Doubting Thomas

Luke 24: 38-41
And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

John 20: 24-29
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." After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Thomas is the first apostle we think of when we think of someone “doubting” Jesus’ resurrection. We sing the song during worship called “Thomas’ Song” which focuses our attention on his doubts. The interesting thing about Thomas is that he wasn’t the only apostle that doubted. We see in Luke 24 that the first time Jesus appeared to the other apostles he asked them “why do doubts arise in your hearts?”. Jesus even showed them His hands and his feet and asked them to touch Him so that they would believe and “they still could not believe because of their joy and amazement”. As we read John 20, we see that Thomas was not with the other apostles when Jesus came. Thomas’ experience is detailed separately in this chapter which is probably why he is referred to as “Doubting Thomas” so frequently. It appears that all the apostles including Thomas doubted. What can we learn from this?

This is not the first time some of the apostles doubted. We read in Matthew 14: 17-34 about Jesus walking on the water and Peter getting out of the boat to meet him. We see that when Peter started to sink, Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?". Jesus compares doubting to faith. Jesus spent a lot of time with the disciples to build their faith, belief, and to resolve their doubts. We see in Matthew 21:18-22 where Jesus is hungry and withers the fig tree that the disciples marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."

We see through these examples that doubts arise on the way to building faith and belief. It is our responsibility to stick with it when we doubt, like the apostles did, to overcome our doubts and build our faith. When we doubt, we should study, lean on fellow Christians, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”