John 11:5-8,14-16 NASB95
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [6] So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. [7] Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” [8] The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” [14] So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, [15] and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” [16] Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
Isn’t it interesting in light of those verses from John 11 that Thomas has historically been referred to as “doubting Thomas” when he could have easily been referred to as “devoted Thomas?” When Jesus made the decision to go back to Judea to raise Lazarus, the disciples were frightened because they had just come from that area, where the Jews had been looking to stone Jesus to death. It is not irrelevant that John chooses to add this statement from Thomas as the one disciple who said to the others that they should follow Jesus back to Judea so that they could die with him also. What courage and what love for his Lord Thomas displayed in those words! Remember that it is also John and John alone who records in John 20 that when Jesus first appeared, the disciples Thomas wasn’t there, and when the disciples tried to tell Thomas about the resurrected Christ, Thomas said he would not believe until he saw the hands and the side of Jesus. Not only did he have to see them, but he also wanted to touch them before he would believe.
John was the disciple who laid his head on the breast of Jesus and heard Love’s heartbeat. From that moment forward, John always referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus was always loving. He encountered the love of God in Christ in such a way that he became known as “John the beloved.” He had a unique comprehension of the nature of God’s love that Christ carried for fallen and broken humanity, so much so that he was the only one of the apostles that stood at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. It is only recorded in the Gospel of John in chapter 21 about Peter’s restoration and inner healing after his denial of Christ. Only in John’s Gospel can you find the most famous Scripture in all the Bible that starts off by saying, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”
John was uniquely qualified to speak of Thomas’s doubts and his extraordinary devotion and holy courage.
Why has history so famously only pointed out Thomas’s unwillingness to believe until he could see the wounds of Christ. I believe it’s because the church created that narative. We have a tendency to label people in light of their failure instead of honoring them in light of their moments of extraordinary devotion to Christ. By the way, Luke 24:36-40 reveals the fact that on that first night after the resurrection, all the apostles were doubting, and Jesus offered them to see and touch his hands and feet so they would believe. So Thomas was not unique as a doubter? No, he was just like all of his brothers. Why doesn’t history tell us about that? I think it is an enormous tragedy and the result of fallen thinking that Christians seem to focus on the failures of their brothers and sisters, especially in light of the fact that they carry a history of their own failures, instead of focusing and celebrating the devotion and faith of their brothers and sisters. This is what Jesus does. I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful that Jesus has the ability not just to forgive but to forget our sins, and throughout eternity he will honor our wins. It is interesting to me that Jesus never referred to Thomas as “doubting Thomas,” but I do believe that Jesus always saw him as “devoted Thomas.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the body of Christ would love and believe in each other the way Jesus does? It can happen if we will learn to live from him instead of trying to live for him. When you try to live for him, it’s all about performance, yours and everybody else’s that you compare yourself to. When you live from him, it’s all about Christ-likeness, and nothing is comparable