What Happens When You Miss Church

Read John 20:24-31.

The little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and had to stay home from church. When his family got home, he asked them what had happened. "Well," said his brother, "we had this big parade and Jesus rode in on a donkey!" The little boy was visibly frustrated. "Great!" he said. "The one Sunday I miss and Jesus finally shows up!"

I wonder if Thomas felt a bit like that. When Jesus first showed himself to the disciples, on the same Sunday he was raised from the dead, Thomas was not there. John doesn't bother telling us where he was, just that he was absent. It's entirely possible he was grieving in his own way, perhaps in solitude. We don't know, but it's possible he heard Mary's report that first Easter morning and it was just too much to take in, to believe, so he left. Then Jesus showed up, and all week long, the other disciples have been talking about when they saw Jesus. Thomas puts an end to it by demanding proof. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe" (20:25).

Thomas gets a bad rap. For centuries, he's been known as "Doubting Thomas." We even use his name to describe someone who doesn't believe right away. But Thomas is not so much doubting as he is asking for the same proof the other disciples had. They didn't believe right away, either. John did, sort of, but Peter left the empty tomb wondering what had happened. Mary didn't believe until Jesus called her name. All Thomas wants is the same proof the others got; is that too much to ask?

A week later, he is present when Jesus shows up, but I've always wondered why Jesus made him wait a week. Why not just show up immediately when Thomas asks for proof (proof, by the way, that he did not demand to touch once he saw Jesus)? Why make him wait a week? Perhaps because that's the sort of faith others will have to have. Jesus even tells Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (20:29). Blessed are you, Thomas, and blessed are all those who will follow in your footsteps, struggling to believe without having actual proof.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Doubt is often a component of faith, and sometimes a road to faith (as it was for Thomas). The opposite of faith, according to the Bible, is unbelief, a refusal to believe even when the truth is stranding right in front of you (like Pilate, John 18:38). There is nothing wrong with doubt unless we stubbornly insist on staying there (that's when doubt becomes unbelief). Thomas did not. He worshipped Jesus as Lord.

But I bet the others never let him forget what happened that one Sunday when he "missed church."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts