[AI translation] Of Jesus' disciples, Thomas is the most like modern man, the man of today. This type fits perfectly into the 20th century. Most of us are like this doubting disciple. His problem is, to a greater or lesser extent, the problem of all of us. That is why his person and what happened to him is interesting and instructive for us. Let us try to grasp the main features of Thomas' character and then consider how the Lord Jesus deals with such a man.1) For Thomas, even though the other disciples say to him, "We have seen the Lord," this is not enough. He cannot believe such a great miracle on the testimony of others. He himself wants to see, wants to touch, and wants to grasp the miracle with his senses. "Unless I see the nails in his hands, and put my fingers into the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will by no means believe." (John 20:25) He cannot be deceived. Perhaps He has been disappointed a lot, now He is distrustful of everyone, and He is already guarding against further disappointments! He is a pessimist, who is sceptical of all the news that makes others happy. The sober, objective, rational type who believes only what he can lay his hands on. He accepts only what can be proven by experiment. In fact, he is arrogant, because what he can't get his head around, he simply says doesn't exist! Even if there were a whole world beyond his five senses, he, as a cold rationalist, rejects it. In fact, he accepts that the perceptive capacity of his brain can only be the measure of what is possible in the world. He doubts everything else.
But for all his conceit and arrogance, such a man is unhappy at heart! The words of Jesus reveal this unhappiness when he says to Thomas: "Blessed are those who do not see and believe" (John 20:29). Of course they are, for they narrow the world around them down to the visible, to the little of it that they can see through the keyhole of their understanding. But not only are such people unhappy, they are also lonely. Well, Thomas was not present in the community of disciples when Jesus appeared to the others. Perhaps he was wandering alone in the dark with his brooding, restless thoughts, while the others rejoiced in the miracle of the resurrection. Such a pessimist is always a lonely soul. Unable to blend in with the rest of the community, he struggles alone with his thoughts. Oh, but there are many such closed souls among us, and they cannot melt in their families, in a circle of friends, or in the silence of a Bible study group, in the fellowship of their brethren! Yet in such a doubting, wavering soul there is an incredible longing for the living God! His doubts, his loud criticisms, are nothing more than a veiled longing for the world of faith! Such a man so desires to come to a living faith. Modern man has no greater desire than to believe in a childlike way - but he does not even let himself become conscious of this desire. He mocks at the things of faith, but in his heart he desires nothing so much as to be able to believe!
We see the same type in a milder form in the man who makes his faith in God, or the extent of it, conditional: if I see, I believe; if I don't see, I don't believe! Many people fail to recognize in Jesus Christ their living Saviour because they think: If I could see some tangible sign of His redemptive work in life, then I could believe in Him. As a young father once said when he and his wife were awaiting the arrival of their second child after the death of their first: If God takes this child away, I really don't know what to think of Him, can I still believe in Him? Maybe you do not say it, but there is in your soul some bitter accusation against the Lord God because of your fate, because of what has happened to you. You think it unworthy, you feel it unjust, the way God has treated you, and you think a little like Jacob, there, after the vision of Bethel, when he made his vow: "If God will go down with me, and keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread for meat, and raiment for clothing; and I will return in peace unto my father's house: then the Lord will be my God." (Genesis 28:20-21) So if what you see as good, what you want to happen, if God would show His help and love just a little more tangibly, it would be easier to bow down to Him and believe in Him!
And do you know that this is why most people cannot come to accept the forgiveness of sins, to grasp the reality of grace, because they think: If I could feel some of it, I could believe it! Many, therefore, are unable to recognize in Jesus Christ their living Saviour, because they think: If I could see some tangible sign of His redemptive work in my own life, then I could believe in Him, but so, blindly, without evidence, on the mere word, the word I hear - so I do not believe! From this answer of Jesus, "Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed," comes this silent reproach: "You, Thomas, what kind of faith is that which is conditional? Can you believe in me only when you have tangible proof? Is my word, my message, not enough for you? Does not my person deserve that you accept with all the openness of a child, believe what others say about me, even if it is incomprehensible, even if it is inexplicable?!
Yes: it is an insult to the holy, divine person of Christ, to diminish His dignity, if one does not necessarily believe in Him, if one does not have enough of His message, His word, His Word, but needs tangible proofs, experiences, experiences to support one's faith. And in spite of the fact that all such doubts are in fact an insult to the divine dignity of the Lord Jesus, He nevertheless seeks with the greatest tenderness and love to lead such Tamans to the blessed certainty.
2) Let us see how the Lord comes to the aid of this doubting Thomas! It is a great grace that he should come to his help at all. He does not abandon him, He cares for him, He looks after him, He goes after him, He seeks him out. Lo and behold, he appears again among the disciples, and this time specifically for Thomas, for Thomas' sake. As if the other ten were not present, the Lord goes straight to Thomas and speaks to him! The Lord will come to you very often in this way: He will come to you when He has a great joy, a great trial or a great suffering to bring upon you. It is only because of this one Thomas, this one doubting soul, this one man in strife, that the heavens were opened and the Lord descended. The Lord, to Whom all power in heaven and earth is given - for to Him is precious even one such soul!
And what does he say to him? He'll take him at his word! He repeats almost word for word the words that Thomas spoke a week before, when Jesus was not present, and yet he heard all: "Bring me thy finger, and look on my hands; and bring me thy hand, and let it be in my side: and be not an unbeliever, but a believer." (John 20:27) Yes, that's what Thomas said, exactly like that! Is Eternity that close to us? Is everything we do and say in time heard and seen so accurately there? Yes, that is what Jesus wants Thomas to feel. Realise that this invisible world, which you cannot grasp with your five senses: is closer to you than your own shirt or skin. We are surrounded by eternity, enveloped in it. There are thin-walled apartments where every word echoes through to the next door. Such a thin-walled apartment is time. All around, the walls that separate us from eternity are very thin. And indeed it would be good sometimes - when we speak very confidently, arrogantly - to think that our every word is heard in eternity. And no matter how much we lower our voices, our voices will still resound into eternity. Indeed, in one place God's Word says: "You know my sitting and my rising, you understand my thoughts from afar. Thou knowest my going down and my lying down, Thou knowest all my ways. When the word is not yet on my tongue, you understand it, O Lord! Thou hast compassed me about before and behind, and hast kept thy hand upon me." (Psalm 139:2-5) And indeed, the Lord may take hold of us by a thoughtless word, as He did of Thomas.As once a man - a proud, haughty man - broke down and began to beg forgiveness when his wife was terminally ill, and it occurred to him there by the bedside that there was a time when he wished that God would deliver him from his wife! Now it seems that it will happen, but I wish it would never happen! God had taken him at his word! And then he was able to stoop to where mercy is dispensed!
For that is the wonderful thing about the appearing of Christ, that He does not come in anger, nor to take vengeance on such little rebels, but to settle their hearts by His visitation, by the understanding of the nearness of eternity, that they may feel His love, that they may acknowledge His grace. He shows his wounds to Thomas just as he showed them to the others! Not his fists, but the places of the nails, the signs of His everlasting mercy and faithfulness. Need proof, Thomas? Look, here is the proof! See, it's not just words, it's not talk you don't believe - it's tangible, it's palpable, it's not incomprehensible, is it? Such is the radiance of the eternal love of God in the risen Christ, shining here towards Thomas, and so enveloping the poor doubter with its light and warmth, that he cannot but fall on his knees and cry out, "My Lord and my God!" Was I such a fool? Did I want to touch these holy scars? For this wonderful Love and Power must not be touched with hands, but with prayer! Not to touch Him, but to worship Him! "My Lord and my God!"
At last, a great sigh burst from his soul, he dared to say what had been lurking in him for so long: "My Lord and my God!" Hitherto there had always been a tormenting brooding: "Perhaps it is not! But now at last he put into words, and told the Lord what in his heart, like the deepest desire, had always been there, under the doubts! And yet this is the truth: Jesus is alive, the Lord loves Him, He has a living Saviour, and He is free to believe in Him! He may believe that Jesus is his Lord and his God! Now he sees that he needs neither sight nor touch to be sure, but only the decision of faith! He could already believe blindly in Him who lives even when the human eye cannot see, who is near even when the human hand cannot reach, who loves even when the human heart cannot feel. Blessed are those who do not see and believe. Behold, he has so far deprived himself of this happiness.
May the example of Thomas now encourage every doubting soul to choose faith! So dare to believe, neither seeing nor feeling His presence around you! Dare to believe that Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, rose again on the third day, and is alive for ever, is your Lord and your God, and then He Himself will convince you that He is, indeed, truly, your redeeming Lord and your God! For, "Now these things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life in His name" (John 20:31).
Come, let us say together, for He hears us telling Him in the words of the song:
Jesus, I trust in you, I trust in you, O let me not perish!
Thou who art the only Victor over sin, hell, and grave:
Encourage me in thy tender faith, Prepare me that my soul
May my soul, O Lord, see above For evermore happy.
Canto 295, verse 2
Amen
Date: 2 September 1951.
Lesson
Jn 20,24-31