Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:19-25 John 20:24-31
That You May Believe
Trust me. Two words so easily spoken and yet so seldomly obeyed. But this problem with trust is not a product of the enlightenment or the age of reason or science…it is a problem as old as sin itself.
When the serpent approached Eve, he sowed a subtle seed of doubt in her mind that has continued to bear bad fruit ever since. “Did God actually say…?” In many ways, this question is the foundation of every temptation as it opens the door to doubt and doubt, when allowed to fester, gives birth to a lack of trust in the Word of God.
When Jesus repeatedly warned the disciples of the upheaval about to engulf them during that Passover, they were distracted by the many things they wanted to believe about him and his kingdom rather than what he was trying to teach them. Remember those discussions about who was to be the greatest and who would sit on his left and right hands when he was enthroned as King?
But once his predictions became their reality, their lives fell apart. Why? Because he hadn’t taught them properly? Because he hadn’t told them the truth? Because he hadn’t prepared them well in advance? No. It is because they doubted his words. Remember, Peter even went so far as to rebuke Jesus! They did not trust him enough to believe him and when push came to shove, their little house of cards came tumbling down.
But shame upon shame, when his further predictions regarding the resurrection also were fulfilled, they still doubted! They doubted the report of the women, were sceptical about the report of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and perhaps even Peter’s report, and Thomas doubted them all. Remember that even when Jesus stood before them, he had to show them his wounds to prove that he was not a ghost! So, even though we love to single out Thomas as the doubter, all the followers of Jesus struggled with trust at some or other point…and, if we are honest, so do we.
Now, this is not the first time we meet Thomas in this Gospel. In chapter 11:16 John recorded that he was ready to die with Jesus as they planned to return to Bethany. Then in chapter 14:5, he revealed a keen and probing mind when he asked for clarity concerning the location of the “way” in which they were to follow Jesus.
But, it seems, the crucifixion was a bridge too far for him and with the death of Jesus, Thomas buckled. Sadly, he resorted to an attitude condemned by Jesus in chapter 4:48: “Unless you see signs and wonders,” Jesus said to the official from Capernaum, “you will not believe.” The signs and wonders movements throughout history has always commanded great followings until adversity invariably separates the committed from the uncommitted. The ecstatic can only satisfy as long as the last experience is equalled or surpassed by the next experience. Remove the adrenaline and the excitement and the shallow devotion is sure to wane. And we’ve all heard it said in one way or another: “I tried Christianity, but it didn’t work for me.”
However, I don’t think that the doubting of Thomas is the central issue of this passage because he simply reflects the general scepticism of the greater group. I think that it is his unreasonable demand to believe by means of his senses that is the central issue. “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails,” he said, “and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” In other words, Thomas neither trusted in the prophetic words of Jesus nor in the words of his fellow disciples. In short, Thomas succumbed to the “seeing is believing” idea…trusting in what can be seen, touched, experienced…trusting in so-called empirical evidence…measurements or data collected through direct observation or experimentation.
But when it comes to God, this is a completely ridiculous notion. Any god that we can figure out using only our finite senses isn’t worth believing in. As Solomon wisely encourages us to do: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Our senses are limited…not only by our finite knowledge and resources, but also by our sin and brokenness. Besides, how arrogant to insist that God should satisfy our pride by bowing to our sensory perception.
But I think the point of this passage is not to shame Thomas or those like him. No, I think the point is that the Lord of all creation heard the words of his beloved child and graciously came to help him overcome his unbelief. Eight days after he had appeared to his other followers…which would then bring us to another gathering on the Lord’s Day if we use the Jewish way of reckoning days, counting the first and the last…Jesus again appeared the same way he did before and offered them the same blessed greeting of peace. Let me stress again the profound impact this ordinary Hebrew greeting must have had on this particular group…complete and absolute peace to all those who had deserted him, denied him, and doubted him. If ever there was a comforting word for us it is this: Peace be with you. Despite our ignorance, our arrogance, our bumbling and stumbling, our weakness and our faults…peace be with you.
But surely the greatest display of divine humility and amazing grace is seen clearly the moment Jesus addressed his doubting disciple. “Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe.” What grace! What mercy! The Lord humbly condescended to help his fallen child to his feet. Wonder of wonders…he conceded to the unreasonable faithless demands of his doubting disciple so that he might restore him. And yet, incredibly, it seems that his faith that had appeared to have been smothered by his own unbelief and his finite limitations, was not completely extinguished. I believe this is because faith does not find its origin within us. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9; see also 2 Peter 1:1; Philippians 1:29; Acts 3:16) and, as such, only he can give it and only he can strengthen it.
