing Thomas

When we think about Thomas in the New Testament, the first story that usually comes to mind is that of his disbelieving that Christ was really resurrected.  He said, “Except I shall see in his hands the prints of the nails… I will not believe” (John 20:24).  I believe Thomas was a valiant apostle and faithful man, and perhaps we are too quick to judge him and label him “Doubting Thomas” because of this account.  He was not disbelieving in the Savior or the gospel; He simply couldn’t fathom that Jesus who was dead had come back to life.  We don’t have a whole lot of information about Thomas, but a couple of other brief mentions of him help us to see him for the great man that he was.  It was Thomas who asked, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?”  This question was really a plea to know how to follow the Savior, and it elicited one of the most powerful verses in the New Testament: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:4-5).  In another account, when Jesus announced that He was going to go into Judaea again, the disciples expressed their concern because they knew that the Jews were trying to kill Him.  When Jesus told them He was going anyway, Thomas in a childlike manner said simply, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).  Thomas didn’t value his own life above his allegiance to the Savior, and He trusted the Savior like Abraham trusted God when taking Isaac up the mountain: he simply believed in what God wanted even though he was certain it would result in death.  So when we remember that Thomas said, “I will not believe” we should also remember that it was he who , “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  That's a man who believed in the Savior.