True, faith can be suppressed by sin. The clearest example I can think of in Scripture is King David when he committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. For a while, this man whom God himself calls “friend of God” blocked out any form of conscience by stubbornly justifying his lawless acts. By his own testimony, this only brought misery, but the sin of lust was so overwhelmingly powerful and blinding that he was able to overlook even that. But by God’s mercy and grace, David’s eyes were opened through the divinely directed word of the prophet Nathan, and he repented of his sin.
Thomas, like David, also repented in shame, yet also only after being confronted, not by a divinely directed word, but by the Divine Word himself.
Now, it is interesting to note the words used by Thomas in his short statement of faith. For pious Jews, the title “Lord” was usually used when referring to God. It is a sign of respect and of reverence for God and indicates a willing surrender to his will as sovereign. But Thomas adds the word “God” to indicate that he realised that the Person standing before him was not just a good man or a prophet. Thomas knew that Jesus was truly and completely God.
However, Jesus did not simply dismiss Thomas’ faithlessness. Although our God is forgiving and gracious and merciful and compassionate and unbelievably kind, he is also a holy God who wants his people to live according to his will as revealed in Holy Scripture. The demands made by Thomas are inconsistent with the nature of faith and trust and Jesus told him so. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas’ faith was restored but note that it was not by touching and seeing, but by an awakening of that which had been implanted in him before though his encounter with the living Word. I am thankful that the Lord does not give up on me or any one of his children, even when we give him every reason to back away…because he knows that faith is not something I can gain or grow through the mere experience of things or events. Faith is birthed and nurtured in a living relationship with the living Word. “Faith comes by hearing,” Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “and hearing by the Word of God.” It is the Scripture that awakens or reawakens the divinely implanted seed of faith. So then, if we do not base our lives on God’s Word, how then can we ever claim to have faith?
It is a sad day when God’s Word is something foreign in the Church. Once Scripture is sidelined in the Church, anyone in the Church can be led astray without ever knowing any better. How can we say we have faith if we only live by our senses? Faith in God transcends our understanding and demands a trust in him not in anything or anyone else.
Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not against reason or logic…it is most reasonable and logical…but it is not based on our finite reasoning or logic. We are limited and therefore our unaided reason and logic may be flawed. That is why faith may at times demand that we go against the tide…that we swim upstream against the flow of culture or society.
In short, there is no true faith that is not founded and established on God’s Word. The eye of faith is such that, although we do not see him, we believe him. We believe him rather than our circumstances…rather than our senses. As Peter wrote in his first Epistle 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled.”
What made these men, women, and children love someone they had never seen enough to lay down their lives for him? It was faith. Indeed, Christians have been martyred through the centuries in some of the most horrific ways imaginable for their faith…a faith that was possible because God had given them the ability to believe beyond or despite their senses.
John ended this chapter by referring to many other signs Jesus did which were not recorded in his Gospel. However, he said, those that were included are sufficient for our faith. We need no more special revelation. We agree with the testimony of Scripture as we believe that it was inspired by God himself. As Paul wrote to Timothy in his second epistle 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God (or inspired by God) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” John’s purpose for writing what he had written was so that we who read the Gospel may believe.
When any other object, symbol, sign, or ideology or whatever takes centre stage, the downward spiral begins. The biblical norm is then inverted. Humanity take the place of God and human reason replaces divine revelation.
Trust. Believe. Have faith. Thomas had doubted the Lord’s Word and the witness of his colleagues…and even though Jesus restored his faith, he indicated that his wish was rather that Thomas had trusted him…had believed him…had had faith in him.
Of course, it is easy to trust when the going is good, but when life takes us down a darkened alleyway where the way out is not visible, that is when our faith is tested for what it’s worth. We may fail from time to time, not because we aren’t strong enough, but perhaps because we are trying to be too strong. Remember Jesus said that our faith ought to mirror the trust of little children. Simply believing what he says is the best way forward…after all, have you ever been able to prove him wrong?
When my mother was a young girl, she scribbled down a few words in her “Prayer Book for Boys and Girls”…words that she never seemed to have recovered until shortly before her death. This is what she wrote:
“Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner.
I am still a weak beginner.
Please dear God make me strong,
So that I will do no wrong.”
I would like to conclude with a prayer from that Prayer Book for Boys and Girls in which these words were pencilled.
Let us pray:
“Lord be my Shepherd, and then I shall not want for anything.
Feed me in a green field and lead me beside the comforting streams.
Turn me the way you want me to go, into the right path.
Then if I do have to walk in the dark valley, I won’t be afraid,
Because you are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me.
Prepare my food and rest in difficult times,
Give me your healing and put your kind cup before me.
Oh surely, I shall find your loving kindness and forgiveness always ahead of me,
And my Lord’s house for my rest always.”
Amen.
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2025.
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